Political Quotes

“Now, Mr. President, on Big Oil profits, last year, while soaring gas prices stretched the budgets of American families, Big Oil enjoyed a record--a record--year of profits. There were huge amounts of money made by these companies. Earlier this week, Exxon reported a $56 billion--billion--net profit in 2022, setting a record high not just for Exxon but for Big Oil as an industry. And Exxon wasn't alone-- Chevron reported $35 billion. While Americans were feeling the pain at the pump--driving their cars up to the gas stations and wondering how high it was going to be--the five top big oil companies brought in a record of nearly $200 billion in total profits in 2022, taking advantage of what they called ``favorable market'' conditions. It is nothing short of repugnant for the biggest oil companies in America to celebrate dizzying profit margins that they earned by jacking up gas prices on hard-working Americans. And what did the oil companies do with this tsunami of cash? They could have prioritized it by paying their workers better, but they did not. They could have made transformative investments in new clean tech and helped push the frontier in clean energy, which we all know is coming, but they did not. Maybe, best of all, they could have lowered gas prices, but they did not. Do you know what the oil companies did? This is just as galling--galling. They rewarded shareholders by implementing stock buybacks at near record levels. Buybacks do no good for the economy.…”