Exxon Mobil announced today that it posted a profit of $10.7B in the fourth quarter (that’s about
$1100/minute second, for fans of such breakdowns) on revenue of about $100B. Compare this to the
numbers we’ve seen from auto manufacturers, and it would seem clear that it’s better to produce oil than it is to
create the products that consume it. In fact, numbers like this probably have drug dealers looking for alternative
employment.
This profit announcement, of course, has only fanned the flames of those calling for “windfall
taxes” on oil companies. We’d be a lot happier to see this money invested into long-term replacements for
petroleum instead of being used to fund some politician’s earmarks, but let’s just say we’re not holding our collective
breath.
Oh, yea – oil’s back up over $68/barrel
again, and ’round these parts, gas jumped about twenty cents today.