Dude, Where'd My Windfall Profits Go?

For most of last year we had to listen to various pundits rail about how George W. Bush's buddies in the oil industry were fixing prices artificially high. Well, get a load of this.

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday swung to a $2.8 billion loss, as the tumble in oil prices hurt the value of inventories that it has yet to sell. Shell said adjusting for that impact, or what it calls current cost of supplies, its profit would have dropped 28% to $4.79 billion.

Production was basically flat at 3.41 million barrels a day, but it sold oil and gas for 31% less than it did a year ago.

But I that they could fix prices and dominate the consumer? Well, if they could fix prices back then, they could fix prices now.

The fact prices dropped 31% in one year (pretty close to the drop in the stock market) shows how those blowhards like Bill 'Reilly and other "populists" are full of it.

It always boils down to supply and demand.