Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Gasish Inquisition

Our beloved Congress-Critters are at it again. They are at Stage 4 - Search for the Guilty - in the search for the reason for the rise in the price of gasoline. The have demanded the heads of the various oil companies come and stand before the Congressional Kangaroo court. There is a justice Department if there is a real crime committed. Oh, no, this is Congressional theatrics at its best or worst.
There is no chance that they can find the most of the real reasons. They have already determined their idea of the cause and are trying to find information to justify their conclusion that Capitalism is the cause. They will not acknowledge that the dollar has tanked in the international currency market (many reasons -- many of which track back directly to themselves). They will not recognize that the percentage of gross that is profit to the oil companies has remained constant -- it is merely that same percentage of a larger pie.
They will not acknowledge that they have made three times the profit that the oil companies do from each gallon of gas. They will not acknowledge that their environmental regulations (as much at the state level as the Federal) have contributed greatly to artificial scarcity.
But for all this, somehow I suspect I can live a lot longer without the phlegmatic Chuck Schumer and his show trials than I can without R. W. Tillerson and his management of Exxon-Mobil.

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