Dance Away Your Problems....

In a time of economic crisis, mortgage foreclosures, banks closing, wall street crashes, high unemployment, injured quarterbacks and an upswing in hangnails, one thing remains the same. Exxon profits for another quarter hits $14.83 BILLION dollars.....

According to a story dated 10/31/08 in the St Petersburg Times, Exxon Mobil broke its own record for quarterly profits. Hey, when records get broken its always best when you break your own. Exxon's earnings were up 58% from 2007 third quarter earnings. Its full year earnings will easily set new marks in the history of U.S. corporate profits.


Exxon's earnings growth came from its production of crude oil, where high prices more than offset production volumes that were 8% lower than they were in the third quarter of 2007. They also made more money from its refining and marketing operations, widening profit margins in those areas even as retail prices set new record highs over the summer.

During the quarter that ended Sept., 30, Exxon Mobil also spent $8.7-billion buying back its own stock! Of course Exxon says this helps return money to the shareholders. I'm so glad that they are always thinking of the welfare of their shareholders and not their overall profit.....Critics have argued that the company should be using the money to expand oil and gas exploration or to invest in renewable energy.

So there you have it. Another record profit quarter for the company. And, of course, if they made a profit do you think the other oil companies might have made a small profit also?

The past few weeks we have seen gas prices fall at the pumps. Granted, they don't fall as fast as they rise. A penny or so every couple of days and it jumps by tens of cents when they have an increase. It's easy to find gas prices under $2 in some areas of the country and most places it is just slightly above $2-$2.25. Less consumer usage is one reason that you hear about but have you noticed that you don't hear much talk about it in the media? Wouldn't you think that some nosey reporter would start asking questions about why prices have dropped so much or why barrel prices have fallen so quickly? If it is happening now why wasn't it happening a year or two ago?

What's the odds in Vegas that now that the election is over the prices will start climbing back up? Maybe they'll hold off until the holidays to make it look like this wasn't a plan in the first place. But you can bet your mortgage (if you still have one) that we will be paying $4 a gallon in a few months.

But since our new president-elect will be paying off people's homes and giving them money not to work then we can use that money to buy our gas.

And its always good to see when political opponents can set aside their differences and come together in a sign of unity....