You've got to hand it to politicians, because they really have their finger on the pulse. Nothing ever gets by them at all. That's why as the oil giants posted their huge first-quarter profits, John Boehner said it's time to scrutinize the benefits enjoyed by the country's biggest oil firms. "It's certainly something that we ought to be looking at," Boehner said. "They ought to be paying their fair share." I wonder exactly where this turkey's been for the last ten years?
In the meantime, according to ThinkPogress, "the nation's five biggest oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell— are feeling no pain, despite the ongoing economic doldrums." Booming crude-oil prices and improved refining profits have set the stage for big oil's first-quarter earnings while year=end results could come close to rivaling the industry's record year in 2008.
First-quarter crude prices averaged about $100 a barrel, or about 20% higher than a year ago, pushed there by oil-supply concerns about political unrest in the Arab World and a recovering global economy. That spike is expected to lift earnings by about 50% at Exxon Mobil Corp., and about 33% each at Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips, compared with their prior year.
However, while this humongous rip-off of everyone who uses oil continues, Republicans, are still playing around with proposals that would overhaul Medicare and Medicaid, and Boehner himself continues to threaten to hold up a vote on raising the debt ceiling unless GOP demands for spending cuts are met.
He did say though, that with the price of gas topping $4 a gallon in many towns across the nation, oil companies are a popular target. But he disputed the notion that they get "extra benefits." However, he said they bear some of the "blame" for high costs and suggested the major firms might not need the help in the tax code they currently get.
So here's my question for today. Why would these giant corporations who are making money faster than they can count it getting any tax benefits at all? And how can anyone in office brush the situation off with meaningless comments? Do you think perhaps it might be the lobbies?
For quite some time now, I've been waiting for the Obama/Soros Brazilian oil loan guarantee scam to be exposed. I actually thought it was only them. But now I guess it's everyone in Congress who's got some reason to let us all leave more and more of our hard-earned dough at the pump. Wonder how much of their own cash they'll spend driving to unemployment.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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