Congress' Oil Hearings: The Ultimate Passing Of The Buck

Watching the hearings today on Capitol Hill, and some of the comments by the Senators, was very interesting, to say the least. Dick Durbin asked the oil executives if they knew what they were doing to the American people, how could they live with themselves, etc. Everyone wants to know why oil prices are so high.

I have a question for all members of Congress: Do they not know what they're doing, and have done, to the American people? How can members of Congress live with themselves? We've known this day was coming for over 30 years, during which time both the Democrats and Republicans have had majorities in Congress. The Democrats from the 1970's, during the oil embargo, until 1995, and the Republicans from 1995 - 2006. Yet neither party has developed a national energy policy to steer us away from oil. Everyone knows that oil is a finite resource, and everyone knew it in the 1970's. Why wasn't something done in the last 35 years?

It's easy to point the finger at the oil companies, Republicans, automakers, or SUV drivers. However, I think we should point the finger at the people who deserve it: all the members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, who did nothing, passing the buck right on down the line. Had Congress instituted a serious, coherent, sensible national energy policy over the last several decades, we would not find ourselves in the position we are in today.

So I ask the members of Congress, both past and present, did you, and do you, not know what you're doing to the American people? Unfortunately, I think I already know the answer. Of course they know what they're doing, but most of them have not cared and do not care. Rather than taking action and doing something about it, they're content to pass the buck and let a future Congress deal with it, all the while retiring from Congress, collecting their fat government pensions, and working as lobbyists and consultants for the very industries to which they've enslaved ordinary Americans.


edited for punctuation

that Big Oil's feet are being held to the fire, when, in fact, they are allowed to remain in charge of our energy policy.

Almost.

that reverses the current policy, passed by the prior Republican Congress, of giving Big Oil a license to steal from hard-working, taxpaying, law-abiding Americans, and then wait for Bush's inevitable veto to override it. Then, and only then, will Big Oil be reined in.

Had Congress actually done their job over the past 35 years, Big Oil wouldn't need to be "reined in". It's the lack of action on Congress' part that put us in this situation to begin with. Of course, it's not very likely that Congress will hold hearings on itself to determine why they sat on their hands and did nothing all this time.

:kick:

should be engraved above the entrance to the Capitol. Was there ever a group of men and women as clueless as the U.S.Congess?

stingy, stingy, stingy....

I hope they all die miserable deaths...

In my tribe, they would be reamed

I heard one of them CLEARLY say they reinvest every penny.

:sarcasm:

"Not. Bwaaaa ha ha ha ha. It's all the fault of The Clenis and the Democrats. Smirk."

- Commander AWOL

There were plenty of ideas and policies being offered in the 70's for conservation and alternative energy...but when that crisis past it was outta sight outta mind...the focus went back on making money and "freedom" (translation: I want to drive as much as I want and anything I want)...and the oil companies and others were playing it smart...they knew where they could squeeze without getting too many people mad.

The big changes came after the GOOP Contract On America...the age of speculation was on. The "Go-Go" 80's showed that markets didn't have to make money based on actual earnings but on projections...or the "anticipated" future price of a company. The model has led to "booms" and "bubbles" that has removed a lot of oversight and all but encouraged large corporations to collude with one another to maintain their "future" prices and create an artificial reality that they then sold to stockholders. With little or no Congressional oversight (and yes, Democrats in the 80's and early 90's hold some responsibility...as does Bill Clinton for going along with more "deregulation" during the 90's)...in esseence, the Foxes now not only run the Henhouse, they have us paying for the right to stay in that Henhouse.

Most in the beltway don't feel what the "fly-over" people do...but they've become the "voice"...and with this voice they've created the "reality" that serves the corporate culture. If you're suffering, then it's your fault...if you're not making 6 or 7 figures a year, then it's obvious that you just aren't "worthy". Our society began to value greed...worshiped the Kennyboy Lays and Donald Trumps while looking down on such cretins as teachers, factory workers or anything that involved a union.

I watched the hearing as well and reminded me of past hearings of this sort...initial outrage then nothing. The oil titans just shrug their shoulders cause they know that the bubble will soon burst and once again their activities will be "outta sight outta mind".

Oh, wait! It's because they do!

Fascism sucks.

That halliburton has been pumping unmetered??
:shrug:
Where are all the people that actually thought it was okay to attack Iraq because we would get cheaper gas?

If Congress actually wanted to smack down the oil companies, they would make them irrelevant by making gasoline obsolete with new technologies.

Although the oil companies wouldn't be irrelevant and obsolete. We'd still need oil to make plastics and other products, but we would need substantially less of it, and high prices wouldn't affect nearly every item we buy.