Ben Stein: Pelosi's Hot Air Can't Power My Car6-8 cents/gallon? Wow. You've got to sell a lot of gas to make that pittance into billions. But then again, they SELL a lot of gas. And diesel. And other POL fluids."I don't blame Exxon for making the profits ... it's a busines; it's owned by pensioners and widows and retirees. It's fine if they get the money because it's going back to the American stockholders."
So said Ben Stein, Economist, author of "Yes, You Can Become a Successful Income Investor! Reaching for Yield in Today's Market," actor and former Nixon speechwriter on "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
"The amount of profit on each gallon of gasoline is between six and eight cents. If you cut out all the profit so that Exxon/Mobil went out of business, and Conoco went out of business next year, you'd only save a few cents per gallon.
"It's just nonsense that they're bleeding America white. They don't set the price - the price is set on world markets. It's good if they make a profit becuase then they can have more money to explore for more oil and more energy sources.
"I just am sick of people knocking the oil companies," Stein said.
For good measure, he added, "I've never been able to power my car with envy, or with the hot air out of Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid."
The Quik-Trip near our house almost always has cars at the pump.Figure a thousand cars a day (might be high, but they've got 14 pumps and they're nearly always busy) at 15 gallons (average) - that's 15 thousand gallons times .07 (average) - that's $1050 in profit for the gas supplier. Don't know what the retail markup on gas is - but it's pretty clear that Quik-Trip isn't losing money.
A business that isn't making money can't stay in business. And until something better comes along, someone's got to drill for, pump out, store, ship, refine, pump, and transport to gas stations the literal lifeblood of our economy. They need to make money at it - or we won't get it.
J.