Biggest Quarterly Profit... agian.

Exxon Mobil just announced its quarterly profits. I feel bad for the guys - they didn't meet what the market was projecting their profits at - about $12.1 billion.

Despite not meeting projections, they just broke the United States record books again. They brought in a whopping $11.68 Billion dollars in profit. In numerical form, that's $11,680,000,000. The previous record was $11.66 Billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Sure it may be only 0.02 points, but don't forget that 0.02 points is $20 Million dollars. That's a lot of cash.

Sure their shares are down 3%, but lets look at some of the other industries of this nation. It seems like 3% for the largest publicly traded oil company is not that much in comparison to the downfall other sects have experienced around the country.

Much of the increased profits that are seen in the oil industry [in comparison to other industries] comes from government tax cuts that are issued to Exxon Mobil and companies alike. Some argue that these tax breaks allow for new drilling sites and would eventually raise the price of crude. I can understand this, but as energy is getting more expensive, roads are getting worse, and education budgets being cut - it seems as though we should be taking equal tax money in an effort to improve roads, develop 'green' technology, and get America's children the proper education they need and are entitled to.

Maybe it's just me, but for some reason I think that if the executives at Exxon Mobile had to fork over a little more in tax money, they would still be able to eat pretty well. Hah!

New Ad-Campaign?

Now, I guess this post will really hit home as far as what party I support, but I'm doing it anyways...

John McCain recently decided he was going to endorse a new campaign advertisement which begins with camera flashes, a little cheering, and images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton saying that Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world. Well, he just may be, but I feel that McCain's ad is lacking a vital component - propulsion.

I'm not talking about rockets here, rather, the idea that McCain knocks down Barack, but does not take the time to bolster himself forward. It's easy to show one's disapproval for another person's ideas and views, but you need to self promote as well, thus creating a larger gap between you and your opponent. This is the presidency here - there is no time to sit and say how bad the other candidate is, rather you need to have America see how great you can be.

This maybe the Buddhist ideology in me, but we all can play the tit for tat game, and just talk about others only causing misery to them, or we can rise above and show others what we can really do.

The political arena wasn't always a place to throw mud. At one point, people got along and were friendly. Can't we all just get along?

Cultrual Combo

I'm sitting at the library doing some work [surprise], and an elderly gentleman comes into the area I'm sitting in and is about to sit down at the table across from me. I, like many men, acknowledge him and he does the same - but the way he did it was slightly out of the ordinary.

[I forgot to mention that he is a very large African man. Not an African-American who was born or even raised here, rather, a man that has grown up in an eastern African country and has just arrived here.]

After acknowledging his presence he he opens his mouth and says 'HOWDY!'.

I was slightly taken aback by all of this. I really enjoyed this man say a greeting from the Old Midwest. It's not everyday that you hear such an expression, but it made me smile.




I was going to call this post 'Cultural Clash', but then I realized that this situation was not a matter of cultures actually clashing, giving a violent feel, rather a soft combination which embraces such change.