Familiar news: Big oil companies make record profits

“Big Oil” companies are making record profits — on top of record profits. And everyone in this country is paying through the nose to provide for those profits.

What we pay at the pump when we fill our tanks is only part of the story. Everything the people of this country consume — from groceries to clothing to household furniture — is affected by the cost of fuel. Heating and air conditioning of homes and factories reflect the costs of the energy crunch.

All have heard the pained explanations of spokesmen for Big Oil. Their CEOs made their case at a Senate hearing. And the next day, the cost at the pump made record jumps.

While OPEC nations are not our largest suppliers of crude, the slightest hint of reducing production in those countries is reflected in a knee-jerk jump in prices at the American service station pumps.

But this wasn’t the case when crude oil prices dropped $2 a barrel on each of two consecutive days. The effects of that development had not reached the pumps at the corner stations in many parts of the nation days later. Ironically, Goldsboro was an exception! Motorists here enjoyed a drop of several cents a gallon while prices held firm all the way to the coast.

For most drivers, the only effect of crude price reductions registered so far: “Big Oil reports record profits!“

Published in Editorials on May 10, 2006 10:57 AM