Oops... Gas Profits Did it Again (10.5 BILLION)

[Canuckistanian]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-rosenbaum/oops-gas-...

Bad timing that Exxon quarterly profit announcement. Just 11 days before the elections. Exxon PR left a reporter from ABC standing outside their Houston headquarters to call in for a phone interview. There response to the massive profits was a mix of embarrassment and confusion. And the media plays along. Why are gas prices going down these past few weeks?

Now we know. Because Exxon... Which sets the prices of the products it sells, knew this was coming.

~snip

The thing that is the most startling about this profit number is that the oil companies must have done every accounting trick in the book to try and bring this number down. Postpone income, accelerate expenses, bill every possible cost to the bottom line. So this is the number after they've done every trick in the book.

~snip

If you ran a company that provided an essential service, and increasing prices had no impact on sales or demand - why not raise prices and provide the profits to your stockholders?

[Atman]

1. Wow! The author needs to take The Quiz!

There/their, Mr. Rosenbaum. Look 'em up! In the very first paragraph, no less!

.

[Canuckistanian]

2. "The Quiz"?

Which quiz would that be?

[Atman]

3. How could you have missed it?!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

.

[Canuckistanian]

4. I got a 40/40 on that test

And yes, I caught the mistake. But the sentence could be read two ways, as I see it.

"There response to the massive profits was a mix of embarrassment and confusion."

Aha! Either it should be "Their response to the massive profits was a mix of embarrassment and confusion."

Or,

"There, response to the massive profits was a mix of embarrassment and confusion."

I read it as the latter.