"I have asked them to call as witnesses executives from the major oil companies and representatives of the state attorneys general, who have the initial responsibility of keeping the behavior of local energy providers on the straight and narrow," Frist said. ...Somehow, I don't think the oil giants are trembling in fear of any investigation set up by Bill Frist. For one thing, Frist supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and kept a provision in the omnibus budget bill to allow it. Next, as per usual, his move was intended as a way to deflect stronger demands and stronger words. For example, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said
"Ultimately, if the facts warrant it, I will support a federal anti-gouging law," he said.
"All of the major oil companies, foreign and domestic, have now announced their earnings: ExxonMobil third-quarter earnings up 75 percent. ConocoPhilips up 89 percent. British Petroleum up 34 percent. Shell up 68 percent.But beyond that, how many times have we been down this road? How many times have energy prices gone up and up until people got so pissed off that some in Congress started mumbling about investigations - at which time prices dropped a bit until the pressure was off?
"All together, the 29 major oil and gas firms in the Standard and Poors 500 stock index are expected to earn 96 billion dollars this year - up from 68 billion dollars last year and 43 billion dollars in 2003.
"Its become perfectly clear that the big oil companies are cashing in while average American families are being bled dry," Schumer said.
And how many times have whatever investigations did get going end up by swallowing industry propaganda about "market forces" and "competitiveness" and going no further than a few tut-tuts about "taking advantage of market conditions" to engage in "overaggressive pricing?" (That's as close to an actual quote from one such inquiry some years ago as memory will allow.) Even Schumer, despite his seemingly tough talk, has only proposed a two-year "excess profits" tax to be split between Katrina relief and deficit reduction. No offense, Chuck, but big whoop.
You want to impress me? Stop with the crap of bogus "investigations" that lead nowhere, skip the flaccid bull about "excess profits taxes," and openly avow that energy supplies are a vital national resource that must be regulated in the public interest.
We have an energy-intensive economy, in fact an energy-intensive culture. Our heat, our light, our transportation, our industry, our food supply, our jobs, all are based on energy consumption. Yes, we waste an awful lot of energy, yes, we could do more with less, yes, we could live simpler lives, yes, we could and should be doing one hell of a lot more with conservation and renewables - but no, none of that is relevant to the issue immediately at hand. That issue is the central importance of energy - no matter how environmentally-sound and efficient its production and consumption - to the way we live our lives.
You really want to impress me? Argue that the mineral and energy resources of a nation are the common property of all its people and can't properly be controlled or exploited for private profit. Oh, Exxon-Mobil, oh, Conoco, oh all the rest, yes, we'll license you to extract, refine, and sell those resources, but you'll pay a nice fee for doing so - because you don't own it until you buy it from the people as a whole: Until it's actually out of the ground, it belongs to us.
You really, really want to impress me? Breathe the N-word: nationalization.
Footnote: Ted Kennedy and some other Dem senators
on Thursday sent an open letter to oil company executives urging them to use their increased profits to contribute to fuel funds for low-income families.Unless those executives get visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve, I don't see that happening.
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