You Know These Bastards Are Laughing All The Way to the Banks

WaPo: Exxon Mobil Posts $10.36 Billion Profit
Company Faces New Round of Criticism

Exxon Mobil Corp. said yesterday that its second-quarter earnings jumped 36 percent, to $10.36 billion, boosted by climbing oil prices and larger profits at its refineries.

The quarterly profit -- the second-largest in U.S. history -- brought forth a fresh round of criticism from consumer and environmental groups. Critics accused the Irving, Tex.-based company of getting rich at the expense of motorists -- squeezed by $3-a-gallon gas prices -- while distributing billions to shareholders through dividends and by buying back shares. The largest quarterly profit by an American company, $10.71 billion, was also posted by Exxon, in the fourth quarter of 2005.

One bank would be too small to hold all the ill-gotten gains. Will a Democrat stand up and propose a windfall profits tax? How many quarters of record profits will it take?