Subsidizing Exorbitant Profits
The editors of Sierra magazine point out that our federal legislature sent its latest energy bill for the President's signature on July 29, the same day that these companies reported these quarterly profits to their shareholders :
Exxon Mobil made $ 7,640,000,000 in profits.
BP made $ 5,590,000,000 in profits.
Royal Dutch Shell made $ 5,240,000,000 in profits.
Chevron made $ 3,700,000,000 in profits.
Conoco-Phillips made $ 3,140,000,000 in profits.
Yes, those are Billions made in just three months, a total of more than 24 Billion. There certainly were no losses or operating costs in these gains; you and I, and the rest of the public paid for this greed. Most of these profits are up 40% over last year. But not to worry, our policymakers remembered to help out with their energy bill, which contains another $2,000,000,000 in tax breaks and direct spending given to those suffering oil companies. Does this make any sense to anyone who isn't directly lining their pockets with this gouging ?
posted by Jim at 7:44 PM
2 Comments:
Saw some excerpts from those dudes on the hill the other day. I expected them to say, "Well, you know, our taxes are incredibly high, and the meagre profits we make we plow right back into research and development, and without these meagre profits you'll all die."
And they said that, exactly. No surprises from those dudes.
If my meager salary went up by 40-50%, in a period of a few months, I would be colossally amazed. These CEOs seemed to say that it was nothing unusual at all; no big deal.
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