Saturday, January 28, 2023

War Profiteering

 Chevron announced a record-shattering $35.5 billion in profits for 2022 as well as a $75 billion share buy-back to lavish on its wealthy shareholders. Chevron also raised its quarterly dividend by around 6%.

“What Big Oil has done over the last year is the definition of war profiteering," said Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for the Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. "After working with Russia for decades, companies like Chevron have used the war in Ukraine as cover to jack up prices and suck billions directly out of the pocket of American families." Henn added, "Big Oil is rolling in cash while families are struggling to heat their homes or fill their gas tanks."

 Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said in a statement, "It has price gouged consumers in plain sight and it's going to get away with it. Once oil prices spiked after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a government not compromised and captured by Big Oil would have done the commonsense thing of taxing Big Oil's windfall profits and returning the proceeds to consumers," said Weissman. "The failure to impose a windfall profits tax reflects Big Oil's raw political power, not any principled policy dispute."

'The Definition of War Profiteering': Chevron Posts Record $35.5 Billion in Profit for 2022 (commondreams.org)

No comments: