It's real easy to get all upset at those rich bastards who own the oil companies, or "Big Oil."
If you have Mutual Funds or retirement accounts, you more than likely need to go find a mirror and cuss yourself out, because you own them.
http://www.energytomorrow.org/economy/Do_You_Own_an_Oil_Company_.aspx
Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies
Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds.
Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts.
Five percent is owned by "other institutional investors"
1.5 percent owned by oil industry insiders and executives.
Remember everyone was all pissed off that the retiring Exxon CEO got all those bizzillion dollars? He got like 1/2% of the profits Exxon made OVER the industry average, and Exxon profits were included to establish the industry average. Look above to see who made the other 99.5%
HE earned them.
The industry average is 9% profit margin.
The national average for taxes on a gallon of gas is just under $.50 per gallon.
Do a little math and you'll see that in order for the oil company to make $.50 on a gallon of gas, the
WHOLESALE price would have to be $5.60 per gallon. This would be
before: retailer profit and the $.50 tax.
Now also consider the evil oil company had to invest $5.10 for each and every one of those 50 cent pieces they make, while the governments (local, state and federal) didn't invest one penny or produce one drop of anything to collect their 50 cent piece.
I'm tired of everyone belly-aching about the amount of profit the oil industry makes, taken completely out of context of what they have invested and what they go through to bring us a gallon of gas for a little less than we pay for a gallon of milk and a pittance of what we pay for a friggin bottle of water.
The main human garbage leading the charge against those oil companies are who? POS politicians. They already stole the entire nation's Social Security Fund, by siphoning it off and spending it as general revenue, on every welfare vote buying scheme they could cook up. Now, they want to tax away the profits of those evil oil companies. One look above and you'll see what they really want. They want the nation's
PRIVATE retirement funds also.
It looks like the royal class wants us all to work ourselves to the bone, until the day we drop, so they can play bigshots of the world.
