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Okay, I'm not typically in the business of defending huge multi-national behemoths like the oil companies, but the argument that these profits are outrageous always bothers me. Sure, the raw numbers seem astronomical, but they need to be examined in relation to the amount of revenue they were earned on. Income numbers usually come in around 10% of the total revenue, which is a decent rate of return, but nothing that should prompt calls for the delivering the heads of the oil executives on a stick or the implementation of a windfall profits tax. For example, ExxonMobil is one of the world's largest publicly-owned corporation based on revenues (approx. $390 billion for 2007); it logically follows that they are going to be making record profits (approx. $40 billion, or 10.25% of gross revenues, for 2007) too. Most people wouldn't consider starting a business without the expectation of at least a similar 10% rate of return.
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