The truth about oil profits

I was recently having a conversation with a friend of mine about the country’s gas prices and what our Congress needs to do to fix our problem with foreign energy dependence. Well the topic of oil profits came up and he has bought into the liberal media and Democrats pointing at the oil corporations. Now, I really didn’t have any ammunition for a counter attack, so I went to the old trusty web here and found a great article on who in the oil industry is making money(besides OPEC) and what are the profits for the oil companies. This is information that was obtained through a report by Robert J. Shapiro, a former undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs for Bill Clinton.

* Throughout the oil and natural gas industries only about 1.5% of the stock is owned by company executives.

This is what Shapiro says about the ownership of the other 98.5% of oil company shares: “The data show that ownership of industry shares is broadly middle class, with the majority of industry shares held by institutional investors, often on behalf of millions of Americans through mutual funds, pension funds and individual retirement accounts.”

* Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.

* Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.

* Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.

The people that make the profits listed in this study are you!

Barrack Obama wants to take this money from you with his “windfall profits” tax.

Here’s the link for you to read the study for yourself. Link.

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