This from Mike Davis:
Cries of price gouging in for the oil industry from Democrats such as Chuck Schumer are nothing new. Now it seems that Republicans are jumping on the band wagon. Last week, after Exxon Mobil (XOM) published record quarterly profits of $9.9 billion, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called for hearings to see whether a windfall profits tax should be imposed. Checking the SEC 10-Q filing reveals the following:
Now, since the CEO and CFO signed these documents and that under Sarbannes-Oxley they are subject to severe criminal and civil penalties if these figures are in any way false, I assume that they are substantially correct. They reinforce the research that contends that oil companies make 10 cents per gallon on gasoline while Federal, State and Local Government make a combined total of 45 cents.
