We've Been Oiled

"Our earnings, although high in absolute terms, need to be viewed in the context of the scale and cyclical, long-term nature of our industry as well as the huge investment requirements," said J.S. Simon, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., which made a record $40 billion last year.

"We depend on high earnings during the up cycle to sustain ... investment over the long term, including the down cycles," he continued."

What blatant rubbish! Can you believe these guys? The Exxon poobah wasn't the only oily fat cat telling the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming yesterday that they're really just po' boys tryin' to make a livin'. Four other oil company executives were also on hand to echo Exxon. And furthermore, "they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but . . . it's not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries." This kind of b.s. just makes me nuts. For starters, these guys who are paid obscene amounts of money don't have a clue how people are hurt by their gouging. They inhabit universes far away from the one the rest of us live in.

It's not their fault? Well, who in hell sets the price of gasoline? Peter Rabbit?

And their profits are in line with what other industries? Exxon made $40 billion profit last year. These numbers are stratospheric. Nobody is close to making this kind of profit . . . except maybe the other oil companies.

Bear in mind that the oil companies, thanks to the national so-called energy policy (which they designed themselves, don't forget) receive billions of dollars in subsidies from these same strapped motorists whose pain they feel. And of course it would never do to give back $1.8 billion a year of these subsidies for the next 10 years (as suggested by Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass)) because that "would dampen investment and could lead to even higher prices."

This is the same line of manure we've been hearing from the global fat cats for years. First the obligatory bow to the god Market--we can't have dampened investment, can we? The god would not be happy. Then the blatant appeal to people's fear for their property (indirect in this case, i.e., if I have to pay even more for gas, I won't be able to consume like I'm consuming now), tactics that never fail with the American people, who have long since given up their outrage about anything that big business and its puppy dog in the White House do to them.