Obscene Profits

I do not know where we are going, but I do know this—that wherever it is we shall lose our way.
Práxedes Sagasta, Spanish politician

Oil company profits are excessive which is proof that they were gouging consumers at the pumps. ExxonMobil made $10 billion in profit for the third quarter. That is more than $3 billion a month.

Worse than watching oil executives take home lotto-sized bonuses, is learning they have no plans to invest in furthering research in alternative or renewable energy.

"We're an oil and gas company. In times past, when we tried to get into other businesses, we didn't do it well. We'd rather re-invest in what we know," says Exxon spokesman Dave Gardner.

...Exxon [will not] significantly step up how much money it puts into finding oil or refining it into gasoline, which could help ease tight supplies that have driven oil and gasoline prices to records this year.

This is when the government should step in, tax the company, and invest the money in alternative energy. If one of our top energy companies, which can help or hurt the economy depending on either its greed or foresightedness, cannot see its way to improve then it should be up to the government to force its hand.