My view of the world

From the NY Times:
Exxon Mobil, aided by strong energy prices, disclosed Monday that it had set a record for profits among American companies, reporting $36 billion in annual income. But while most companies would be proud to trumpet record profits, Exxon Mobil did everything it could to play down the news.
For Exxon Mobil, which also handily widened its lead over Wal-Mart as the company with the largest revenues in the nation, the report was an embarrassment of riches. Anxious about criticism of the results, executives began laying the groundwork months ago to try to prevent a political reaction against the company and the energy industry.

For example, Exxon Mobil paid for advertisements in leading newspapers arguing that profit margins in the industry lagged far behind those of other industries, like pharmaceuticals and banking.

In one measure of Exxon Mobil’s wealth and influence, its revenue of $371 billion surpassed the $245 billion gross domestic product of Indonesia, an OPEC member and the world’s fourth most populous country, with 242 million people.

Please feel sorry for the poor oil company, they suffered damage from hurricane Katrina and had no choice but to raise prices, and for God’s sake, write your congressman and insist that these poor defenseless oil companies get the “one time”tax break they so desperately need.

“It’s good to be the king”, but, sometimes it’s just as good to have him on speed dial.