Saving the No Spin Zone from Bill O’Reilly Blunders

Dear Bill,

I was and am a fan of Bill O’Reilly and the No Spin Zone. If you continue to blunder as you did last night I will not be a fan much longer.

Talking about coming attractions in your Monday, April 25^th show you titillated the folks with:

”Gas prices are soaring, speculators are driving up the price of oil, energy companies are making excess profits on the backs of the folks, and Obama is right on this occasion to speak out against subsidies to big oil”

Cloaked in a shroud of partial truths you gave your audience the impression that Obama is a good President and doing the right thing. These statements and your segment on this subject represent spinning in the extreme. Presenting your prejudices about successful American businesses does a disservice to your ardent followers.

Let’s look at the facts. I refer you to the Exxon Mobil Annual report for 2010.

1)    Revenue grew year over year 23.4% to $383.2 Billion. Good growth performance.

2)    Net income after taxes was $31.4 Billion or 8.2% of revenue. Adequate but not good performance.

3)    Crude oil and purchases rose 29.5% to $198 Billion. Result of Inflation.

4)    All taxes including income tax were $86.2 billion or 22.5% of revenue. An unbelievable burden for the Company to manage and the consumer to pay. Especially when the Federal Government wastes Tax Payer $.

5)    Subsidies for oil and gas, according to an EIA study amounted to 13% of $16.6 Billion, about $2.2 Billion for the whole industry. An insignificant amount compared to the $86.2 Billion the Company paid in total taxes.

Perhaps, Bill, your no spin, truthful message to the folks should have been “Gas prices are soaring because of incompetence by Obama, his administration, career politicians and prior administrations”

To get a better business competence for you and your staff I humbly suggest you read Bruce Henderson’s, (BCG), “Perspectives on Competition” and my book “Compete and Empower” published in 2010

Sincerely,

Brian Sear, Author and President VenRaD LLC. Go to Amazon or www.briansear.com for reference information.