Price gouging is anti-capitalist. Big Oil is threatening our entire economy by keeping supply low and jacking up prices at the pump far beyond the inflation rate to satisfy Wall Street.
Oil and gas company executives are *literally* admitting it. (THREAD ⬇️)
A majority of surveyed executives admit to not increasing supply because Wall Street doesn't want them to. Profits are at a 7 year high and shareholders don't want to give that up—especially since Big Oil is planning $40 billion in stock buybacks. (2/7)
We have quantitative and qualitative data documenting Big Oil's price gouging. The CEO of @PXDtweets, which has pledged not to raise production despite sky high prices, bragged that "whether it's $150 oil, $200 oil, or $100 oil, we're not going to change our growth plans." (3/7)
The CEO of @exxonmobil touted on a recent earnings call that their goal "is less about volume and volume targets [supply] and more about the quality and profitability of the barrels." The scheme is working: the oil giant doubled its quarterly profits from a year earlier. (4/7)
REMINDER: Big Oil is sitting on 9,000 unused drilling permits on ~14 million acres of public land. I confronted the CEOs of @bp_plc, @exxonmobil, @Shell, and @Chevron about this hoarding. They all said they still want more taxpayer-owned land. (5/7)
The oil gas industry shows why capitalism needs guardrails to work: Big Oil is purposefully limiting supply of an essential good to enrich shareholders.
Today, the House took action and approved my and Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA-8)'s bill to crack down on this price gouging. (6/7)
Our bill, the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, would lower gas prices by making predatory price hikes unlawful, holding market manipulators accountable, and boosting transparency in the market.
The House passed my bill. Families need the Senate to do the same. (7/7)