Rebecca Leber provided some info through “thinkprogress.org” on July 24th. After reading through the numbers she quotes in, “What Five Oil Companies Did With Their $ 375 Million In Daily Profits”, your blood will boil next time you’re filling up at $ 3.60 a gallon.

“The Big Five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell – are slated to announce their 2012 second-quarter profits later this week.

“We can expect these companies, all of which rank in the top 10 of the ‘Fortune 500 Global Ranking,’ to reveal billions of dollars more in profits, after earning $ 375 million in profits per day in 2011 ($ 261,000 per minute), and $ 368 million per day in the first three months of 2012 – bringing their combined profits to $ 1 trillion from 2001 through 2011. Below is a quick look at just how much these Big Oil companies are making, and where they are spending their billions in profits.

“Big Oil’s Big Profits in 24 Hours”

– The five biggest oil companies earned a combined profit of $ 375 million per day, or a record $ 137 billion profit for the year, in 2011, despite reducing their oil production.
– In 60 seconds, these five companies earned $ 261,000 – more than 96 percent of American households make in one year.
– These five oil companies received $ 6.6 million in federal tax breaks every day.
– In 2011, the three largest domestic public oil companies spent $ 100 million of their profits each day, or over 50 percent, buying back their own stock to enrich their board, senior managers, and largest share holders.
– The entire oil and gas industry spent on average $ 400,000 each day lobbying senators and representatives to weaken public health safeguards and keep big oil tax breaks, totaling nearly $ 150 million.
– Each CEO of the Big Five companies received an average of $ 60,110 in compensation per day last year. On average, their pay jumped 55 percent in 2011. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson’s compensation came close to $ 100,000 per day last year.

“Millions in Political Contributions and Lobbying”

– Despite ranking in some of the most successful companies in the world, big oil and gas companies continue to receive $ 4 billion in tax breaks each year.
– The oil and gas industry has already given over $ 30.5 million in federal campaign contributions this year, with a whopping 48 percent going to Republicans.
– Big Oil has spent an additional $ 37 million on Lobbying Congress this year, with the top spenders being Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Koch Industries and BP.” –

[Did you see anything in this picture that had anything to do with job creation? Neither did we. And just think – for a lousy $ 10 to $ 15 million we could put an end to this “Great Recession”.]