There is a meme floating around social media that seems to prove greedy corporations – specifically oil companies – are the root cause of inflation.
How does this meme stack up to reality?
Short answer — it doesn’t.
The meme tells us that ExxonMobil earned $5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022 compared with $2.7 billion in Q1 2021. The meme goes on to conclude “We’re not paying for gas, we’re paying for greed!”
This meme is a great example of the fact that trying to draw conclusions based on a couple of numbers pulled from any context will likely lead you to the wrong conclusion.