More Dollars Per Gallon

And this is only for the fourth quarter of 2005, mind you. Reuters (01.30.06):

"Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Monday reported a quarterly profit of more than $10 billion, capping a record year dominated by a surge oil and gas prices. The results pushed up Exxon's profit for the year to a staggering $36.13 billion -- bigger than the economies of 125 of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank. Profit was up 42 percent from the record results of 2004." Exxon profit tops $10 billion, capping record year

What Reuters is probably referring to is the World Bank's estimate of total gross domestic product for 2004. "Exxon Mobil is the last of the major U.S. oil producers to report fourth-quarter earnings. Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and Amerada Hess Corp. all reported profit increases last week. Hess's earnings almost doubled, and Marathon's almost tripled." The previous record for quarterly profits was set in the third quarter of 2005. Anyone care to venture a guess as to which company this was? The reaction of the top 1 percent of US households who own 57.5% of our corporate wealth (as of 2003) was rumored to be discretely enthusiastic. After all, not everyone owns Exxon.