Exxon Mobil's Earnings Up Dramatically, but Consumers Don't Profit

HOUSTON—Exxon Mobil Corp.'s second-quarter earnings jumped 91%, helped by higher commodities prices and a surge in refining profits and production. 

Governor McDonnell and the Virginia Republican House of Delegates will not even consider passing a gas tax of a few cents to repair and construct roads, but Exxon Mobil and every other gas company makes us guess from day to day how many cents gas prices have increased overnight. And, whatever the price, we pay. Oh, we might complain, but we pay at the pump because we must. What do we have to show for it except a lighter pocketbook and the feeling that we have been taken again. BTW, taxpayers are on the giving end of the tax subsidies these companies receive.