the high and the low of it

We're in the money! We're in the money!
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!

--Al Dubin, from "The Goldiggers"

We're low, we're low, we're very very low
As low as low can be.
For rich or high for we make them so
And a miserable lot are we.

--Richard Buckner, "The Song of the Low"

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HIGH

Record profits for Halliburton, which declared 2005 "the best in our 86-year history." David Lesar, Halliburton's chairman, president and CEO, declares on the company website, "For the full year 2005 we set a record for revenue and achieved net income of $2.4 billion with each of our six divisions posting record results."

LOW

As of Monday, May 8, 2006, at least 2,422 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 1,907 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

HIGH

In January, Exxon Mobil posted the highest quarterly and annual profits of any U.S. company in history: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the full year.

LOW

The report comes amid consumer outcry in the U.S. about soaring gasoline prices. The average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. is now $2.91 a gallon, or 68 cents higher than a year ago.