[gr8fuldaniel]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...-home-business

Taking Aim at Oil's Riches Some want the industry to use its record profits to boost production, but many companies are cautious. Two senators back a consumer rebate. Los Angeles Times Business By Tom Petruno, Times Staff Writer Even for Big Oil, the numbers have never been as big as this. When major U.S. energy companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. announce their third-quarter earnings in the next few days, the results are certain to be staggering. Pumped up by soaring prices of oil, natural gas and gasoline in August and September, Exxon Mobil alone is expected to report quarterly profit of about $8.7 billion. That would be more than what such titans as Coca-Cola Co., Intel Corp. and Time Warner Inc. earn in an entire year. For the energy companies, the record results amount to an embarrassment of riches — an invitation for attack by foes and even by some traditional allies. "The question increasingly is going to be, what is the industry going to do with this money?" said Amy Jaffe, head of the James A. Baker Institute Energy Forum at Rice University in Houston. On Tuesday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called on the companies to spend more to build refineries and boost production to help "ease the pain" of high energy prices. "It's time to invest some of those profits," Hastert said at a news conference in Washington. With oil holding above the $60-a-barrel mark, double the level of two years ago, some Democrats in Congress have another idea: Slap the industry with a windfall-profit tax like the one imposed in 1980. <snip> Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) are pushing a bill that would essentially levy a tax surcharge on oil firms when oil's market price exceeds $40 a barrel. The money would be rebated to consumers. More....

IMHO
The operative paragraph:

"Pumped up by soaring prices of oil, natural gas and gasoline in August and September, Exxon Mobil alone is expected to report quarterly profit of about $8.7 billion. That would be more than what such titans as Coca-Cola Co., Intel Corp. and Time Warner Inc. earn in an entire year."

Who cares if Coca-Cola Co., Intel Corp. and Time Warner Inc. doubles or triples the price of their sugar water, Processors, and ISP? We can all live just fine without it. However, We have millions (billions actually) of people who depend on fuel to survive. The profit whores are legally (?) stealing from everybody because oil prices effect the price of every product.

Whaddya think?