Exxon Mobil and a few other oil and gas companies just released 1 Q earnings. Exxon made over $9B in income — a figure that most businesses will never see if they add up all years of revenues. Is this wrong? Is Exxon wrong?

I say that they are not doing anything wrong. Exxon is in the business they are in to make money for their shareholders. The company is not a government or non-profit designed to serve the public or a greater good. Why are so many people upset at Exxon?

What people should be upset about is that they require so much oil and gas to function. Sure, we’d all love it if Exxon could somehow cut their prices in half and enable the per gallon fee to be half. They simply do not have that power. With only nine cents of every dollar being income, they are below other companies averages in the US market. (Microsoft, for example, makes about thirty cents for every dollar in revenue.)

As a country, we need to improve our use of public transportation and realize that walking is OK. Bike riding, scooters, and the like are OK. Maybe what we really need is $10/gallon gas to get people to think this way.

If the trend for higher and higher gas prices continues, then people may start thinking about creating companies that use alternative energy like bio-diesel, ethanol, and the sun. Archer Midland is a company that makes money from alternative energy. Their stock is up a tremendous amount since last year.

Entrepreneurs — what are you waiting for?