Dear ExxonMobil: Thank you for being profitable!

In the news: Exxon reports 2Q net profit up 41%.

I'm ecstatic. Really. I don't own Exxon stock, nor do I know anyone who does. I don't work for them. Nor do any of my relatives or friends. I do not profit from ExxonMobil's good fortune or bad. So much for conflict of interest.

Thank you, Exxon. Keep up the good work. Make even more money. I mean it.

I drive cars. Trucks. Motorcycles. I buy gasoline. I buy diesel fuel. I need it. I want it. I like it. But I also understand that I don't have some kind of mystical right to it. I understand that someone (many someones, actually) must work to produce and deliver fuel so that I may purchase it. I understand I have to purchase it from someone who is willing and able to sell it, whether it's ExxonMobil, or Standard Oil, or Shell.

Sure, I'd like it if fuel costs were lower.

Which is why I want Exxon to continue making boatloads of money.

Crazy? Not at all.

I want ExxonMobil to have so much money it looks for other places to invest it.

I want smart, greedy, ambitious people to see just how much money there is to be made refining and delivering petroleum-based fuel to the marketplace.

That way, lots more people might try to find ways to sell me petrol. Or find economically viable alternatives to sell me. No government incentives required. The market, along with rational self-interest, provide all the incentives we need.

That is, if smart, greedy, ambitious people are allowed to find more petroleum sources to refine and sell me. If they are allowed to find viable alternatives. That is, if government regulation and bureaucratic red tape don't stand in the way.

I understand that fuel prices fluctuate, and that lean times will come, that businesses must retain capital to see them through those lean times.

I understand that we all benefit from for-profit companies earning, and keeping (or distribute to owners or shareholders) those profits. And I'd much rather have them retain those profits than see them handed over to government via taxes, to be squandered away on non-economic activities.

I understand that if I think ExxonMobil (and all the other fuel companies) products are too expensive, I'm free to not buy those products. Or buy less of them. To look for alternatives. That's what price signals are for.

I understand that petroleum fuels are a relative bargain, even at these prices. Which is why I continue buying the product. I suspect this is true of those who grumble about the price increases.

Did I say thank you?

Link Love
Linked at Doug Ross @ Journal. Thanks!