ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” reporter Mike von Fremd offered a ridiculous comparison between Exxon Mobil and Iceland during a segment about Exxon’s third-quarter profits. Stating that Exxon’s profits of $10.5 billion were “about the same as Iceland’s entire Gross National Product,” was an absurd attempt to persuade the audience that Exxon is making too much money.
Iceland’s entire GNP is created by a population of just under 300,000 people which is roughly equivalent to the city of Newark, New Jersey. But neither comparison has much to do with the price of eggs, or in this case: oil.
Von Fremd’s report included statistical spin and a leftwing expert who called for a windfall profits tax. But it ignored the criticism of such a tax, as well as the 83.3 cent drop in gas prices since early August that will likely hurt the firm’s future profits.
