I was disturbed by the reasoning of Marshall Longway in his letter to the editor (April 9). Cutting the price of a product in half does not mean the profit is cut in half. Surely Longway realizes that if his earnings were cut in half, his expenses would not be reduced by a similar proportion.

According to published reports, the total sales of the petroleum producing companies were approximately $1.8 trillion. However, the net profit, while a huge amount, represented only 7.8 percent of those sales. Of that net profit, a third went to the shareholders, which included many pension funds and retirement accounts. The rest was retained by the oil companies to invest in finding new oil fields to increase the supply available and thus make the U.S. less dependent on the price charged by the big oil producing countries (Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela).

Reduce the sales price by just 7.8 percent and there would be no profits to distribute to the thousands of ordinary people who have invested their savings in Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, etc.

It is unfortunate that the price of petroleum products has risen so high in the last few years. We all suffer because of it. Surely, some of it is due to excesses by the oil producers, but most of it is beyond their control.

While I do not wish to defend the oil companies, the idea that big businesses are all greedy and exploit the public is not true.

Richard Kendall, Auburn