Exon windfall profits

6. The 6.1% average profit margin for Exxon's industry "Major Integrated Oil and Gas" ranks #112 among all industries for the most recent quarter (data here), so if Obama wants to target "excessive" corporate profits, there are many other industries much more profitable than the oil and gas industry. For example, the surge in commodity prices has resulted in "windfall profit" margins of 31% for the silver industry, 23% for the copper industry and 19.8% for the gold industry. Internet providers are capturing 23% in profit margins, cigarette companies more than 21% and periodical publishers are earning a whopping 51.6% profit margin, so perhaps those would be ripe targets for Obama's new lust to confiscate "windfall profits."

Posted 9:42 PM

http://tinyurl.com/65bx2q8

Don't you think it's more of an appearance problem? Not a lot of Americans are affected by gold, silver, or copper prices, but when they fill up their tank and it's $60? Then they read that the oil companies are making record profits, that they aren't paying taxes and are receiving subsidies from the Government. It's appearance rather than the strict percentages.

Just my two cents.

Exxon makes $ .02 per gallon profit....the US, State, and local governments get $ .48 1/2 per gallon profit. Who really is making the windfall profits with oil?

When did 6.1% profit become a 'windfall profit'?

and

4. Dwarfing Exxon's first quarter profits of $10.65 billion, are the total taxes paid or collected around the world by Exxon from January to March, which totaled to$26.2 billion and include: a) $8 billion in income taxes, b) $10.3 billion in sales-based taxes, and c) $10.3 billion for all other taxes including property taxes, etc.

5. Exxon Mobil paid $8 billion in income taxes in the first quarter on $18.9 billion of income, which translates into a 42.3% effective income tax rate on its income. And yet according to Obama and others, oil companies "aren't paying their fair share of taxes," and should be taxed more?

So not only did Exxon pay their taxes despite being given "outrageous" tax credits unlike GE. They didn't make an obscene amount on their investments.

Things to consider, if oil companies set the price of oil and make record profits all the time, why don't you put oil stocks in your IRA? Since so much oil actually comes from national oil companies like Pemex, many American oil companies aren't making the big money, the foreign producers like Citgo of Venezuela are making the big bucks.
I have oil stocks in my IRA and sometimes they have good years and sometimes they have really bad years. One of my smaller oil company stocks had already contracted months ago to sell at much lower prices this year's production instead of $100 plus. (Doh!)