Quote:
Originally Posted by Insider
I think you need to quit complaining about "Big Oil" and get off your duff and learn some facts. "Big Oil" pays more in taxes than any other industry.
Take Exxon Mobil for example, which recently reported the highest quarterly profit ever. Yet if its profits are at record highs, its tax bills are already at record highs too. Between 2003 and 2007, Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes, exceeding its after-tax U.S. earnings by more than $19 billion. Also, Exxon’s profit margin stood at 10% for 2007, which is hardly out of line with the oil and gas industry average of 8.3%, or the 8.9% for U.S. manufacturing (excluding the sputtering auto makers).
If a profit margin of 10% means they are ripping American's off, what about the aerospace or machinery industries — both 8.2% in 2007. Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%. Computers: 13.7%. Electronics and appliances: 14.5%. Pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverages and tobacco (19.1%) round out the Census Bureau’s industry rankings. The latter two double the returns of Big Oil, though of course government has already became a tacit shareholder in Big Tobacco through the various legal settlements that guarantee a revenue stream for years to come.
Please learn your facts BEFORE you try to point fingers at 'Big Oil.'
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The above is the single most ridiculous post ever on OKCTalk.
There are so many misleading statements it's obviously troll material or incredible stupidity. Profit "margins," when we're talking the kind of whole dollar amounts we're talking about, mean
absolutely nothing.
Nobody - and I mean
nobody - is capable of defending the Big Five oil profits in the second quarter of this year.
44 billion dollars --- in three months!
Exxon Mobil had a - after tax, and after Valdez penalties -
profit of
11.97 billion dollars. In three months. Even the CEO had a hard time explaining that away, he just changed the subject to how much tax they paid. Well, yeah, you make that kind of money and you're going to pay high taxes. With 12 billion dollars in profits
in three months - the tax is obviously ridiculously
low. That profit is
after tax, you know.
We were, as you remember paying over $4.00 a gallon on gasoline at the pumps during this time. Have you forgotten? So, we padded the pockets of the Big Five oil companies to the tune of $44,000,000,000.00 ----
in 90 days.
You can't defend that. Nobody in their right mind can defend that - or even try and keep a straight face.
I'm serious - single worst, most ridiculous, most offensive (do you think we're stupid?) post EVER on this board.