As Oil Concerns Mount Profits Roll In
May 4th, 2008 | 
Author: As Oil Concerns Mount Profits Roll In
Against the backdrop of consumer protests and rising tensions, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP), two of the world’s largest oil producers, announced record profits for their first-quarter earnings this past Tuesday.
With oil currently priced at an unprecedented $120/barrel, the announcements underscored the clear division between consumer concerns and what many activists and environmentalists perceive as corporate exploitation.
While company executives were no doubt basking in the good news, commercial truckers in both the U.S. and Europe staged vehement demonstrations, bringing traffic to a halt in some cities. Given the strife, BP’s 63% profit growth seems obscene, not to mention unlikely to hasten the move to clean and sustainable alternatives, and considerable handouts in the form of government subsidies further abet this inequity.
According to the Center for American Progress, the big five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobile, and Royal Dutch Shell – received $1.3 billion in tax breaks last year despite $123 billion in profits.
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Maybe you’ve never run a company, but profit is what keeps the free market functional.Companies are only profitable if revenues exceed expenses. If a firm is not profitable, that’s when they have to cut their expenses, as in layoffs or outsourcing. Profit is not a bad thing.