Big Oil Wins Again
Fortune Magazine’s annual list of the 500 hundred biggest companies in the U.S. came out today, and I’m sure right now there are 1,000 CEOs and Presidents searching through the pages, trying to figure out where they are. It’s measuring without a ruler.
Being on the Fortune 500 is a big deal to a business, though. Now guys can run around and say, “We’re a Fortune 500 Company!” while dropping $200 on a round of golf that us consumers will ultimately pay for. (Because God knows very few Fortune 500 executive ever pays for his or her own tee times!) My employer not-so-coincidentally fell off the Fortune 500 today - we were #232 at one time, back in the "good old days". Now we're on the outside, looking in. Oops.
Regardless, here’s this year’s top 10, and my opinion of them. My opinion is free, and won’t be jammed full of ads and subscription cards. So enjoy it while you lunch at Mortons, will you?
10 – IBM. I had an IBM computer once. A PC Jr. It cost $2,999 new. It had no hard drive, 256K memory, 16 color video display, a 3.5-inch low density floppy disk drive, and a 300 baud modem. I paid $100 for it, used, about 2 years old. Today? It’s probably a doorstep.
9 – AIG – My sister’s life insurance was though them. Just try getting your money straight through them – no wonder they’re on this list. They don’t like to let go it once they get it.
8 – Citigroup – There’s a reason why they’re #8 and your credit card charges 20.99% APR.
7 – GE – General Electric makes good money, good light bulbs, good toasters, and mediocre TV (NBC).
6 – ConocoPhillips – see my comments about #1.
5 – Ford – My Dad hated Ford cars with a passion. Personally, if they’d bring back the 1965 Mustang convertible, I’d probably own one. (I’m sure my Dad is spinning in his grave over that one.)
4 – Chevron – see my comments about #1.
3 – GM – General Motors has had a difficult year. Still, I’ve had two GM cars (both Buicks) that nickel and dimed me to death, so I can’t say that I’m exactly a fan of their autos.
2 – Wal-Mart – I have nothing nice to say, so I’ll follow Thumper’s father’s advice and not say anything at all.
1 – Exxon-Mobil - Okay, first things first. I’m still mighty pissed at Exxon about the Valdez oil spill 17 years ago. So I avoid Exxon stations at all cost. I know, I know – I’m probably hurting the small business owner with my personal boycott, but that’s just the way it goes. Why would I intentionally give money to people who so blatantly care so little about their pollution?
But my main comments about #1, #4, and #6 – these are the same three companies that were screaming last summer how poor they were, and how they had “no choice” but to jack gas prices up to over $3.00 a gallon. Nowadays we pay $2.50 or so a gallon, and thank God that’s all they’re screwing us. But yet here they are, with record profits out the wazoo, all thanks to us poor saps who have little choice but to pay their prices.
I took an Economics class last fall (both Micro and Macro), and know all too well about elastic and inelastic goods. We need to get from here to there, so what choice do we have? Walk 10 miles each way to work, or suck it up and take one for the team. Ding – ding – ding – that tank of gas? It’ll cost you your first born, buster. And if gas went up to...oh, say $9 a gallon, what would you do about it? You’d bitch and moan, and then pay it. They know it, you know it. Sucker.
Perhaps I’m just bitter – it cost me $30 to fill my car this AM, which with a little luck will last me about 10 days.
But perhaps I’m ready for Americans to get a little bit pissed about the high prices, and start working on some sort of replacement for oil. One that Exxon and their greedy bastard brothers won’t have any part of.
Because it’d be cool to see an environmentally friendly, oil dependent free car manufacturer at #1 and Exxon down to #499. I know it won’t happen anytime soon, but why not get the ball rolling now? The sooner we start, the sooner we can escape their highway robbery.
Okay, off my soapbox now. You may now return to your regularly scheduled highways and byways. But just think about it while you’re stuck in traffic, okay?
Thanks.
Being on the Fortune 500 is a big deal to a business, though. Now guys can run around and say, “We’re a Fortune 500 Company!” while dropping $200 on a round of golf that us consumers will ultimately pay for. (Because God knows very few Fortune 500 executive ever pays for his or her own tee times!) My employer not-so-coincidentally fell off the Fortune 500 today - we were #232 at one time, back in the "good old days". Now we're on the outside, looking in. Oops.
Regardless, here’s this year’s top 10, and my opinion of them. My opinion is free, and won’t be jammed full of ads and subscription cards. So enjoy it while you lunch at Mortons, will you?
10 – IBM. I had an IBM computer once. A PC Jr. It cost $2,999 new. It had no hard drive, 256K memory, 16 color video display, a 3.5-inch low density floppy disk drive, and a 300 baud modem. I paid $100 for it, used, about 2 years old. Today? It’s probably a doorstep.
9 – AIG – My sister’s life insurance was though them. Just try getting your money straight through them – no wonder they’re on this list. They don’t like to let go it once they get it.
8 – Citigroup – There’s a reason why they’re #8 and your credit card charges 20.99% APR.
7 – GE – General Electric makes good money, good light bulbs, good toasters, and mediocre TV (NBC).
6 – ConocoPhillips – see my comments about #1.
5 – Ford – My Dad hated Ford cars with a passion. Personally, if they’d bring back the 1965 Mustang convertible, I’d probably own one. (I’m sure my Dad is spinning in his grave over that one.)
4 – Chevron – see my comments about #1.
3 – GM – General Motors has had a difficult year. Still, I’ve had two GM cars (both Buicks) that nickel and dimed me to death, so I can’t say that I’m exactly a fan of their autos.
2 – Wal-Mart – I have nothing nice to say, so I’ll follow Thumper’s father’s advice and not say anything at all.
1 – Exxon-Mobil - Okay, first things first. I’m still mighty pissed at Exxon about the Valdez oil spill 17 years ago. So I avoid Exxon stations at all cost. I know, I know – I’m probably hurting the small business owner with my personal boycott, but that’s just the way it goes. Why would I intentionally give money to people who so blatantly care so little about their pollution?
But my main comments about #1, #4, and #6 – these are the same three companies that were screaming last summer how poor they were, and how they had “no choice” but to jack gas prices up to over $3.00 a gallon. Nowadays we pay $2.50 or so a gallon, and thank God that’s all they’re screwing us. But yet here they are, with record profits out the wazoo, all thanks to us poor saps who have little choice but to pay their prices.
I took an Economics class last fall (both Micro and Macro), and know all too well about elastic and inelastic goods. We need to get from here to there, so what choice do we have? Walk 10 miles each way to work, or suck it up and take one for the team. Ding – ding – ding – that tank of gas? It’ll cost you your first born, buster. And if gas went up to...oh, say $9 a gallon, what would you do about it? You’d bitch and moan, and then pay it. They know it, you know it. Sucker.
Perhaps I’m just bitter – it cost me $30 to fill my car this AM, which with a little luck will last me about 10 days.
But perhaps I’m ready for Americans to get a little bit pissed about the high prices, and start working on some sort of replacement for oil. One that Exxon and their greedy bastard brothers won’t have any part of.
Because it’d be cool to see an environmentally friendly, oil dependent free car manufacturer at #1 and Exxon down to #499. I know it won’t happen anytime soon, but why not get the ball rolling now? The sooner we start, the sooner we can escape their highway robbery.
Okay, off my soapbox now. You may now return to your regularly scheduled highways and byways. But just think about it while you’re stuck in traffic, okay?
Thanks.
posted by Tommy G at
2:06 PM
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