Being old enough to remember when the federal government whacked the oil oligopoly with a windfall profits tax decades ago (the last time the oil companies raped the citizens of the USA), it is astounding that the oil oligopoly not only has bought off ALL of the politicians but that no one with any clout is screaming about the direct correlation between oil company record profits and their raising of gas prices.
It only takes a 4th grade education to calculate the average number of miles driven by American drivers, the dollar something raise in gas prices and come up with $100 Billion plus in profits that the oil companies have monopolized out of the American people. They spent the past 30 years consolidating the retail and wholesale distribution channels, squeezing out the independents who kept things somewhat honest.
And now the oil oligopoly runs the show-raising prices to whatever they feel they can without being so obvious that even the public does something about it.
Disgusting. Disgusting that the American people have lost their cajones and let themselves get screwed by oil companies, year after year, without demanding that their elected representatives end the monopoly/oligopoly illegal price fixing.
So tell me where I am wrong on the title of this blog entry. I didn't even get a kiss from the oil companies before they did this to me.
What's most curious to me is that this is not an election issue for the presidential candidates. Not one of them is screaming about this. Why? Why?
...excerpts from a CNN article on the fine price fixing day in February 2008:
Exxon shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices.
Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. That's up from $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.
That topped Exxon's previous quarterly profit record of $10.7 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was a record for a U.S. corporation.
Exxon isn't the only oil giant to report impressive earnings. No. 2 Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) also reported a jump in quarterly profit on Friday. Conoco (COP, Fortune 500), the nation's third largest oil company, trounced profit estimates by nearly 25% when it reported last week.
Exxon's earnings are likely to draw fire from consumer rights groups, who contend the oil industry is deliberately restricting supply and profiting on the back of U.S. motorists. They have previously called for a windfall profit tax on oil firms and have proposed breaking up the big oil companies created during the 1990s merger wave.
