Airlines Delta and Northwest announced a combined $10.5 billion loss this quarter. They claim that their losses stem from dramatically rising fuel prices. The struggling airlines are hoping mergers will be approved and they can lay off thousands of workers to help ease costs. Meanwhile, the airlines are being forced to pass on the quickly rising fuel costs on to its consumers.
In related news, Exxon announced that earned $11.7 billion in profit this quarter, smashing all previous quarterly records. The company claims that their profit has little to do with gas prices climbing nearly 25 cents a week, though they say with a big fat smile that it sure doesn't hurt the bottom line.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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2 comments:
Your point is a good one, but in their defense, fuel companies also take a lot of risk in making those profits. If the market turns against them, they can be caught holding inventory that is worth less than what they paid for it. Not that such a scenario seems to happen very frequently...
I agree slightly, but not with the fuel industry. The day we stop using fuel is the day that the Earth comes to a screeching halt. Fuel companies can store their inventory and restrict the distribution to artificially maintain higher prices. Fuel is not something that we can live without at this point.
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