Exxon-Mobil announced their largest quarterly profit today at $11.7 billion. According to the CNN article, they were making about $1,300 per second last year with an annual profit of $40.61 billion.
Trust me, I’m not one of these lunatic who thinks that companies should be taxed ten different ways to Sunday or that Republicans bend over backwards to make businesses happy, but I have to be honest and say that given the current world market for petroleum and how it has “effected” the price of gas in America, our government should be stepping in at this point. The first priority of government is to protect the people. This means that when the invisible hand of the market turns in a manner that crushes the individual, the government needs to do something (see: FDR and the New Deal).
In fact, George Bush sees that many people are hurting and thus he has offered the economic stimulus plan that is currently being forced through Congress. But I believe that when companies who provide a needed product are making record setting profits that are grossly outperforming the market, then the government DOES need to step in with some type of windfall tax or an investigation into the pricing strategies of these companies. We are not just a petroleum-based economy, but we’re a petroleum-based civilization right now. Yes, that is slowly changing through renewable resources, but the vast majority of this country needs to fill their gas tank and heat their homes.
For a company that provides a needed resources to be making these types of profits when Americans cannot pay for basic needs is a disgrace. Think of it this way, every 30 seconds in 2007, Exxon-Mobil earned the equivalent of the median national income. Every minute last year they doubled the median national income. That means every minute in 2007, Exxon-Mobil made more than most young families make in an entire year. EVERY MINUTE!
If that’s not something the people need to be protected from, then I don’t know what is…
The profits the oil companies like Exxon are making are treasonous. One has to look no further than the pay Exxon’s executives receive for proof. What do you do with traitors? Hang them. Hang a few on national tv and the prices will fall like the bloated executives through the gallow’s trap door.