Against Big Oil ? surprise

Question

Find out how much of your money is invested in Big Oil if you have 401k, Pension fund, Mutual fund

Answer 1

Nope!  I'm not!

I support a free market economy and it makes my heart feel good to see a business doing well!  People talk about "Big Oil" likes its some sort of mythical beast.  "Big Oil" consists of employees of all different pay levels, who have families to feed.  Big Oil isn't just one big CEO dude sitting in a giant office.  And as you point out, a lot of us have money invested in their companies.

I wonder how many people who complain about "big oil" would be complaining if it was their family who became wealthy from it.  Answer to that question = 0.

Answer 2

Is there more to this?  

Answer 3

. Exxon Mobil, in fact, is owned mostly by ordinary Americans. Mutual funds, index funds and pension funds (including union pension funds) own about 52 percent of Exxon Mobil’s shares. Individual shareholders, about two million or so, own almost all the rest. The pooh-bahs who run Exxon own less than 1 percent of the company.

When Exxon Mobil earns almost $12 billion in a quarter, or $41 billion in a year, as it did in 2007, that money does not go into the coffers of a few billionaire executives quaffing Champagne in Texas. It goes into the pension and retirement accounts of ordinary citizens. When Exxon pays a dividend, that money goes to pay for the mortgages and oxygen tanks and in-home care of lots of elderly Americans.