Making Money Off You: EXXON Posts $45.2 BILLION In Profits for 2008

So if history proves right, profits will plummet over the next three quarters due to deflated crude prices. Record bonuses will still be paid out to executives, but by the end of 2009 Exxon will ask for a bailout from the feds.

009 record bonus's will still be paid because unlike every other company they are not lossing money and the executives are doing the job that is asked of them.

However vile you may find Virtuoso's posts, however far off topic they may be, he should still be allowed to post, plain and simple. What would be more handy is a "ignore this user" feature like they have on ATS. That and the U2U feature are wonderful tools for people who like to blog all day long.

First of all I agree, his posts are pointless. Anyone who has raised a toddler understands why Virt does what he does, the more you acknowlede him the more you feed him. After reading about 3 of his posts I ignored him whenever I saw him.

BSBB why does Exxon have to justify its profits. Those profits are no where near the top of the profit margin ladder. Those companies are the likes of Microsoft and Google. But those companies are never asked to have tax shelters removed and subject to windfall profit tax. If you look at the income statement for Exxon for Q3 2008 they spent over 20 Billon on exploration. If you remove that charge Exxon would have made close to close to 40 billon in Q3 profit.

Your quote- "However, one cannot deny that Exxon/Mobil and others exploited to the greatest extent the oil price situation that occurred last summer". Ball sucking bat boy, I for one DENY it. The huge run up on oil last summer can largely be attributed to two factors... The Chicoms hoarding fuel for the Olympics, and a bunch of money grubbing commodity traders speculating on oil futures. Here's a quote from an article EVERYBODY should read..... "Last Sunday, however, a CBS 60 Minutes segment blew that notion out of the water. A far more likely culprit in the oil price frenzy, as some experts in the field tried to signal, were speculators who had entered the field of commodities and oil futures in a big way. Hedge funds and investment banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and J.P. Morgan facilitated investor demand for commodities and oil futures, Michael Greenberger, former director of trading for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission told 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft. And those same banks “made billions investing hundreds of billions of dollars of their clients’ money,” said Greenberger." AND WE BAILED OUT THESE BANKS. WHAT'S BEEN GONG ON IN WASHINGTON FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS IS DOWN RIGHT SICKENING. FYI the article is right here: http://www.automotive-fleet.com/Blog/Down-the-Road/Story/2009/01/What-Really-Caused-Those-Skyrocketing-Oil-Prices.aspx

With cash like that, the oil companies can set the price of gas at any level desired regardless of the price of crude on the open market for the next decade. And what price will it be set at? As high as they can so long as alternative fuels are not cost effective and the government does not step in and set prices for them. The last 18 months was nothing more than a test. Now they know EXACTLY at what price competition really begins and when demand goes down.

I guess if execs are supposed to receive bonuses for doing a good job, the exxon guys deserve it, but whatever happened to people doing a good job out of loyalty to the job and pride in themself? I don't think anyone should be given a fortune as a salary and then have to be coaxed into doing a "good" job by being offered a bonus that rivals the GDP of small countries.

Cyco, I fully understand the concept of the bonuses to entice the "best" executives to swoop in and save a company in danger of failing, but why not make the bonus conditional? Attach the bonuses with the company's stock value.