Old Content:

Exxon… A Very Profitable Company

February 9, 2008 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Energy, Exxon, Price Gouging
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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CNN reported awhile ago that Exxon had a record-breaking quarter ($11.7b), which set the record for the highest amount of profit a single company's posted per quarter and per year.

Nobody sees anything wrong with this?  Anybody?

In the article, after praising the company for it's astounding efforts,  they go on to say that Exxon, along with a yet-more-profitable competitor at Chevron, raised the attention of the government and consumer advocates, who are clamoring for an investigation and the removal of the massive tax breaks these companies receive.

They're just noticing that something's wrong? Gas prices have been raising absurdly for the past few years, always being blamed on the cost of oil per barrel... but Exxon has been having massive profits for at least a year.  Doesn't that seem a little like, I don't know, lying?

Remember how Microsoft got in alot of trouble for being a monopoly, and got that anti-trust suit against them?  Well, there's another thing in America called "price fixing", and it's illegal.  Let's do some math.

• How many gas stations are in any given area?
  
  
  
  • Alot
  
  
  
  


• How many of those are owned by the same company?
  
  
  
  • Some, not all
  
  
  
  


• Who owns these gas stations?
  
  
  
  • Mostly the large oil companies, under different names, with a smattering of independents
  
  
  
  


• How many of those have the same price, within 2 cents per gallon?
  
  
  
  • Most likely, all of them
  
  
  
  

See, that was a simple equation.  The result?  Price fixing.

This is not a new problem in America when it comes to gas prices, or energy in general (Ever broken down you gas/electricity bill?  Ever noticed how many taxes, fees, and "government standard rates" there are?).  But it needs to be fixed.  An oil company should not be posting massive profits when some families can barely afford to heat their homes or fill their tanks.  Exxon, and companies like it, are providing a public service, and should do business accordingly.

Old Content posts are leftovers from a less structured, less civilzed era that are kept for posterity.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.