Oil Industry Seeks to Cast Huge Profits as No Big Deal
The WP reports: By most familiar comparisons, the $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would cover all Social Security benefit payments for three months. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids. It would pay the average list price for more than 160 Boeing 737s. It would fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than two months.
And Forbes comments: A record earnings season for the oil industry is stoking increased grumbling from politicians, citizens and activists who want the U.S. government to levy a windfall profits tax on companies that are enjoying their highest profits ever.
So whats you take? Do they just suck us dry or do they deserve those huge profits?