When will gasoline prices be TOO MUCH?

Income - Expense = Profit

There's no such thing as "gross profit" because profit by definition is what you have left after you pay your bills. I'm aware that it's often used as a clever accounting term, but it's completely meaningless.

JuggaLotus said:
It looks to me like the oil companies are right in line with what would be expected from any company. The dollar amounts just seem so inflated because they are HUGE companies. Huge companies that employ lots of American workers.

I wasn't arguing that. I was merely pointing out that their net profits are, indeed, "that high".

That said, I don't think that comparisons between energy companies (a commodity) and tech companies who produce entertainment and communication devices are even remotely valid.

^Yeah one provides the fuel needed to run nearly every business here, the other creates trinkets for us to have fun with.

Which do you think you should over tax to drive out of this country?

You're right, it is impossible to directly compare company to company when going across different types of companies. Mostly because the comparison is only close if they are similarly sized companies. However, I was throwing that out there to show that there are other companies that have a much higher profit on their goods.

The comparison is good though at looking at how a sector (whether it is tech, energy or frozen concentrated orange juice ;)) lines up in relation to the rest of the market. When comparing oil companies against the rest of the market, they are in line with what should be expected. They are also pretty much in line with each other, which means no one company is way out there making an exorbitant profit. I did find it interesting that Apple was that much lower in profit margin than Microsoft and Google.

^ [as far as Apple] I don't. With their awesome marketing, I'd imagine that's quite an expense.