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This past Thursday, as I was making my daily commute to work, I
nearly got into a collision. I wasn’t swerving to miss a deer, or
maneuvering around a manure spreader. I noticed the price of unleaded
gas as I motored through Spring Grove and saw the sign indicating the
price had jumped to $3.43 per gallon. The sticker shock almost caused
me to totally lose my concentration and rear-end the vehicle in front
of me.
Gas had jumped nearly 50 cents per gallon in the past month, and it was
just sinking in that the forboding predictions of $4 a gallon by summer
just might come to be. How can this be? Why can’t someone do something
about it? Why should a very select few ultra rich SOB’s who control the
gas industry, be allowed to reap ungodly profits at the expense of
everyone else?
Why can’t our government do something about this? Congress spent
copious amounts of time and money investigating the illegal use of
steroids in major league baseball. They had many of the top players in
the game testify before Congress, and commissioned former U.S. Senator
Mitchell to conduct an independent study. While I don’t believe
professional athletes should be taking steroids or other
performance-improving drugs, the steroid issue in pro sports pales in
comparison to the raping of the American public by the petro industry.
Uncle Sam to the rescue…right?
On April 1, J. Stephen Simon of Exxon Mobil, John Hofmeister of
Shell Oil, Peter Robertson of Chevron, John Lowe of ConocoPhillips, and
Robert Malone of BP America, testified on Capitol Hill before the House
Energy and Commerce Committee.
Top executives of the country’s five biggest oil companies said they
know record fuel prices are hurting people, but argued it’s not their
fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries. Say
what????
Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to
explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax
breaks when they made a combined net income of $123 billion last year
and motorists are paying record gasoline prices at the pump.
Here’s how J.S. Simon, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp.,
which made a record $40 billion last year, responded. Remember, this
was on April Fool’s Day!
“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. We depend on high earnings
during the up cycle to sustain investment over the long term, including
the down cycles.”
Including the down cycles???? If these corporations are reaming the
heck out of the American public during the good times, how bad are we
going to get gouged when things turn sour? These five companies enjoyed
a combined net profit of $123 billion for one year. Why should any
company be allowed to reap those kinds of profits while raping the
American public?
So what’s Congress going to do about this? All that happened during the
April 1 hearing was a tongue lashing by several members of Congress.
Big deal!
Will our President come to our rescue? Why would he? Both his family
and the Vice President’s family are directly tied to big oil. And
they’ll both be leaving Washington in eight months.
How about the three major candidates running for the White House? Have
they stepped up to the plate and come out strongly against this
situation that is so critical to the well being of our country? Nothing
more than a little lip service.
There is no one commodity that fuels (no pun intended) inflation like
petroleum products. Diesel fuel, which is the lifeblood of the trucking
industry has already cleared the $4 per gallon barrier. I can’t think
of a single product I purchase that isn’t transported by either truck
or rail. We’re seeing the impact in the grocery store, clothing store,
hardware store, lumber yard, and any where else products must be
transported in.
And what kind of impact will $4 or even $5 per gallon diesel fuel have
on our farmers this spring, as they try to put in another crop?
George Hendel recently sent me a copy of a diesel fuel bill he found
that was from 1939. Diesel in 1939 was 8.3 cents per gallon. He had 50
gallons delivered to his farm, and the charge was $4.15. Diesel fuel is
currently 50 times higher now than it was 70 years ago.
I’ve never been one for Uncle Sam regulating the private sector. But I
seem to be changing my tune when it comes to the petroleum industry.
The government needs to step in and say enough is enough. We invaded a
country because of rumors Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Maybe Uncle Sam should take over big oil? We wouldn’t have to be giving
out billions of dollars in tax breaks, paying big oil CEOs tens of
millions of dollars a year in salaries and bonuses, could cut fuel
prices $2 a gallon, and use any profits to help cut the federal
deficit.
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