I recently spoke to someone who repeated a common mantra: our gas prices are high because the oil companies are gouging us and since they own the government they can get away with it. I previously commented on price gouging here and here. Also, as I pointed out in this editorial, roughly 80% of gas price comes from the world crude oil market, which the people of OPEC control far more than American oil companies. Next, when oil companies are profitable, it is not just the fat cats that benefit. Here's an example. When I lived in Wyoming in the mid-1990s, there were a fair number of older students at the University of Wyoming because they were unemployed oil field workers. Oil prices were low and the companies had shut down the more marginal operations in Wyoming. I understand those fields are now up and running because they are now profitable. I further understand that lots of people are going to work in those fields and making good money. If you attack oil company revenues, I guarantee that the fat cats will remain fat. The people you are hurting are those Average Joe's in Wyoming who depend on oil profitability for their jobs.
Do the oil companies control the government? Let's look at the numbers. You can find them at Opensecrets, one of the great political websites. Looking at the 2004 election cycle, the energy industry gave $52,699,564 to candidates, 75% of which went to Republicans. Wow. $52 million. That's a lot of money, isn't it? And most to Republicans. Well, agribusiness gave $52,927,826, 71% to Republicans. Do the farmers control the government? I think not, but they gave as much as the energy industry. Lawyers gave $210,187,147, 71% to Democrats. If the nation and the Republican party are owned by the energy industry, then I guess it is about 4x the case with the lawyers (substitute Democrats for Republicans). The biggest number I could find was for the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector. They gave $334,786,787, 59% to Republicans. But the largest chunk of that, about $92 million, came from the "securities and investment" sub-sector and was split almost in two: 52% Republican, 47% Democrat (I assume rounding is involved). My point is that there is so much money in politics from so many sources that nobody "owns" anybody. This subject is too complex for a blog post, so I am painting a prettier picture than meets reality, but the larger point is the the energy industry is just one of countless numbers of interests giving money to influence policy. If the oil companies are breaking law, they will be held accountable. If the government will go after Bill Gates, they'll go after anybody. Oh, and the Computer/Internet sector gave $29 million in 2004, 54% to Democrats.
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