Bankers and bosses cash in as fuel prices rise

Petrol prices at the pump are on the rise (Pic: Erik Mclean on Pexels)

At the start of his war on Iran, Donald Trump promised that rising oil and gas prices would make the US “a lot of money”

It’s becoming very clear who’s profiting—bankers and the bosses.

Wall Street banks have announced record-breaking profits.

Investment banks JP Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo have made more than £18.4 billion in profit. JP Morgan’s profits alone have risen 13 percent, equalling some £12 billion. 

While the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the price of oil and gas rocketing and people reeling, energy companies are lining their pockets. Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor and Harbour Energy have seen their holding assets rise by over £73 billion. 

Analysis from the Guardian newspaper suggested that the oil giants are profiteering while ordinary people suffer. It found that the world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked unearned profits of more than $30 million every hour in the first month of the war.

The cost of petrol at the pump in the US is the highest it’s been since Russia invaded Ukraine—currently averaging at $4 a gallon and reaching $5.88 a gallon in California. 

In 2022, 50 percent of US oil profits went to just 1 percent of the population. The bottom 50 percent of the population only saw about 1 percent of these profits.

In Britain, signs are already pointing to a deepening of the cost of living crisis. 

The IMF lending body has warned that Britain will be one of the hardest hit by the economic fallout from the war on Iran. 

Mortgage rates have jumped past 5 percent since the start of the war. The cost of food is estimated to rise by 9 percent by December.

The cost of filling a typical family car with petrol has gone up by more than £14. A tank of diesel is now around £27 more expensive. 

Some 83 percent of people in Britain are worried about rising energy costs, as some estimates suggest that household energy bills could rise by £480 a year. 

With some two million British households already in energy debt, fuel poverty will balloon.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimates that 13 million British households could be spending more than 10 percent of their income on energy bills by the end of 2026. 

Simon Francis from the Coalition says, “Millions of households are still recovering from the last energy crisis, with record levels of energy debt and many already struggling to afford their bills.

“While households will feel the effects of the war on Iran for months to come, the energy industry will continue to benefit from increased prices and a fresh wave of excess profits.”

Despite Keir Starmer’s claims that “this is not Britain’s war”, British bases and British-made arms are being used to attack Iran.  

The Labour government will attempt to make working class people pay the price for Trump’s war. And it is determined to put cash in the pockets of generals and avoid taxing the super-rich—and slash social spending to pay for it.

It is vital to start pushing for unions to get ready for action.