Posted on 06/14/2008 6:10:22 AM PDT by kellynla
If you’re wondering who owns “Big Oil,” chances are good the answer is “you do.”
If you have a mutual fund account, and 55 million U.S. households do, there’s a good chance it invests in oil and natural gas stocks. If you have an IRA or personal retirement account, and 45 million U.S households do, there’s a good chance it invests in energy stocks.
It’s a common misperception that oil executives are the only benefactors of industry success. Instead, the bulk of ‘Big Oil’ benefactors are hardworking men and women across America who boost their retirement portfolios through oil and natural gas stock. In fact, only 1.5 percent of company shares are owned by industry executives. The rest are owned by mutual fund investors, or those planning for retirement with pension and IRA funds.
As API Chief Economist John Felmy has noted: "When politicians seek to punish these companies and 'take their profits,' they are not targeting industry executives but the hard-earned savings of working people."
A study by economists Robert J. Shapiro and Nam D. Pham found:
Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.
Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.
Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.
For more information read the news release that accompanies the study, including quotes from Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton, and Pham.
Yep. I do. Gold & Silver, too. My Master Plan is finally coming to fruition, thanks to a Democrat-led CLUELESS Congress.
Keep up the good work, Guys & Gals. :)
“I’m an oilman, ladies and gentlemen.”
Most of my Eggs are in that basket right now
But I will be “out” rapidly if
the Dems win the White House / House / Senate
The idiots will kill the goose that laid the golden egg
The idiots will kill the goose that laid the golden egg
That is the one point I have difficulty believing, and the one point that points out the utter pointless deception by the democrats in congress.
They cannot possibly believe the bilge they are attempting to foist on the American people, and if they fail to kill the goose that laid the golden egg, it will be proof positive.
Do you really believe they will kill their own IRA, 401K, investment? I don’t think they can do it. If they succeed, I will have a new respect for their utter stupidity.
bookmark
Thanks for posting this. Just the info I need to counter my friend’s husband who is always complaining about “Big Oil”...LOL
Yes I have owned Exxon stock for over 25 years. Good dividend.
I also have had GE stock for over 43 years. Same reason good dividend and its been in the reinvestment program for that time.
Yup; XOM, Conocophillips and Occidental.
I shifted about 50% into energy 3.5 years ago, 12% into precious metals and mining and the remaining 40% or so into stupid broad-based strategic investing fund, which also has about 5% in energy. I am not a master investor, just more a common sense type. The rewards have been gratifying.
Care to share the approx annual dividend rate?
XOM’s current yield is 1.81.
Better though, since Nov. of 2001, stock has gone from $37 to $88. Not too shabby.
“My Master Plan is finally coming to fruition, thanks to a Democrat-led CLUELESS Congress.”
I hear Dems saying that drilling now won’t do anything for the short term. That is BS. The oil doesn’t have to be physically on the market for the price to fall. The knowledge that America is on the roll and about to pump out some major oil would make the prices drop almost immediately. All this inflationary speculation would end overnight, IMO.
That’s when you sell your interests. ;)
I bought 4,000 shares of Williams Companies at 89 cents a share in 2003.
I’m in good shape.
Will you be my financial advisor?
What’s that?
Okay, that one worked out, but you also have to know that I bought ValuJet two weeks before it crashed in the Everglades.
I think that one ending up costing me about $6,000 before I just ate the loss.
It’s primarily an oil company. WMB is the ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.
$38.78...wow. Excellent.
I own oil preferred and royalty trusts. All yield in excess of 10% and one much better. The check increases as barrels sold increase in price.
According to the liberal propaganda pushed by the MSM “big oil” looks just like it did 100 years ago when J. D. Rockefeller and a few cronies ran Standard Oil. Also not reported is that the “obscene” oil company profits already result in a tax windfall for the government as corporate profits are subject to a 35% federal corporate income tax AND the dividends to stock holders are taxed AGAIN as capital gains on their personal federal income tax....double taxation!
So in other words, folk’s pensions and retirement funds are being held hostage by terrorist funding Saudi Islamofascists and their carpet bagging Bidness partners.
Tyranny of the appetite.
How do I buy shares of Russel Trust?
Don't forget that oil companies also pay ad valorem and severance taxes on each barrel even before the crude gets to the refinery. And, if the oil is located on federal land or waters, they pay a royalty up to 25% of the value of the crude on top of that.
It's not unusual for an oil company to pay $2 in taxes for each dollar of profit it has made.
So, who exactly is the gouger in this picture?
Should I be happy gas prices are sky high? Well I'm not.
I am paying out a lot more than I am earning from a mutual fund that invests in oil.
But I don't think the gov. should be taking profits from oil companies.
BTTT ping .....
T Rowe Price New Era Fund (PRNEX). Invests in oil, coal, other natural resources companies. Last five years, annual return of 31%. Ten-year annual return of 17%.
Speaking of coal companies, the returns have been fantastic to say the least.
Check out ANR, ACI, MEE, and PCX. There’s even an exchange-traded fund (KOL) which invests in an index of coal companies, if you’re not sure of which ones to buy individually.
ANR (Alpha Natural Resources) is up 650% since January, 2007, and up 85% in the past five weeks alone.
>>I’m not sure what the point of this article is.
Submit to the Islamofascist Saudis and their Bidness partners or your pension will go poof.
I own oil preferred and royalty trusts.
Same here. One of my favorites is BPT.
I’m big in energy stocks, too, and going long. But the difference is that most of my holdings are in foreign companies, most traded on the Vancouver exchange. It’ll be pretty hard for the Dems to nationalize companies based in Canada, or Hungary, or Dubai!
ditto....
Those in control of the Party - the candidate and the Congress - have no need for an IRA or 401K. Kickbacks, book deals, even their retirement plan (not Social Security - their plan is independent and 10X better than SS) means they don't have to invest like most of us.
And a lot of their most vocal supporters have either zero savings (hard to build a 401K nest egg on welfare), or millions already in the bank (think Big Entertainment). The former will suck on the teat of Government, so who cares about individual retirement accounts? The latter have no need to earn more.
In fact, the latter (and the Party controllers) want to eliminate YOUR savings and 401Ks so they can give a fraction back to you, and use the rest for their vocal supporters.
Wealth redistribution is not about taking from the richest; for those are the ones that protect their assets and make it nearly impossible to confiscate. It's about taking from the comfortable, who do not have enough assets to politically fight or relocate their assets appropruately, but have enough to make it worth taking and redistributing to those further below.
And of course, those with enough wealth or power to control the Party will get their "appropriate" compensation for their efforts, meaning they accumulate more wealth and power.
The fastest way to make sure the rich get richer AND the poor get poorer is via wealth redistribution. Capitalism sees the rich get richer AND the poor get richer.
Most of the Democrat loyal have very little assets, and thus think windfall profits taxes, increased corporate taxation, nationalization of businesses, and the like only hit the "big man". Of course, we all know those types of activities ultimately place the biggest brunt on the clients of the corporations - the little guy.
But it's a shell game, so they're happy to break a functioning system, let the Government get involved, let the Government reduce efficiency and efficacy of the system, and skim additional profit off the top! Because they're at least "sticking it to the MAN!"
I think "Big Oil" would RELISH that level of taxation! Right now, ExxonMobil pays $103 BILLION in taxes, and has a net profit of $40 billion. It's closer to $2.50 per dollar of profit, an effective tax rate of 71%.
Maxine Waters aside, there is no chance that American oil companies are going to be nationalized and run by the government. The government has no expertise to run an oil company, and the private owenership of minerals in this country, something unique to America, means that keeping the oil and gas leases alive requires a great deal of knowledge and expertise.
If you want the domestic industry to come to a complete standstill and lose most of their assets, turn the reins over to the government.
Don't be so sure. The lack of "expertise" hasn't kept the Democrats from promoting nationalized health care.
I've no doubt that, if they thought they could get away with it, they'd do it -- NOCUSA (National Oil Company of the USA).
“Don’t forget that oil companies also pay ad valorem and severance taxes on each barrel even before the crude gets to the refinery. And, if the oil is located on federal land or waters, they pay a royalty up to 25% of the value of the crude on top of that.”
I just heard yesterday that among the component costs of gasoline, taxes exceed the raw material cost of the crude oil!!
So surely it would NOT be in the interests of any taxing authority to have their revenues eliminated or reduced, as Obama pointed out.
Politicians will publicly bellyache about the consumers plight (the “show”), but it is doubtful they will vote to cut off the income streams of their beloved co-governmentalists.
I have owned Chevron for a long time, and usually bought that brand.
However near my home an Exxon station was usually the lowest price.
Looked in the mutual finds, for holdings, and found Exxon.
Cut my gasoline costs.
And here’s my standard plug for Vice Funds. I LOVE to tell my Liberal friends about my returns on that fund, as it’s all from Gambling, Tobacco, Alcohol and Military Defense companies, LOL!
Stupid Socialists. Capitalism Rocks!
All interesting points, and not widely covered by the MSM, if covered at all. wonder why?
Phillip Morris recently split into two companies: MO - Phillip Morris domestic (US), and PM - Phillip Morris International.
One reason may be that the future of tobacco companies in the US could be bleak with a DEM Congress and President.
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