Ten months ago, I wrote about Exxon's having the best quarter ever of any company in U.S. history. Guess what ya'll: they've done it again!
While you're spending $50 to fill the tank on your Mini Minor, Exxon's apparently about to announce that they pulled in almost $9 billion over the past three months. (Compare with 6.2 billion during the same quarter of 2004). That's the largest corporate quarterly profit ever.
As the WP points out, all these profits are making things a little awkward for big oil, and the companies--BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, et al--have ratcheted up the volume of their advertising to remind us whose side they're on. Ours, of course!
BP, for example, rebrands itself as "Beyond Petroleum," eschewing images of oil refineries for solar panel--despite the fact that BP actually makes the overwhelming majority of its profits from the ol' black gold.
Personally, I think the solution comes down to changing our way of thinking. When you're standing at the pump and watching those digits flip into the 30s, 40s, 50s, just remind yourself that you personally are helping oil companies break records for company profits left, right and center!
No comments:
Post a Comment