This news is bitter-sweet for Irving residents. On one side, Exxon Mobil, located at 5959 Las Colinas Boulevard, is often used as an example by city government officials to attract new companies to Irving. They provide jobs, tax revenue and a positive impact on Irving's economy. On the other hand, many point to the greediness of these corporations for the troubles we are facing in our US economy. As one internet poster put it, "Are they going to spread the profit around like an oil spill?". The sarcasm comes from folks that are upset at the greediness that corporations have traditionally shown.
But, should we not have a more balance view of Exxon Mobil. Notice this comment by another poster, "I like how everybody gets soooo upset that ExxonMobil breaks record profits. What about the record taxes that they paid the government?! You won't hear about that, will you? OR the fact that their expenses were also at record numbers. Their profit in dollars surely broke records, but as a percentage, it is just as it has been forever."
It is certainly not surprising to see these record profits since gas prices were so high for most of 2008. One thing is for sure, as the oil companies get richer other corporations suffer because of higher fuel prices. Airline stocks have been down and although the auto industry has obvious problems because of bad management, they also took a hit when gas prices sky-rocketed causing the huge drops in vehicle sales. At the same time, why criticize a corporation that is obviously doing something right when it comes to managing their business? We are a nation that is dependent on crude oil and if the demand is there, it is logical to think that someone will profit from that.
So, the question remains, is this good for Irving, or not?
