The Oil Profit Illusion

Sure oil companies are making money, however politicians particularly liberal ones are making it an issue. Heres a fact for you in the fiscal quarter that ended in July Exxon Mobil made 9.32 percent rate of return for its investors. Conversely AOL Time Warner gave back 15.63 percent rate of return for its investors. Is their profit out of line I don't think so. What oil stocks are is extremely stable investments financially. They are a favorite of institutional investors such as retirement funds. An example of a major investor in Exxon Mobil would be the Pennsylvania State Teachers Retirement Fund and so forth. So Barack Obama and Congresswoman Maxine Waters of Los Angeles talk about annexing the profits of big oil it smacks of demagoguery and politics of the lowest common denominator. To annex oil profits through tax or otherwise strikes me as acutely myopic and Stupid. It is a short term solution to a long term problem. If congress really wanted to do something about high oil prices they should mandate higher gas mileage for new cars. New Cars should get sixty to eighty miles a gallon. That would do more to address the problem than would short term annexation of oil money. Those are my thoughts for the day.
Seraph