Atlanta – Making money is supposed to be a foundation of American capitalism, and it’s crucial to keeping investors happy. But U.S. oil companies are finding that record profits haven’t helped their image with consumers angry about higher gas prices and politicians searching for short-term cures.
Oil businesses are trying to explain to why their profits aren’t a bad thing. The price of mang ling that message could be steep: Some in Congress are discussing added regulations as well as a windfall-profits tax that the industry fears could send it into a skid.
Last week, the Consumer Federation of America issued a report accusing oil companies of pocketing $100 billion of “excess profits” from 2000 to 2005.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the head of public relations for the Chrysler Group – part of the automaking industry that has had symbiotic ties with Big Oil – wrote in a company blog that the oil industry has “a history of blowing their exorbitant profits on outlandish executive salaries and stock buybacks, and hoarding their bounty rather than lowering fuel costs.”
