The oil company profits are not obscene.  As of September of last year the total take for local, state and federal governments for each gallon of gas sold was 46 cents.  In New York that figure is 63 cents.  At the same time gasoline retailers were making about 12 cents on the sale of a gallon of gas.  Right now the government take is approaching an average of 50 cents a gallon.  Retailers are making about 14 cents.  so ... who is making the obscene profit?  The local gasoline retailer invests in the community, buys a plot of ground, builds a gas station, hires the employees, pays the local taxes, deals with the local regulatory agencies, and makes a big screaming 14 cents on each gallon sold.  Meanwhile, the government steps in without having invested one dime in that facility and takes about 50 cents per gallon.  Some obscene profits, right?

As for profit margins ... the amount of money earned for each dollar of sales ... oil companies are nowhere near the top of the list. In 2005 pharmaceutical companies made about 17.6 cents for every dollar of revenue.  That, for those of you educated in government schools, that works out to a 17.6% profit margin for the drug makers.  How about your local bank?  They made about 19.1 cents for every dollar of revenue.  Almost a 20% profit!  Not too shabby.  And what about your household goods and cosmetics?  Those companies earned 11 cents on the dollar.  A lot of competition there.  Now, the oil companies.  What did they make?  In 2005 the average was 8.5 cents per dollar of revenue.  That works out to an 8.5% profit margin. 

The Gubbomint needs to look in the mirror, or as many people would say: "meer."Let's have an investigation into what the "Gubbomint" is doing with it's obscene profits. How many taxes are redundant? How many taxes on a gallon of gas go to funding programs that have nothing to do with transportation? That 's where the investigation should focus. Instead, grand standing idiots in the House and Senate will try to cripple an industry to puff up their re-election bids.

*Escape Goat. A Karl "Malone-ism"