Well, news that BP’s 3rd-quarter profits have doubled as gas prices have risen immediately made me think of this great image (Republicans and businessmen laughing about people believing them when they say “the wealth trickles down”):
Here’s more on BP’s announcement and other facts from Climate Progress:
by Noreen Nielsen
BP announced early this morning that its third-quarter profits more than doubled as a result of high oil prices, earning them $4.9 billion, and bringing their total profits earned in 2011 to nearly $16 billion. A is quick look at some other key facts:
- BP has spent over $3.7 million on lobbying Congress in 2011.
- BP has made over $65,000 in political contributions in just 2011, with 70 percent of contributions going to Republicans.
- BP is sitting on $19 billion in cash on hand. Added together, the Big Five oil companies — BP, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — are sitting on cash resources of $59 billion and made nearly $1 trillion in profits over the past decade.
- Despite this, BP and its other Big Oil allies continue to aggressively lobby Congress to maintain their billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks.
Moreover, BP — responsible for the worst oil spill in U.S. history — has only paid out about $7 billion of the $20 billion fund set up to pay compensation claims to the economic victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.