Congress Rounds Up The Usual Big Oil Suspects

Congress Rounds Up The Usual Big Oil Suspects

Noah Points the Finger The Congressional hearing today is titled, "Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America's Pain at the Pump," which says it all: posturing and the blame game are the focus. Although prejudice against ethnic groups and religions is generally decried in this country (sadly not globally), other prejudices abound and are acceptable to many who would be shocked to be considered biased. Yet people often judge who you are not what you do, with oil companies the prime example. Guilt by association, almost like homeopathic guilt, remains common. This is very much true nowadays when one discusses, for example, climate change or energy security. The oil companies, who are hardly without sin, have taken far more than their share of the blame in both areas, in part because they are unpopular with the American public and thus easy targets. Senator Elizabeth Warren can blame high oil prices on the desire of Chevron and Exxon to have high profits, knowing that few voters in liberal Massachusetts will take exception to the claim. (Did Exxon call up all the traders in New York, Rotterdam, Singapore and elsewhere and tell them to pay more for oil? Did Chevron