Exxon Mobile keeps on truckin'

Congratulations this morning to Exxon Mobile for announcing the “second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.” Oh no…here it comes again. I can already hear the “controversy” over Exxon Mobile “gouging” the American citizens for their hard earned dollars.

I’m not sure I can say more about this than I already have in other posts, but because I know the alarmists of the world will be in full swing I’ll say it again. Exxon Mobile announced net income of 10.36 billion dollars. That’s profit (“for those of you in Rio Linda”) that the U.S. government will tax to finance everything from bombs to National Public Radio. That 10.36 billion in profit came from 99.03 billion in revenue. A profit margin of (drum roll please)…..10.46%.

10.46 percent is certainly an impressive number when taking into account that enormous size of Exxon Mobile’s enterprise. However, in the grand scheme of things, as I’ve said before, a ten percent profit margin is just not gouging.

So while I’m at it, let me congratulate the 83,700 employees of Exxon Mobile. You all have managed to keep yourselves gainfully employed at good paying jobs. You likely have mortgage payments you pay, and children you manage to feed and send off to college. You likely have a couple of cars you’ve paid for and maybe you even help support the credit industry by taking out a loan on one of those vehicles. Oh, and lest I forget, all 83,700 of you probably pay your taxes, from the wages you earn at Exxon Mobile.

So when you read the reports of the congressman and senators renewed calls for investigations into “consumer price gouging at the oil pump,” maybe you’ll do as I do. Roll your eyes, sigh, and hope that our elected officials will just let Exxon Mobile get back to continuing to help make the United States the most productive nation on Earth.