Disingenuous theater - take 2
This entry was posted on 5/21/2008 9:39 PM and is filed under Tax Shifting,OIL,Leadership,Elected representatives.
The same crap keeps playing out. This time I put much more of the fault with our elected representatives instead of the Big Oil executives. Fault for: 1) wasted congressional, executive and media time; 2) misplaced 'wrath' that does no-thing to solve our energy policy problems.
About a month and a half ago, House leaders 'summoned' oil executives to Capitol Hill: Disingenuous theater - congress and big oil.
Today our senators decided to look foolish. From the AP - Big Oil defends profits before irate senators. Excerpts (my comments in brackets):
"On a day oil prices leaped to unheard-of highs [$133 a barrel], senators lined up Big Oil's biggest executives and pummeled them with complaints that they're pretending to be "hapless victims" while raking in record profits. 'Where is the corporate conscience?' Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked the top executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies. It's all about economics, came the reply. Supply and demand. The company leaders tried to shift attention from motorists' anger over $4-a-gallon gasoline to a debate over new areas for drilling." [Of course the oil companies want to drill more; it's in the best interests of their organizations and their shareholders. On the other hand, having these oil reserves in the ground is money in the bank for the U.S. so we should be saving it. A phased-in, federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy will turn these OIL companies into ENERGY companies.]
"'People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting,' Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the executives. He said there's a 'disconnect' between legitimate supply issues and the oil and gasoline prices motorists are seeing." [Name the 'disconnect' Senator Leahy. And if it's illegal, prosecute. If there is no illegal activity, then do your job and create a sustainable energy policy (and stop whining).]
"This time the exchanges got personal." [That's because some of these 'powerful' Senators are realizing they are in the crapper (no sustainable energy policy) and it's their fault.]
Next in line for who is responsible for this silly spectacle is the media. Had they exposed the baloney six weeks ago, our senators might not have held today's hearing. Bottom line: these hearings are doing nothing to solve our energy policy problems.
P.S. - for those that need it.. --> New Global Warming Evidence Found
