The local newspaper printed my Letter to the Editor regarding the actual profit rates made by the oil\gas industry as compared to other industries. It also provided information on how much is paid to the government each day and it's about $86 million dollars a DAY. Unfortunately the newspaper chose to title the piece "Oil Companies have Consumers over a Barrel" instead of showing true theme of my letter.... Below is the submitted LTE and a link to the comments section online for the piece....
NewsLeader Section
NewsLeader Section
Once again the drumbeat against oil company profits is getting louder with the release of profits and the high cost of gas to the consumers.
But let's get some info out there that you don't see in the attack ads or "targeted" reporting by some of the media outlets.
According to API (American Petroleum Institute) the 2010 earnings of the oil\gas industry was 5.7 percent net income per dollar of sales. Compare this to 21.7 percent for the Beverage\Tobacco industry or 17.3 percent for the Computer equipment companies. In fact the average for All Manufacturing industry is at 8.5 percent ....
Some claim that we need to tax more and\or cut "subsidies" to the evil oil\gas companies but the truth is they pay 41.1 percent income taxes as a share of net income as compared to 26.5 percent of the non-oil S&P industries. They also pay over $86 million every day in rents, royalties, bonuses and income tax to the government.
It seems the ever-hungry government is looking for even more money and the oil\gas industry is a favorite target of many in the government. The truth is affordable and easily available energy is important to our economy and national security and let's not forget the 9.2 million jobs that the industry provides and with that income tax paid by those individuals.
Fortunately Gov. Bob McDonnell understands the importance of developing the numerous energy sources we have here on land as well as the offshore potential of windpower and oil\gas resources.
2 comments:
I'm fairly certain this is what most newspapers do.
When I was writing a column for the Potomac News, I would write suggested titles, but they were rarely used. Some printed titles were better; some, worse. However, I never had cause to complain that they misrepresented by content or the thrust of my article.
I sent a email to the editor contact I had and she apoligized for the heading if it was wrong and offered to change it. I have submitted LTE to this paper over the years and have seen this done before. I believe the editor is one of the lone conservative persons on the board or in the building and that the exec board are the ones behind these tactics. The editor offered to change the headline but I believe it's better to have people see it this way and see the tactics used....
Imagine the bleeding heart liberal democrat going to read about the evil oil companies holding us over the barrel and finding data and truth showing otherwise?....
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