comment: >
  
  This is what happens when you try to kill an industry and that industry discovers how to survive.
context: $56B is equal to $1,775 every second for the entire year. >
  
  That's $745,500 in the 7 minutes between your post and this one. >
  
  that almost covers the cost of an ER visit! >
  
  You haven't gotten the bill from the anesthesia group yet, that'll come separate. >
  
  WHY DO THEY DO THIS!?!?!
  you pay $800 for a procedure that requires anesthesia then 3 months later you get another bill for $700 for the anesthesia. >
  
  Because they're crooks. >
  
  Anyway to fight this or make their lives miserable. What if we don’t pay? They coming for my car? >
  
  Your credit can be ruined because somehow those aren’t considered “medical bills” because the anesthesiologist is often considered an independent contractor. >
  
  That seems about right for these crooks. I didn’t know that. >
  
  Never forget what piece of shit Exxon did to the Prince William Sound in Alaska >
  
  Don’t read the litigation section of that Wikipedia article. It’ll fucking enrage you even more! They pissed around the law for years and went from having to pay 5 billion in punitive damages to only 500 
  To put it in common person amounts:
  If you made 60,000/year salary, your fine would have been around $5000 but it was reduced instead to $500 because multiple lawyers argued that you already paid $1000 in civil lawsuits for destroying over 200miles of habitat. 
  What a load of dog shit! >
  
  And it took like 20 years!!! American Scandal podcast has a great series on it. Fucking criminal bastards. >
  
  Why do they still get government subsidies? This shit is obscene. >
  
  It's called corporate welfare!! And people complain about giving food stamps to the poor!! >
  
  It drives me crazy that people from a certain political party bitch about the "welfare state" that take shots at the poorest people, yet don't say anything about corporate welfare.  These giant corporations don't need the extra income, whereas the poorest do. >
  
  Exactly, it has been reported the total compensation of the ExxonMobil CEO was $26,000,000 for 2021.
  More than likely, when this person retires he will use Medicare like the rest of us. But until that time, these same individuals often rail against the average employee receiving a living wage!! >
  
  Medicare doesn’t exclude the rich. No income limit. If it’s cheaper to use Medicare then he will. >
  
  At that pace, profits from just from one oil company could fund the entire US transit project backlog in under four years. >
  
  I think it's more important that a bunch of old rich white guys get some more generational wealth. >
  
  The majority shareholders of oil companies are mutual funds and retirement portfolios.
  It’s real easy to shit where you eat and fall for anti-capitalist rage bait, forgetting that the bulk of “increased share price” and those awful corporate profits are primarily benefiting the average worker both in terms of retirement savings (because GenX already knows that the current government programs for that will be long gone) and union pensions, but also in the form of lower insurance premiums for literally everything as the markets are themselves part of that whole mix. >
  
  I dont entirely disagree, but you gotta be able to get yourself a piece of the investment funds in order to see the benefit, which is becoming increasingly difficult to do. and giving a nod to the benefit of union pensions - not really arguing against an anti-capitalist sentiment. 
  "because GenX already knows that the current government programs for that will be long gone" - isn't that just an example of pulling up the ladder on their way up?  should we be making short term profits at the expense of long term climate impact? and record profits at a time when many countries are dealing with the most rapid increase in inflation in decades? it's hard to get too excited about a profit statement like this without feeling all the strings attached. >
  
  In the US, Social Security will be bankrupt by the time GenX starts retiring in just over a decade, because the demographics mean that there are fewer people to pay for it. If anyone has been yanking the ladder up, it’s the parents of GenX who implemented these systems solely to benefit themselves, and to hell with anyone that follows. Social Security’s solvency is entirely dependent on high birth rates and unsustainably high GDP growth. Several European countries and their social safety nets have already fallen off the demographic cliff. 
  Oh, and for extra funsies, fewer workers also drives wage inflation. And then couple that with an isolationist immigration policy that keeps an increased labor pool (which funds all that government) out of the country, and you’re headed for fiscal disaster. >
  
  I’m expecting to read a similar headline next year about one of the leading egg producers. >
  
  Likely the one behind Eggland's Best. I read that they were unaffected by the flu breakout but their prices are still high. My store has a 2 dozen pack for $6.99 but everything else is ridiculous and way worse. >
  
  The store I work at they’re the least expensive. >
  
  One thing people need to include in their egg price rants is their location and how long they’ve lived there.
  Since COVID began, the US Sunbelt has seen a massive influx of population. Tons more people fighting for the same amount of resources. 6 of the top 10 cities affected by inflation are in this area.
  I’m not saying these prices aren’t bullshit. The government stands by watching the poor and middle class be crushed. Historically companies hurt during inflation, too. This isn’t true inflation, it’s a massive gouge. >
  
  So, as we all knew anyways, the COVID pandemic was used as convenient cover to preoccupy the public while the Corporate world, according to a well respected business journal claims, raked in over 12 TRILLION dollars, last year. If that doesn't enrage you, probably nothing will. >
  
  I'm enraged...what do I do now? Wait for the next time I can fill in a piece of paper to hopefully get a government in power that will hopefully do something about it. And if that looks like it's happening, then hopefully they don't end up corrupt and/or not following though, or voted back out before it can happen.
  The simple fact is there's nothing realistically to be done. If governments meddle too much, people kick up a fuss and get others riled up "it'll be x next if we allow this" (just look at Brexit in the UK). If governments don't meddle enough...you guessed it people kick up a fuss. And round and round society goes.
  We'd need pretty much worldwide, agreed upon, yet paradoxically forced reform of many things and rapid radical changes that blindsided everyone, to convince everyone there is a better way. We're just too short sighted as a species which is why change take a long time.
  I mean think about it, if a benevolent dictator with absolute power came right now and said you all must do xyz, it will 100% be better for everyone, and you knew it would be, but they tell you it will be harsh for 10 years for many of us...people would revolt. It's just the way we are.
  As individuals or on small scales, we can be amazing. When forced to work together en masse during particularly significant adversity, we can be amazing. But in general...we're myopic apes that simply care about our own survival and that of our closest. It's a paradox of the human condition. >
  
  so your solution is to do nothing? >
  
  Do you have a better one? >
  
  Yea vote like your life depends on it — because it does. >
  
  I assume by "vote" you mean more than ticking a piece of paper every few years but also voting with your wallet, right? >
  
  Well you can’t really “vote with your wallet” when it comes to oil and gas companies. They have to be regulated by the government via anti price gouging laws and a department willing to enforce violations with severe penalties. >
  
  
  Well you can’t really “vote with your wallet” when it comes to oil and gas companies. 
  
  As someone who switched to EV in part out of unapologetic hatred for Exxon and BP, I must respectfully disagree.
  
  They have to be regulated by the government via anti price gouging laws and a department willing to enforce violations with severe penalties.
  
  I agree that should happen.  That's where the "ticking a piece of paper" bit comes in. >
  
  but it was Biden's fault gas was high last year, y'all.  /s >
  
  Right, how's that corporate wealth tax coming along? Lobbyist win once again. >
  
  Don't worry, they don't need that money anymore. Instead they're going to take it from people making more than $600 a year on ebay. >
  
  A decent government would hammer companies who price gouge their citizens. >
  
  Here in Ireland we installed windfall taxes on the energy companies who had major profits from power and the government gave everyone paying a power bill 3 x €200 credits off their account. It definitely helped >
  
  That would help SO much. That would be like 5 months of no energy bills for me. >
  
  Yeah they don’t get everything right but that really helped, it was €200 off each billing cycle throughout the winter months >
  
  Just add it to the list of things the US needs to do lol >
  
  Wait… the sticker at the gas pump told me Biden did it! If I can’t trust hastily attached gas station stickers then I don’t know what to trust anymore! >
  
  Son, I say son, we've been through this before. >
  
  See, now THAT is comedy. >
  
  Gas prices are a major driver of inflation. You want to assign blame? It’s obscene to put people through so much financial stress to support these corporate hogs! >
  
  Sure wish we had control over the oil drilled from our country.
  Instead, oil companies own our lawmakers. 
  Stop voting for these corporate owned motherfuckers. They don't have your interests in mind. >
  
  how about exported? We can drill drill and drill or build all kinds of pipelines but none of that matters if they just export it. >
  
  Well, if it was nationalized, the money made from exporting would go back to the taxpayers somehow. 
  You could fund green energy solutions, for example. 
  Anything except making these greedy fuckers wealthier while they destroy the planet for profit. >
  
  Nationalizing oil is how you get coups. >
  
  I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard of a Norwegian coup. >
  
  Well have you heard of the Iranian coup of 1953? Where American and British intelligence agencies over threw a socially progressive budding democracy because they dared to nationalize their oil industry to stop the bleeding of an arrogant colonial power? That is what I was referencing.... >
  
  Norway nationalized 20 years later and they were not interfered with. 
  If nationalizing oil is how you get coups why wasn’t there a coup in Norway? Or is that single instance you’ve referred to not an absolute predictor? 
  Corruption and greed breed coups. >
  
  Yes, and America is greedy and corrupt. I never said Norway, which would be the exception to the world. Our politicians are already bought by big oil but if America were to try and nationalize our oil you would see a swift turnover of politicians in congress supported by oil companies- a silent coup. No one was talking about Norway but you.
  Edit to add- look up the nationalization of oil in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Venezuela, and as I previously referenced -Iran- if you'd like to learn more about the political complications that come with nationalizing oil. >
  
  I understand it happens. What I’m saying is it’s not something you can throw a blanket statements over like that. 
  I have actually found a study on this exact subject. “ A large literature investigates the relation between oil and conflict, yet no empirical study has found any link between oil and coups d’état. Using a new data set on oil production separated into onshore and offshore volumes, oil price shocks are seen to promote coups in onshore-intensive oil countries, while preventing them in offshore-intensive oil countries.” >
  
  What is their tax rate? >
  
  About 25.9% for income tax but does not include other employer taxes such as half of all employee payroll taxes ((15.3%÷2) x all employee wages) >
  
  Because people have allowed themselves to become STUPID enough to let billionaires have all the power, and are satisfied with being their slaves. Our grandparents and great grandparents were smart enough to know that they were doing all the work, and deserved a piece of the profits, so they unionized, and fought for all the workplace benefits that people are happily surrendering to the billionaire class today. They had single income families, bought a new car every 3 or 4 years,  bought a house that was paid off by retirement age, when they could hang it up and enjoy life with their "three-legged stool" - pension, savings, and Social Security. They could also put their kids through college so they could have an even better life.  
  Today people come out of college with debt that will take at least a generation to pay off, housing and cars are becoming harder and harder to afford, and people are even deciding to put off getting married and have children because they don't want to double their student loan responsibilities. Forget one income households, it takes at least two incomes these days, and parents are happy to keep an adult child or two at home to contribute to the bills. Savings is nearly impossible, and even if you could save, the interest rates have been so low for the last 20 years that inflation outpaced savings account interest. 
  Now Republicans (the billionaires' hired lackeys) want to raise retirement age to 70, and eliminate Social Security and Medicare, and nearly 50% of Americans are STUPID enough to cheer for it for literally no other reason than because the other nearly 50% are appalled by the idea. They will give up the security in their old age that their grandparents fought for, because they think it's funny that the other people are upset by it. Meanwhile, billionaires are rubbing their hands and laughing maniacally at how wonderfully their evil plan is working out. 
  THAT'S how being STUPID ties to billionaires. And people are idiotic enough to downvote my original post, and proving my statement that Intelligence is Freedom and Stupidity is Slavery. >
  
  Most people just scraping by and one pay-check from homelessness, yet corporations are bringing in record profits. It's fucking disgusting. >
  
  Just think how the regular employees feel seeing this while being told they can't get raises because the company desperately needs to cut costs. >
  
  So you are telling me that gas prices were artificially inflated? >
  
  Nothing artificial about price gouging. It's the real deal. >
  
  points to headline BIDEN DID THIS drives away in F-350 doing the Carolina Squat >
  
  Is this the "Free Market" the Republican Love so much? >
  
  There aren’t going to be any new oil companies that would improve competitiveness in the industry and control cost. Probably the opposite is on the horizon so watch out for the first big merger where Chevron and Exxon claim they just can survive without joining up to corner the market >
  
  This reminds me of the parody commercial in Parks and Rec where Exxon, Chipotle, and Verizon are going to merge to become one of America’s 8 companies lol. >
  
  Since the Franchise Wars, every restaurant is a Taco Bell. >
  
  Fuck these greedy poisonous fucks. >
  
  I guess they'll have to raise gas prices about it. >
  
  I guess all of those high gas prices weren't political, just price gouging. >
  
  Because YOU buy their product every second of every day. >
  
  Wonder how much tax they'll avoid paying? >
  
  On our local news they said because they managed prices so well…. Ya you gouged the fuck outta them. Absolute dog shit. I don’t even know why I live anymore. So tired of this greedy ass world >
  
  Time to give back those subsidies! >
  
  Definitely was just the price of oil increasing due to market demand, no using that as an excuse to price gouge further /s >
  
  The amount of rampant inflation these cunts caused is reason enough to jail the lot of them.The very fact that this kind of piracy isn't illegal makes civilization seem like you read about in a book. >
  
  
  Windfall profit taxes are "unlawful and bad policy," countered Mikells. Slapping new taxes on oil earnings "has the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve," she said, adding that it would discourage new oil and gas production.
  
  This scummy shitfucker knows she has the country by the balls. In other words:
  
  Tax us and we’ll reduce production
  
  What. The. Fuck. >
  
  Love it when an underdog succeeds 🥰 >
  
  ...and this is why nothing truly impactful has been or will be done about climate change. >
  
  Bingo. With this much money changing hands every day nothing eill ever be done. >
  
  Hey now, don’t focus on this. You need to focus on real problems like Critical Race Theory. Have you heard the libs are coming for your gas stoves? >
  
  it's just blatant in your face and there's nothing anyone can do cause all the elected clowns are just puppets to corporate. >
  
  Isn't it odd how all oil companies were whining over gas prices and how hard it is for them while justifying insane price hikes and then they post all time record profits. Pick fucking one. >
  
  Fucking gross. Wish I'd bought stock. >
  
  Fuckin figures. We all know they have the shit. Shits like a double edged sword. Sure I’d like an electric service truck, but at the same time I don’t have $1,300,000 to buy it, so I’m still stuck getting buttfucked at the pump for my silverado. Both sides are playing the game here… I think the bicycle is making a real comeback and wfh jobs are more abundant. >
  
  Cool, tell me more about inflation please >
  
  So glad US government subsidized big oil! Wanna get rich? Get yourself elected! >
  
  Wait...I thought gas prices were all Biden's fault!?! >
  
  This is one energy company. One energy company that also takes advantage of every bit of government welfare possible everywhere they operate.
  Any time I watch some mouthpiece for one of these pirates speak, I don't even need to have the sound on, because anything they say to justify high energy prices can be followed with "...so that we can maintain tens of billions in net profit every year."
  Why do we continue to put up with this? It is driving inflation, it will soon be largely responsible for a recession, and we pay through the nose at the pump and meter, and with our taxes as subsidies. It creates obscene profits benefiting a very few. >
  
  Inflation = mask for corporate greed.
  Change my mind. >
  
  People still blame President Biden for the high gas prices >
  
  The one thing POTUS has pretty much zero control over seems to be the thing people blame POTUS the most for. >
  
  This why the republicans want to abolish the IRS, so companies like Exxon don’t have to show their windfalls >
  
  Even if they abolish the IRS, they will still make sure you pay your taxes on that juicy $7.25/hr minimum wage. Don’t you be late on that payment. >
  
  Meanwhile I'm scraping by with almost nothing...glad the corporations are doing so well🤦‍♂️ >
  
  Really? Who of thunk it.. >
  
  Tax the fuck outta them. >
  
  I encourage everybody willing to even think about it, to slow down on the roadways.  Accelerate slowly, brake lightly, don't exceed the speed limit.  Keep a keen eye on your mileage and strive to beat a goal.  Stay in the right lane on the freeway and let everybody else empty their pockets for these fuckers as they zoom past you.  Learn which hills and what landmarks you can start coasting for the stoplights on your commute so you get as many free stretches of travel you can.  Make it a game to beat.
  You can do this and safely make it to your destination and the extra time you spend in the car really isn't significant at all.  60 mph is still a mile a minute on the freeway.  We've only routinely gone that speed for just one lifetime in our species' history, or so.  On non-freeways, never exceed the speed limit.  If nobody's behind you, dare to go even slower.
  I've been doing it since 2008 when gas first hit $4/gallon.  I've made it from A to B every single time.  Nobody has "run me over," and I've never hit a deer once in 33+ years of driving while living in Indiana or Michigan my whole life (with countless close calls).  I've easily saved $10,000 or more since '08 on just fuel.  Who among us could use 10 grand in the bank right now?  It adds less than 180 seconds to my cross-county commute.
  It's considered extreme but it ought to be considered being responsible and sensible.  You can do it!  It's so freeing.  Think about how many days in your life you wake up and drive to work and back.  A little here and a little there adds up.  Please consider it, and we can all take a bite out of those insane profits of theirs and keep it for ourselves instead. >
  
  And every one of us (definitely me, too) are guilty of being complacent.  They keep us too busy to be able to take a stand on anything without giving up something great in our own lives. Forcing us to take our own short-term gains over everyone's long-term games. >
  
  Windfall. Profits. Tax. >
  
  Absolutely not. That would reduce supply which is what helped get us into this mess. You need to nationalize the industry. >
  
  The amount of profit “going to the executives” is trivial. As for the shareholders, thats mostly people’s retirement and pension funds. >
  
  Economy issue isn't inflation.
  Issue is companies are forcing artificial scarcity.
  We need ceilings on companies. >
  
  
  are forcing artificial scarcity.
  
  You want a green energy future.
  But at the same time you told oil companies to stop investing.  And after that COVID price swing into negative territory, oil companies are none too keen to announce big development projects anyways.
  The only cure for high oil prices is for oil companies to drill for more oil.
  But you don't like that.
  So tell me my friend how you would lower oil prices.
  And why aren't you driving an electric car if you're so concerned. >
  
  My solar cost me a whopping 2500 out of my own pocket.
  Decentralized energy is amazing and saved the economy money too when I sell my energy back cheap....
  I would literally kill off oil and force the creation of solar panels....
  Eia.gov laughs about your oil good narratives though.. I worked at a few oil refineries too >
  
  When is congress going to get off its marshmallow ass and pass a windfall tax.  When are consumers going to get off their ass and demand one.  More than anything, the Fed is fighting 'manufactured corporate inflation' as much as anything.  Profiteering on the back of the middle class. You've been told inflation is because of supply problems and COVID.  Much of inflation last year was good ol' fashioned stick it to consumers.  WHY ARE YOU SO COMPLIANT? >
  
  One more thing - Oil companies are buying back their own stock during an inflationary cycle - WHY:  Because disgustingly high profits off consumers is soooooooooooo good. >
  
  So tell me again how there was a shortage, refining capacity issues, supply issues…. This is how they tell us we r gauging u without telling us. >
  
  That’s why I have Exxon stock. >
  
  Me too. >
  
  Every oil company has been seeing yearly consecutive record profits yet still, people here in Canada will vote against their best interest because of their belief that it's the carbon taxes that are causing gas prices to be so high and that it's causing oil companies to have to lay off their workforces "ruining" our economy. >
  
  Thought Biden was causing the high gas prices?!? >
  
  All you idiots blaming Mr Biden. F U >
  
  Someone really should've tried to pass some kind of price gouging legislation... >
  
  It's counterintuitive that neglecting your company's infrastructure hurts everyone but you. >
  
  That's capitalism baby. >
  
  It's almost like they couly be charging less to help combat rising oil prices >
  
  oh ya blame inflation on the working class smh >
  
  Capitalism gonna capitalize >
  
  Close your eyes, Conservatives! Gas prices need to be Bidens fault. >
  
  I hope they thank Joe Biden. Every gas pump I went to this year had a sticker with him point to the gas prices saying, “I did that!” >
  
  Now WE know why war exists and who Profits fml >
  
  Cool. Big corporations getting richer. >
  
  Good for them now if only there was something they could do about these damn fuel prices. >
  
  And they tried to blame it all on Biden >
  
  So glad we keep giving them subsidies. It totally makes sense. >
  
  The system is working perfectly. The common folk blame the President for high prices while the oil companies and government collide for record profits - and the citizens stay quiet. >
  
  So I guess the gas price hike WASN'T due to inflation and their own rising costs... >
  
  We are born in this world to make other cumts rich.. ffs >
  
  "Conservative estimates put U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year; with 20 percent currently allocated to coal and 80 percent to natural gas and crude oil. European Union subsidies are estimated to total 55 billion euros annually." 
  — Environmental & Energy Study Institute >
  
  They pay that valdez settlement yet? >
  
  This can’t be correct.  Stickers on gas pumps from MAGA nuts told me high gas prices were caused by Biden, not corporate greed. >
  
  I mean, he allowed it. Our government has the power to stop this kind of shit and they've done it in the past so at this point if he's not directly responsible he's definitely enabling it by doing nothing. >
  
  Oh, I didn’t realize those stickers were actually advocating for price controls.  Lol >
  
  Maybe we should start a counter movement of gas pump stickers demanding Biden seize the means of production and redistribute them to the working class. >
  
  And then everybody had surprised Pikachu faces like they didn't gouge us insanely last year with no accountability. >
  
  ....and they're still laying people off (but the managers are getting big bonuses.) >
  
  Lemme guess, stock buy back time? >
  
  What a joke. And gas prices have still not come down to where they should be >
  
  well according to the stickers plastered all over my local gas pump it's all Biden's fault . .  right? >
  
  Remember the price of oil went up because of the war.
  The war didn't require profit margins to increase >
  
  Democrats wanted to place extra taxes on these windfall profits but republicans blocked it. >
  
  And some dumb fuck rides around my town either bumper sticker, “If you voted for Biden, you owe me gas money.” >
  
  This alone is responsible for the higher gas prices which, in turn,  caused higher food prices, which led to inflation spiral and f'd the country.  Tax the rich and tax these leech companies. >
  
  When the world burns, these mother fuckers just count their dollars.... >
  
  Damn, Biden and the Marxist dems crushed another big oil company with their recession and radical environmentalism. First Chevron, now Exxon. I'm sure conservatives are just jumping at the chance to lash out over this news. >
  
  LMAO MARXIST DEMS!!!!!!! oh fuck that’s a good one >
  
  Remember when prices suddenly spiked because of 'inflation'? Yeah... >
  
  In malignant Capitalism this profit is sometimes called "Inflation" >
  
  That’s literally not what inflation is. Go back to Econ 101. >
  
  Exxon mobile’s dick ain’t gonna suck itself, right? >
  
  This right here, is the major cause of inflation. >
  
  It's the result of inflation not the cause of it.  If everything is denominated in more dollars so will the profits.  Of course they are going to have higher profits. >
  
  It’s the cause of inflation. All major corporations are playing the “unwoke” to do their bidding for them.
  Even the factory farms are getting in on the “refinery fire” game. 
  The corporations are manufacturing crisis to gouge the general public. >
  
  Are business in Turkey, Venezuela, or Argentina hundreds of times more profitable?  I don't think so but then I don't think profit causes inflation. >
  
  Profit doesn't cause inflation, but high gas prices do.
  When the shareholders demand production is kept low so that they can keep raking in money, it's going to cost everyone more to do business due to higher shipping and transportation costs.
  Of course it's not the only cause, but it had to be a factor. >
  
  2022 was a record production year for Exxon in North America, which helped lead to record profits.
  The shareholders would not want to produce less because then there is less to sell, where did you people learn math?? >
  
  Fuck corporate sociopaths and their shareholders.. this is blood money. >
  
  That anti EV campaign paying off. >
  
  It’s time to nationalize the energy sector. 
  The entire industry doesn’t make sense. The resources are owned by the citizens of the country. The government that represents the citizens provides incentives to private companies to extract the resources and then sell them back to the citizens for profit. The entire idea was of it is absurd but everyone has been conditioned to just accept it. >
  
  Time to pay compensation for all the damage they caused. >
  
  Omg!  Quickly!  More tax breaks!  Must save Exxon! >
  
  They are huge welfare queens and massively overwork and under pay their workers. >
  
  Is that ExxonMobil who was aware of the effects of climate change and suppressed the research for the last 50 years? >
  
  Yeah they got it from price gouging that mysteriously ended right after the election those fucks. >
  
  We really need to get rid of capitalism for the sake of humanity and the planet >
  
  Fuel prices are a bitch, but imagine how much worse it would be if so many jobs weren't remote WFH? I'm pretty sure that was another motive for oil companies to gauge like they did, too. >
  
  Time to tax them even harder. >
  
  Guess who pays for that increased cost? >
  
  Guess who paid with that increased profit? >
  
  And now we know why inflation was so high. >
  
  So maybe those prices are inflated by corporate greed after all.... >
  
  But we're constantly supposed to be afraid of a recession.  What there really is now is the all time greatest grift job by corporations. >
  
  And also a recession, because recessions aren't about how much wealth big companies and their billionaire owners have stashed away, they're about how much money regular folks have relative to the their needs. >
  
  Right but its a self fulfilling prophecy because regular folks see less money left over after expenses because things like food and gas are all going up so significantly in price... while the corporations take in record profits and at the same time cut 10,000 jobs >
  
  Wow and how is this not a root cause of inflation? Greedy motherfuckers! >
  
  No wonder everyone thinks nuclear power is bad and dangerous. >
  
  Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones printing the Biden stickers to distract rubes from the real causes of rising gas prices >
  
  Sounds like the US needs to give them a tax break >
  
  Pretty happy to never give them a dime for the rest of my life. >
  
  I consulted there.   They had huge cost cuts and a huge increase in production.  Naturally that results in record profits.  Keep in mind they don’t set global oil prices.   They also invested huge in exploration and future production.  That’s how you get lower prices in the future.  Taxing the hell out of them is a knee jerk reaction that won’t help consumers in the long run. >
  
  Thats cool and all but if you track crude prices to gas prices, they historically correlate at the same rate. This past year, that went way out of whack. We were 20% higher gas prices while still lower crude prices than 2008. This was certainly not all innocent and pure like they'd like you to think. 
  The ship has sailed on taxing them, I agree. Too little too late, all it will do is cause them to play accounting tricks to get the profits in line to avoid taxes. Pushing for alternatives to big oil is the only thing that will bring these guys back to earth - and hope that we as a society don't let the alternatives become the next Exxon. >
  
  Imagine how much they could have made without inflation from all those government handouts. How can they possibly continue to survive on these slim margins. >
  
  With oil companies hurting like this we DEFINITELY NEED TO INCREASE THE SUBSIDIES they receive every year. You know so they don't go bankrupt. >
  
  Wonder how much they pay to astroturf on Reddit about EVs >
  
  But the poor fossil fuel industry >
  
  Looks like Biden Didn’t do that then >
  
  I'm so sick of this country. >
  
  I hope gas goes up to $20/l >
  
  Absolutely disgraceful, they should be taxed heavily on this. >
  
  Somebody should smash Exxon >
  
  Im so happy exxon is making money, im even gonna laugh at the people who protest against big oil >
  
  So it’s price gouging and acting like it’s inflation >
  
  How did they make so much profit when fuel was difficult to get and to move around. That was the reason for the gas price hikes, right? Right?! >
  
  Yet they gotta raise gas prices and fund all the anti climate change studies that they can. 
  If only the world leaders weren't such pathetic opportunists and 
  A) cap the price 
  B) tax the shit out of them and earmark it towards environmental and climate related protection 
  C) hold them responsible for the decades of disinformation campaigns >
  
  Meanwhile our planet is being destroyed, cause shareholders. >
  
  Corporate greed at its finest! >
  
  So just some basic math on anyone claiming that gas profits are not absurd, the us production costs are ~36 dollars a barrel.   
  So their profits were the cost of 1.55555 billion barrels of oil.  
  The USA uses about 3.94 million barrels a day based on December calculations, so that is including the excess oil used for heat.   
  Which gives us  roughly 395 days of USA oil consumption that they profited.    
  In a year they made more money than it would cost them to supply the entire USA with oil for a year.   
  If they had been willing to give the entire USA free oil for next year, they’d have still had 30 days of profit at the end of it, or 4.3 billion in profit. >
  
  And gas is still expensive wtf these corporations are out to suck us dry. It’s a level of greed at the expense of others that I can not comprehend. >
  
  And they don't pay taxes on it either. >
  
  What about that line that says “income taxes” with a number above $20B? >
  
  And still pays 0 taxes… >
  
  Where do you get 0 taxes from? Because the financials show that they paid $20B in income taxes in 2022.