Exxon's $10B net a U.S. corporate record

Ikohn4ever

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a quarterly profit of $9.9 billion Thursday, the largest in U.S. corporate history, as it raked in a bonanza from soaring oil and gas prices.

Record profits for Big Oil at a time when consumers are paying sky-high prices for gasoline have brought calls for a windfall profits tax or other penalties on oil companies.

The companies have been enjoying an unusually rosy environment for months. In the third quarter, oil prices and refining margins rose sharply after hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting energy operations in the region.

While Exxon's quarterly profit was up 75 percent from a year earlier, and revenue rose 32 percent to more than $100 billion, the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts due to production outages caused by the hurricanes and sharply lower profit at the company's chemicals division.

"They were a bit disappointing, but this a temporary phenomenon," said Paul Kuklinski, an analyst with Boston Energy Research/Soleil Securities. "This is largely attributable to hurricane effects."

Exxon (up $0.15 to $56.35, Research) shares fell slightly in midday trade.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income jumped to $9.92 billion, or $1.58 a share, from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a gain of $1.62 billion from restructuring its stake in a Dutch gas transportation business, earnings were $1.32 per share, six cents below the average forecast among analysts polled by First Call.

The record earnings topped the $9 billion net profit reported Thursday by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and were well above the best quarterly performances by Citigroup Inc. (Research), the world's largest bank -- $7.2 billion -- and conglomerate General Electric Co. (Research) -- $5.6 billion -- according to Reuters Fundamentals.
Expansion of capacity

In addition to calls for a windfall profits tax or other penalties, lawmakers and consumer advocates have been urging oil companies to expand refining capacity and take other steps to help bring down gasoline prices.

Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said Thursday that oil firms have a responsibility to boost refining capacity in times of record profits. Marathon Oil said it would do just that, announcing a $2.2 billion expansion of its Garyville, La., refinery.

"We're already seeing some companies yielding to pressure," said Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit. "But everybody is waiting for the big lady to sing, which is Exxon."

Exxon said it did not see the point of a windfall profits tax.
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"Frankly, if you're trying to encourage supply growth, it seems odd to put in place disincentives," Henry Hubble, vice president of investor relations for Exxon, said on a conference call with analysts.
Production falls

Exxon's oil and gas production fell 4.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier as outages caused by Katrina and Rita, maintenance activities, and maturing fields more than offset higher production from new fields in West Africa.

Excluding the impact of the hurricanes, divestments and entitlement effects, output fell 1 percent.

Still, record crude oil prices -- which touched $70 a barrel in the quarter -- pushed earnings at its exploration and production unit to $5.73 billion, up $1.8 billion from a year earlier.

At its refining and marketing operations, profit rose to $2.13 billion, up $727 million from a year earlier. Stronger refining margins outweighed weak marketing margins and lower petroleum product sales.

Earnings at its chemicals division tumbled to $472 million, down $537 million from a year earlier, due to higher feedstock costs and lower margins.

Exxon's capital expenditures jumped to $4.41 billion from $3.63 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Exxon, the largest of the so-called "super-major" oil companies, were little changed at midday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares rose more than 10 percent in the third quarter but underperformed the broader Standard & Poor's integrated oil and gas index, which climbed more than 13 percent.





God I wish the American Government would actually do something about this and show they cared about the people and not just keep the big machine running smoothly. They make 10 bill, while some people still cant afford to be fillin up their tanks. It really is disgusting but I am sure certain individuals on this board have no problem with over inflated prices because its just business.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']

While Exxon's quarterly profit was up 75 percent from a year earlier, and revenue rose 32 percent to more than $100 billion, the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts due to production outages caused by the hurricanes and sharply lower profit at the company's chemicals division.
[/QUOTE]

So, basically, they gathered $100 billion and made a profit of $10, that's a profit margin of 10%. Now, when you spread that around among the fact that this company is extremely large, that kind of puts it into perspective.

See, what I'm tired of is the feeling that people have that big business owe the public something because they are so big. Its the whole, Michael Moore/"Roger and Me" effect. Sure they made a lot of profit, but if you have such a problem with it, don't buy gas anymore. I know your gonna say that's ridiculous or that you need to get to work or whatever but there's people that make do without a car every day, typically they are low income, inner city people. Then again, that's another issue entirely.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']OMG a 10% profit margin! TEH KKKRIMINALS!1!1!!! BU$HCO AND CHENEY SCREWE US ALL!@1!1![/QUOTE]

Well, if you want to get into the whole Haliburton and the missing Iraq money, now that's a different topic altogether
 
[quote name='munch']what do you suggest the federal government do?[/QUOTE]

See that's my biggest problem with politics right now. It was really apparent back during the presidential race too. Both sides like to criticisize each other and point out problems but they never have solutions.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']A 10% profit margin is price gouging?

Explain.[/QUOTE]


there is no reason gas is as expensive as it is. It is at 2.70 in my area and that is with the recent decrease. The gas companies jumped the gun and raised it with Katrina well that really didnt effect them but they kept up at those prices and my gas has still not reached the pre katrina price. So yes there is gouging of prices because if you live in the suburbs you really dont have as many options and need a car to get around. I dont care if its 10% that is still 10 billion dollars. Maybe you got deep pockets but to me 10 bill is a lot of money
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue'] Sure they made a lot of profit, but if you have such a problem with it, don't buy gas anymore. I know your gonna say that's ridiculous or that you need to get to work or whatever but there's people that make do without a car every day, typically they are low income, inner city people. Then again, that's another issue entirely.[/QUOTE]

Didn't you just kind of defeat your own point? Unless you live in an area with busses then that isn't an option.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']there is no reason gas is as expensive as it is. It is at 2.70 in my area and that is with the recent decrease. The gas companies jumped the gun and raised it with Katrina well that really didnt effect them but they kept up at those prices and my gas has still not reached the pre katrina price. So yes there is gouging of prices because if you live in the suburbs you really dont have as many options and need a car to get around. I dont care if its 10% that is still 10 billion dollars. Maybe you got deep pockets but to me 10 bill is a lot of money[/QUOTE]

How is a 10% profit unfair?

Explain.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']How is a 10% profit unfair?

Explain.[/QUOTE]


maybe if you have a business where your profit is a million or two and I would say thats fine, but when its 10 billion and people cant afford gas or it costs them like 40 bucks a tank and they drive every day to work and back. Gas prices shouldnt be that sizeable part of a persons income and they the Oil companies are charging what they please. They raised it over 3 dollars so now that its in the mid 2s people dont mind as much. Its a nice little trick but its still dirty.
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']Didn't you just kind of defeat your own point? Unless you live in an area with busses then that isn't an option.[/QUOTE]

I'm yet to see a decent sized population area that does not have bus service. In fact, the town I live in has a population of less than 60,000, is over an hour away from a major city, and we have bus service. If a town is much smaller, and does not have bus service, then chances are everything is within walking distance.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']maybe if you have a business where your profit is a million or two and I would say thats fine, but when its 10 billion and people cant afford gas or it costs them like 40 bucks a tank and they drive every day to work and back. Gas prices shouldnt be that sizeable part of a persons income and they the Oil companies are charging what they please. They raised it over 3 dollars so now that its in the mid 2s people dont mind as much. Its a nice little trick but its still dirty.[/QUOTE]

So they should strive to make a profit of .002 percent of sales.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']maybe if you have a business where your profit is a million or two and I would say thats fine, but when its 10 billion and people cant afford gas or it costs them like 40 bucks a tank and they drive every day to work and back. Gas prices shouldnt be that sizeable part of a persons income and they the Oil companies are charging what they please. They raised it over 3 dollars so now that its in the mid 2s people dont mind as much. Its a nice little trick but its still dirty.[/QUOTE]


What about in European countries where the equivalent for the price of gas is around $5-6 per gallon of gas?
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']What about in European countries where the equivalent for the price of gas is around $5-6 per gallon of gas?[/QUOTE]

And more than 50% of that goes striaght to government coffers which the company never sees one Euro from.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']So they should strive to make a profit of .002 percent of sales.[/QUOTE]


I am not saying they should make a million profit, I am saying I would be find if gas was at a lower price and they made a 10billion profit, but since they have the prices so high they should not be making as much and lower the cost for the consumer.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']And more than 50% of that goes striaght to government coffers which the company never sees one Euro from.[/QUOTE]

So does that mean that all of the European countries are corrupt? I wonder what their profit margin is?
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']I'm yet to see a decent sized population area that does not have bus service. In fact, the town I live in has a population of less than 60,000, is over an hour away from a major city, and we have bus service. If a town is much smaller, and does not have bus service, then chances are everything is within walking distance.[/QUOTE]

My town is half an hour outside of boston and the nearest bus is a 15 minute drive. You can get to the commuter rail in a 10 minute drive. In vermont, where my family has a house, there is no bus service within an hour's drive (I don't know of one in vermont at all, but definately not within an hours drive).

And, in modern times, most people have to commute to work.
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']My town is half an hour outside of boston and the nearest bus is a 15 minute drive. You can get to the commuter rail in a 10 minute drive. In vermont, where my family has a house, there is no bus service within an hour's drive (I don't know of one in vermont at all, but definately not within an hours drive).

And, in modern times, most people have to commute to work.[/QUOTE]


Well, not to get too far off topic here, but are you also telling me that both your town and your parent's town don't have any places to work within walking distance?
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Well, not to get too far off topic here, but are you also telling me that both your town and your parent's town don't have any places to work within walking distance?[/QUOTE]

Well, you can walk to a convenience store or a elementary school within 20-25 minutes. The one in vermont doesn't even have a single store in the town. Ouside of that, no. Many areas are set not set up to provide jobs, they're called "bedroom communities". But, honestly, think about it. If you work in a professional job, do you honestly think people are going to be able to find an equivalent within walking distance? All the stuff you're likely to find within walking distance would be retail shops.

There's also another issue, walking distance is relative to the season. Walking 30 minutes to work (assuming you don't have medical issues) isn't that difficult in the summer, but try doing that in windy 5 degrees farenheit weather.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']I am not saying they should make a million profit, I am saying I would be find if gas was at a lower price and they made a 10billion profit, but since they have the prices so high they should not be making as much and lower the cost for the consumer.[/QUOTE]

But.... you already did.

[quote name='Ikohn4ever']maybe if you have a business where your profit is a million or two and I would say thats fine[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']Well, you can walk to a convenience store or a elementary school within 20-25 minutes. The one in vermont doesn't even have a single store in the town. Ouside of that, no. Many areas are set not set up to provide jobs, they're called "bedroom communities". But, honestly, think about it. If you work in a professional job, do you honestly think people are going to be able to find an equivalent within walking distance? All the stuff you're likely to find within walking distance would be retail shops.

There's also another issue, walking distance is relative to the season. Walking 30 minutes to work (assuming you don't have medical issues) isn't that difficult in the summer, but try doing that in windy 5 degrees farenheit weather.[/QUOTE]


See but more often than not though, that if your working a professional job, paying an extra $10 a week in gas prices, isn't going to break you.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']But.... you already did.[/QUOTE]

He said he's fine with a 10% profit increase if said profits are in the low millions, but not when they go into the billions.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']So, basically, they gathered $100 billion and made a profit of $10, that's a profit margin of 10%. Now, when you spread that around among the fact that this company is extremely large, that kind of puts it into perspective.
[/QUOTE]

Um, am I missing something? Didn't the article say profits were up 75% from a year ago, while revenues were up 32%? Where'd the 10% number come from?

[quote name='RedvsBlue']See but more often than not though, that if your working a professional job, paying an extra $10 a week in gas prices, isn't going to break you.[/QUOTE]

Well, the thing is, is that higher gas prices have a ripple effect across the economy. Because people have to pay more for gas they're spending less elsewhere, which means less money for businesses, which means lower wages, which means lower tax revnue, which means bigger deficits, which means etc. You get my point. It's not about how it affects one family, but the entire country at all levels of industry.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']See but more often than not though, that if your working a professional job, paying an extra $10 a week in gas prices, isn't going to break you.[/QUOTE]

If you want to work, or even buy groceries (an hour walk from my house), you need a car around here. If you don't have a car, then you can't work unless you are able to find someone nearby who works at the same place. Commutes range anywhere from 10 minutes each way (mostly retail) to about an hour each way.

In vermont it's a 20-25 minute drive to the grocery store, so it's even worse there.

I'm not really arguing with you in a sense. I think gas should go up as a way to force research into alternative fuel sources, I just think it will be an extremely rocky transition.
 
[quote name='evanft']

Um, am I missing something? Didn't the article say profits were up 75% from a year ago, while revenues were up 32%? Where'd the 10% number come from?[/QUOTE]



The number comes from the fact that their revenue (which is how much money they take in before costs) was about $100 billion. Their actual profit (which is what's left after all their costs) was around $10 billion. That means that their profit margin (the comparison between their profit and their revenue, or the profit divided by the revenue) was 10%.
 
[quote name='evanft']He said he's fine with a 10% profit increase if said profits are in the low millions, but not when they go into the billions.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah dammit! Punish anyone who dares be successful!
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']How is a 10% profit unfair?

Explain.[/QUOTE]

10% profit off of a commodity sounds awfully high - I'd like to see a comparison of this profit margin to that of other commodities, such as corn or pork bellies.

It's one thing if you're in a luxuries or high-tech market, which carries alot of risk, but who doesn't need to buy gas (directly for their car or indirectly through public transportation)
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']If you want to work, or even buy groceries (an hour walk from my house), you need a car around here. If you don't have a car, then you can't work unless you are able to find someone nearby who works at the same place. Commutes range anywhere from 10 minutes each way (mostly retail) to about an hour each way.

In vermont it's a 20-25 minute drive to the grocery store, so it's even worse there.

I'm not really arguing with you in a sense. I think gas should go up as a way to force research into alternative fuel sources, I just think it will be an extremely rocky transition.[/QUOTE]

See, that's something we can definetly both agree on. At a certain point, oil will run out, its difficult to dispute that fact and we need to find an alternative or some way to make what we've got last as long as possible.

However, this doesn't mean I'm one of the people that's gonna start screaming at the government to over mandate the oil industry to keep our prices down. Sure it sucks paying that extra money for nothing essentially, but when you put it all into perspective, an extra $10 a week isn't exactly bankrupting anyone. The majority of us on this site shouldn't be the ones complaining about gas prices because we obviously have enough disposable income to be able to afford video games. The people that really suffer in this kind of deal are the people who are just barely making ends meet.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Yeah dammit! Punish anyone who dares be successful![/QUOTE]

You misinterpreted what he was saying and I pointed it out.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']The number comes from the fact that their revenue (which is how much money they take in before costs) was about $100 billion. Their actual profit (which is what's left after all their costs) was around $10 billion. That means that their profit margin (the comparison between their profit and their revenue, or the profit divided by the revenue) was 10%.[/QUOTE]

Gotcha. But if their actual profit rose 75% from a year earlier, doesn't that mean they made $7.425 billion more than a year ago? And if their revenues rose 32%, that means they were about $75.75 billion a year ago, right?

So wouldn't that mean their profit margin has risen from 3.27% to 10%, or basically tripled?
 
The main problem is that we are being told that other factors are causing prices to increase (hurricaines, increasing competition for oil from other countries, etc.) and the oil companies are not to blame. Then suddenly, we get news that big oil is making record profits? Something doesn't add up.

Purely coincidence that the cleaning lady withdrew her name from Supreme Court consideration this morning, I'm sure.
 
For those of us who don't believe in a trickle down economy, the problem is Exxon looks less than honest here. First off gas prices were already inflated this summer, then Katrina hits and the oil companies cry hardship because the refineries were hit. Now a normal person would understand them having to raise prices to cover that economic hit. But apparently they hiked the prices up enough to give themselves record profits. Sounds like gouging.
 
ADM had a 7% gross profit margin in 2004. Hormel had a 23% gross profit margin in 2004. Tyson operated on an 8% gross profit margin in 2004. Georgia Pacific had a 25% gross profit margin in 2004. All are commodity based businesses; corn/soybeans, pork bellies, chicken and lumber respectively.

I fail to see how 10% is unreasonable.

[quote name='MrBadExample']For those of us who don't believe in a trickle down economy.....[/QUOTE]

Translation: For those of us who don't believe how the world works....

untitled.jpg
 
[quote name='munch']what do you suggest the federal government do?[/QUOTE]

give more tax breaks. 500 million was not enough after they posted record breaking profits last quater.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']ADM had a 7% gross profit margin in 2004. Hormel had a 23% gross profit margin in 2004. Tyson operated on an 8% gross profit margin in 2004. Georgia Pacific had a 25% gross profit margin in 2004. All are commodity based businesses; corn/soybeans, pork bellies, chicken and lumber respectively.

I fail to see how 10% is unreasonable.



Translation: For those of us who don't believe how the world works....

untitled.jpg
[/QUOTE]

That's why poverty and unemployment fell more for clinton, and wages for workers rose more under clinton than for either reagan or curious george.
 
[quote name='MrBadExample']Even Bill Frist is piling on.[/QUOTE]


I heard this on TV. This should be real interesting if a major republican official is getting involved.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']ADM had a 7% gross profit margin in 2004. Hormel had a 23% gross profit margin in 2004. Tyson operated on an 8% gross profit margin in 2004. Georgia Pacific had a 25% gross profit margin in 2004. All are commodity based businesses; corn/soybeans, pork bellies, chicken and lumber respectively.

I fail to see how 10% is unreasonable.[/QUOTE]

Interesting.

Now that I'm home, I was just reading this article in business week:

The biggest profit-margin gains came in two comparatively low-margin sectors: energy and materials, which continue to benefit from supersized jumps in oil and commodity prices. Oil prices hanging above $50 per barrel and the world's insatiable appetite for energy pushed the profit margin for that industry up to 9.1%, from 7.5% for the first quarter of 2004. Total earnings surged 50% over the period. Materials companies did energy one better: Higher metal and timber prices led margins to widen by 2.6 percentage points, to 6.3%, as profits jumped 103%.

How long can the record profit-margin run last? Already, "there are [fewer] places where margin expansion is occurring," says Robert T. McGee, chief economist at U.S. Trust Corp. Partly, that's simple cause and effect: Having reached and sustained those giddy levels, businesses naturally are enabled to increase capital spending and hiring, tightening the labor market. To be sure, if commodity prices keep spiking, and consumers get spooked, or if labor costs were to grow faster than expected, the margin momentum could slow. But the more likely outcome is good news for the U.S. economy in the long term -- more jobs and greater expansion.


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_21/b3934114.htm

People are becoming spooked about oil prices - it's all I hear today. When there's a waiting list for hybrid cars, and people are starting to cancel summer / thanksgiving / christmas trips to save gas money, it seems to me that the oil companies may be long-term shooting themselves in the foot by making record profits at a time when most Americans are suffering.
 
A 10% profit margin is unreasonable when it's 10% above all costs... I.E. Ceo profits that have multiplied by about 140% in about 7 years. That 10% that they are reporting is well after the CEO aft CFO have taken their vast cuts of the revenues. Is it illeagal? Iffy at best. Is it most definately short sighted as we are a petroleum based economy and the vast profits for the one company hurts all other buisness venture out there. And that doesn't even begin to take account for us the "Little People". In the end it will send the economy straight to the dumps if the current trend continues. With America having switched to a "Service" economy from a manufacturing economy, we cannot maintain this inflation much longer before a recession much more vast in scale than in 1929 occurs.

In other words, if we don't start fixing this situation and fast, this could be the death knell to America period.
 
How many gallons of gas Exxon sells in a year. Divide that by ten billion dollars. That would tell us how much they could lower their gas by. Of course that would not be realistic. Exxon sells lots of other goods besides gas.
 
[quote name='jmfell']A 10% profit margin is unreasonable when it's 10% above all costs...[/QUOTE]

Evidently someone needs to re-check the definition of the word "profit."

How much longer before people realize that the energy bill passed this year gives huge tax breaks to companies with record-breaking profits to continue producing the fuel of the past at the expense of the fuels of the future? And someone explain to the senator from Iowa that ethanol isn't the answer, either.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']ADM had a 7% gross profit margin in 2004. Hormel had a 23% gross profit margin in 2004. Tyson operated on an 8% gross profit margin in 2004. Georgia Pacific had a 25% gross profit margin in 2004. All are commodity based businesses; corn/soybeans, pork bellies, chicken and lumber respectively.

I fail to see how 10% is unreasonable.[/QUOTE]

How many companies have increased their profits by 75% in a single year?

Also, how many of those companies can increase their price arbitrarily due to being a cartel?
 
[quote name='jmfell']A 10% profit margin is unreasonable when it's 10% above all costs... I.E. Ceo profits that have multiplied by about 140% in about 7 years. That 10% that they are reporting is well after the CEO aft CFO have taken their vast cuts of the revenues. Is it illeagal? Iffy at best. Is it most definately short sighted as we are a petroleum based economy and the vast profits for the one company hurts all other buisness venture out there. And that doesn't even begin to take account for us the "Little People". In the end it will send the economy straight to the dumps if the current trend continues. With America having switched to a "Service" economy from a manufacturing economy, we cannot maintain this inflation much longer before a recession much more vast in scale than in 1929 occurs.

In other words, if we don't start fixing this situation and fast, this could be the death knell to America period.[/QUOTE]

This is when armchair message board economists are so fun to see and so easy to shoot down.

GDP muscles through
Economy brushes off storms and expands by 3.8 percent in 3Q, beating estimates.
October 28, 2005: 8:38 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy shook off headwinds from hurricanes Katrina and Rita to grow at a faster-than-expected 3.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, a Commerce Department report showed Friday.

Strong spending by consumers and by the government helped power the expansion forward as growth in gross domestic product -- the measure of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders -- accelerated from the second quarter's 3.3 percent rate.

Wall Street economists had forecast GDP would advance at a 3.6 percent rate in the July-to-September quarter. The economy has now expanded at rates exceeding 3 percent for 10 straight quarters.

In its first snapshot of third-quarter growth, the Commerce Department said it could not separate the economic effects of the twin hurricanes that struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in late August and September, though it said incomes likely suffered a $40-billion blow from lost wages and rents. Third-quarter GDP growth would have been more robust if the storms had not placed some drag on incomes.

Despite surging prices at the gasoline pumps, the report showed that so-called core inflation, which exempts food and energy from its calculation, declined in the third quarter. A price gauge favored by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- personal consumption expenditures excluding food and energy -- increased at a 1.3 percent annual rate compared with 1.7 percent in the second quarter. That marks the mildest rate of core price rises since the second quarter of 2003.

Fed policy-makers have pushed U.S. short-term interest rates up 11 times since mid-2004 to keep a rein on prices. Its policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday and is once again widely expected to nudge rates up a quarter percentage point.

Businesses reduced inventories for a second straight quarter. Stocks of unsold goods dropped at a $16.6-billion annual rate in the third quarter after declining at a $1.7-billion rate in the second quarter.

The third-quarter inventory drop was the largest since the fourth quarter of 2001 -- after the attacks in New York and on the Pentagon -- when they fell at an $86.7-billion rate, a department official said. It also marked the first back-to-back quarterly drops in stocks of unsold goods since the third and fourth quarters of 2001.

Lean inventories can imply that companies have room to ratchet production up quickly if they are confident that consumer spending will remain brisk - something that analysts have cautioned is questionable as costly energy takes a rising toll on household budgets with the winter heating season approaching.

In the third quarter, however, personal consumption expenditures that account for about two-thirds of national economic activity grew at a 3.9 percent annual rate, exceeding the second quarter's 3.4 percent.

Link

I know he's not coming back but I'd love to know what he thinks the parallels would be between 2005 and 1929 and how we're seeing the collapse of America. I can always use a good laugh before the weekend.
 
[quote name='MrBadExample']For those of us who don't believe in a trickle down economy, the problem is Exxon looks less than honest here. First off gas prices were already inflated this summer, then Katrina hits and the oil companies cry hardship because the refineries were hit. Now a normal person would understand them having to raise prices to cover that economic hit. But apparently they hiked the prices up enough to give themselves record profits. Sounds like gouging.[/QUOTE]

How dare you decry the voodoo economic legacy of the great and powerful Dutch! For shame, MBE, for shame! ;)
 
I guess cutting corners on healthcare helped those record profits too.

Exxon-Mobil Employees Given Fake Flu Shots

BAYTOWN, Texas - Fake flu shots were given out last week at a health fair at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown complex and an investigation was under way, authorities said.

Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Treacy A. Roberts said Thursday that the FBI told the company that what was administered "definitely not the flu vaccine."
 
[quote name='MrBadExample']I guess cutting corners on healthcare helped those record profits too.

Exxon-Mobil Employees Given Fake Flu Shots[/QUOTE]

Just to clarify, this was the health-care provider's crime, I seriously seriously doubt that Exxon thought to save a buck by giving it's employees some purified water shots.

Although you do have to not that karma is a bitch... :lol:
 
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