Is it me or does this not make sense?
Our elected senators have confronted the heads of major oil companies to demand an explanation as to why they have posted record profits while Americans have been hit with extremely high gas prices and are expected to have record high heating bills this winter. What exactly was their profit you ask? Well maybe you should sit down first. 32.8 billion dollars. Yes that is billion with a b and yes I said quarterly profits. That is not the year end profit markings but the quarterly. So while us Americans have been struggling to find ways to afford the gas to get back and forth to work and while people in New Orleans and other hurricane stricken areas have been burying their dead and trying to find a way to rebuild their lives the oil companies have raked in 32.8 billion dollars.
Their explanation for this when asked why they are posting such high profits during such a tremulous time was and I quote "Petroleum earnings go up and down from year to year and are in line with other industries when compared with the industrys enormous revenues." This is my favorite part and again I quote "It would be a mistake, said Raymond, for the government to impose punitive measures hastily crafted in response to short-term market fluctuations. Almost makes you want to laugh if it wasn't so serious. Basically they are saying their profits go up and down just like any other company but if you try and look into it problems may arise.
And when the senators suggested that the oil companies funnel some of those huge profits into a program that would help lower income families pay for their heating this winter I think you can imagine the awkward silence which was followed by "As an industry we feel it is not a good precedent to fund a government program, said James Mulva, chairman of ConocoPhillips. Yeah, it is a bad idea because god forbid you lose any of your profits to help families who may have to decide on whether to feed their children or keep them warm. That would be such an awful idea to help them wouldn't it.
This is big business in America. Doesn't matter who you step on and crush as long as at the end of the quarter you have billions of dollars in the pot.
Their explanation for this when asked why they are posting such high profits during such a tremulous time was and I quote "Petroleum earnings go up and down from year to year and are in line with other industries when compared with the industrys enormous revenues." This is my favorite part and again I quote "It would be a mistake, said Raymond, for the government to impose punitive measures hastily crafted in response to short-term market fluctuations. Almost makes you want to laugh if it wasn't so serious. Basically they are saying their profits go up and down just like any other company but if you try and look into it problems may arise.
And when the senators suggested that the oil companies funnel some of those huge profits into a program that would help lower income families pay for their heating this winter I think you can imagine the awkward silence which was followed by "As an industry we feel it is not a good precedent to fund a government program, said James Mulva, chairman of ConocoPhillips. Yeah, it is a bad idea because god forbid you lose any of your profits to help families who may have to decide on whether to feed their children or keep them warm. That would be such an awful idea to help them wouldn't it.
This is big business in America. Doesn't matter who you step on and crush as long as at the end of the quarter you have billions of dollars in the pot.
posted by Dee | 10:45 AM
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