I too blame G.W. for the boom in third world economies.... not walmart at all. I also blame Exxon and Shell for having companies that sell products. Shame on them for maintaining a profit margin as the cost of oil goes on the rise. Damn you Bush, if you had attacked China and India then they wouldn't be trying to grow as countries with infrastructure and electricity and I could still laugh while I filled my "economical" 20 MPG SUV towing my twin 8 cylinder cigarette boat to the lake for the day. Damn you I say.

PS if you had EXM you would have lost money with news of record profits.... think about that... you'd have to use 20's to light those illegal cigars.

I think this is where we're going to have to agree to disagree.

I just find it ... interesting... that this quarter both companies produced less but earned more.

They're not dumb, they're trying to make money. It's like the Red Sox charging $26 for a bleacher seat and the Dodgers charging $10. You get as much for a product as people are willing to pay.

I do surmise, however, that a more liberal President might look into this matter. However, considering that GW Bush and Dick Cheney both have worked as executives in oil companies in the past ... I don't find it surprising.

Then again not only do I think that the Iraq war about oil, I think that the Afghanistan war is about finding a quick route to the ocean for Kazakhstani oil. Seriously.

Anyway, would you like to comment on the fact that American petroleum product exports have hit record levels lately? Why should we offshore drill if we're just shipping the oil to other countries?

We can definately agree to disagree. I say that while yes they produced less, you can see that over the years summer has been the season that they tend to produce less as annual maintenance and weather play major roles in their production schedules. My point is that we are a democracy in a capitalistic world. We as a country can not tell companies how much to charge for their product. Have you had to buy batteries lately? Seriously some AA's cost 10 bucks for 4 batteries. In Tyler's toys that last about a week. I bet it comes out to about 50 cents a minute. If I drive my Midsized SUV for the same amount of time the batteries last, I bet it only costs me 20 cents a minute. DAMN DURACELL!! I want to know why the President doesn't step in and make them only charge 2 bucks for the batteries like they used to when I was a kid. That is my point. Start at oil and it won't end. I think that Apple is ripping people off for their products (and have been for years), can't we do something about that too? No we can't. Is it all G.W. and the Oil companies? No. Is it OPEC? No. It is the consumer that takes it like Steve's mom and keeps asking for more. When you are car shopping, are you going to buy a hybrid to keep your fuel costs down? I didn't think so. So let's all get together for a BBQ and toast the most successful companies in the world. The ones that over charge us on a product that we have become addicted to all while killing us and the planet.