Walter's Perspective: Gas Prices Are Getting Outrageous
CHICAGO (CBS) -- I didn't want to, but figured I'd better this morning -- stop for gas.
I spent $58.32, and it didn't even fill my tank. I was so angry at the cost, I stopped pumping, paid what I had to and left; and then heard on the radio that the price of gas is on its way to $5 a gallon.
So it'll cost me $75 or $80 for a tank of gas. $80 for a tank of gas! To hike the price like that, I'm thinking the gas companies must have big money problems, so I checked it out.
ConocoPhillips had $12 billion last year in profits. Chevron had $27 billion. Shell Oil profits last year were $31 billion. ExxonMobil's profits were $40 billion.
Last year, oil company profits were up an average of 75 percent compared to the year before.
And they're still hiking the price to $75 or $80 a tank? That's not ingenuity, or enterprise, or good old-fashioned capitalism, on which this country is built. That's just good old-fashioned greed.
