John Felmy, Chief Economist
American Petroleum Institute
1220 L Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
Dear Mr. Felmy,
I was browsing the headlines today and saw that Exxon Mobil Corp. brought in a record profit this past year. Not just for an oil company but for any U.S. company ever! Like most people are probably doing over their cups of coffee this morning I just thought, “surprise, surprise,” and moved on.
But something doesn’t sit well with this news. Sure, people have been getting used to paying more for gasoline. That doesn’t mean that most people have an open-ended budget that will accommodate three, four and more dollars per gallon. Pardon my saying so but I think people just feel like they can’t do anything about it so they “suck it up,” pay more, and do without in other areas or, more likely, go deeper into debt.
You are quoted in an online article as saying “...we have to treat investors appropriately otherwise we’d have the Eliot Sprizers of the world coming after us.” My impression from this is that the oil industry operates out of fear of retaliation from already wealthy investors if their pockets aren’t properly lined, while the ethos that acknowledges the consumer and sometimes even says “we’re passing the savings on to you!” is gone with the days of yore. What ever happened to those good old days?
Truly,
Liz Mann
