> Everyone who owns an index fund benefits when oil companies are profitable.
A significant minority of people have nothing in the stock market whatsoever, and of those who do, another large portion are only invested thanks to their pension plan, and so they don't actually know that they own (possibly via index fund) shares in oil companies (and basically every other large company).
> A significant minority of people have nothing in the stock market whatsoever
Don't you mean "majority" instead of "minority" there? Most people worldwide (I won't speak for the US, maybe I'm wrong there) don't own anything on any stock market at all.
A significant minority of people have nothing in the stock market whatsoever, and of those who do, another large portion are only invested thanks to their pension plan, and so they don't actually know that they own (possibly via index fund) shares in oil companies (and basically every other large company).