The Oil Drum

129 comments on Record Oil Company Profits and High Gas Prices: A Connection?

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haggisbasher on April 26, 2006 - 5:38am

So someone working as a fireman, nurse, doorman etc. does not make 400m because they don't work hard enough. Absolute bullshit. Are you really saying that the benefit to society from Lee Raymond and others of his ilk is really worth thousands of times the value of people who do everyday jobs and take home a normal wage. I agree that there has to be reward for enterprise and for taking responsibility, but the growing disparity between the highest and lowest earners is nothing but an abuse of power.

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odograph on April 26, 2006 - 7:52am

Especially since one of their contributions was to explicitly undermine the science of global warming. We also see their possible misinformation campaign on peak oil.

When a company dominates a national industry for decades, and the population and GNP grow over that time, they get to see very big numbers on their balance sheets. There are more people, making more money, and (with current prices) Exxon is pulling down a higher portion of family income.

The numbers are driving a greater concentration of wealth and power for Exxon, and the way they are using that wealth and power is ... simply evil.

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smekhovo on April 26, 2006 - 8:38am

The share of national income pocketed by the top 0,1% in the US has grown from 2% to 7% since 1980. There's been nothing like the same change in any other rich country. The UK is closest, where that share has grown from 2% to 4%.

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odograph on April 26, 2006 - 9:02am

Yeah, and the ratio of incomes from the least paid in a company to the highest paid in the same company has exploded as well.

I think it is an unanticipated consequence of the stock market boom/bubble, and the well known connection between available shares and an aging baby boom population. Money flows into the stock market, supporting the bubble, and giving companies huge capitalizations. Management compensation, as a fraction of capitalization, is nothing ... while at the same time it is huge from a 'real world' perspective.

I was actually in a small company, and saw a couple guys turn into billionares on the day of public offering. It was actually freakier that a couple guys who knew me, who would say hi to me (a working engineer) in the elevator, were suddenly billionares.

Why did they get that rich? Well, they were certainly smart and hard workers ... but not even they expected that much. It was the dot com boom, and the market just threw money at them/us.

It's a strange world.