Bitcoin News Australia

Last year, President Biden slammed Exxon Mobil for making “more money than God.”

That moment underlined a sharp turnaround from 2020, when the pandemic slashed oil prices and ground energy companies to a near-halt. That year, Exxon posted a $22B loss — its first in decades.

Last year, though — as global demand skyrocketed while supply remained tight, especially amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the industry boomed.

Exxon Mobil generated $56B in profit, a record that equates to ~$6.3m every hour.

Here comes the scrutiny

The record profits have sparked renewed pressure on the industry, which has plowed ahead with tens of billions of dollars in dividends and stock buybacks, per NPR.

On Tuesday, the White House called out oil companies for this, and President Biden has previously threatened higher taxes on energy companies that don’t reinvest money into increasing supply.

Interestingly, Europe has imposed a 33% tax on “surplus profits” from energy firms to redistribute to consumers. Exxon sued to block that tax, which it estimates would cost ~$1.8B for 2022.

What about renewables?

Some oil giants are reportedly scaling back renewable energy plans as they look to maintain high-performing legacy oil-and-gas businesses, per The Wall Street Journal.

But that doesn’t mean companies aren’t transitioning away from gas in the long term. BP has said it plans to reduce fossil-fuel production by 40% from 2019 levels by 2030, though it’s also considering dialing back investments in solar and wind.

Along those lines, this week, Cathie Wood’s asset management firm Ark Invest released its popular “Big Ideas” report for 2023. The group forecasts that by 2030, with the rise of EVs, oil demand for cars could dip 30%.

Long before the days of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, vinyl records were all the rage.

In the 1970s, vinyl sales peaked at 530m units/yr. and accounted for 66% of all music format revenues.

Every kid worth his or her weight had bulky copies of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Rumours,” and “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

But as new formats emerged, the vinyl market virtually evaporated. Revenue fell from $2.5B to just $10m/yr.

And by the ‘90s, vinyl sales dipped to <10m units — a mere 0.1% of market share.

In recent years, though, something odd has happened: Vinyl has made a small but mighty comeback. Fueled largely by under-35 millennial hipsters, the old, outdated format has risen from the dead.

But how exactly did vinyls get their groove back, and are they here for a long time — or just for a good time?

If we wrote, “👁️❤️🍔,” would you know what it meant?

According to the US court system — maybe. Emoji are showing up as evidence in court cases more frequently than ever before, per The Verge.

Law professor Eric Goldman, who’s been tracking references to “emoji” and “emoticon” in US court opinions since 2004, says mentions skyrocketed in 2018.

Where things get complicated:

• Emoji are subjective and leave space for multiple interpretations.
• Depending on what device or platform you’re using, they can look very different.

That makes it harder for emoji to serve as indisputable evidence, the way written communication might, but they can still provide helpful context in court cases.

For example:

In a Bay Area case that followed a prostitution sting, prosecutors argued that a man was guilty of pimping charges. Among the evidence: Instagram DMs to a woman reading, “Teamwork make the dream work” alongside high heels and money bag emoji.

The prosecutors said the message proved a working relationship between the two individuals. Defendants said it could simply be flirtatious.

Since emoji specialists don’t exist (*adds to list of dream jobs*), an expert in sex trafficking was called to testify in the case. His take: The high heels and money bags supported the charges.

All we know is that, after looking through those court records, the winky face better lawyer up.