The lowest grade of gas in Seattle has now moved above $3.00 a gallon. Meanwhile oil companies profits move into the stratosphere. And the Republicans propose the answer is to further cut funding from already depleted government programs by giving you a $100 so you can buy more gas.
A Seattle PI editorial today calls it “Buying Votes“. Their weblink calls it “gasgimmicked”. And here I thought I was going to be the first to claim on my blog that it was a pretty blatant attempt by the Republicans to buy some love for themselves, at least until the November election is over. Well you know brilliant minds sometimes do think alike.
Anyway, just a couple of days ago Bush was not so subtly trying to blame rising gas prices on the environmentalists by saying it was those damn clean air laws doing it and maybe we should suspend them. After all, Bush is thinking to himself, all we need to do is call our effort something like the “new and revised healthy air initiative” and people would surely just take our word for it. You know, like a healthy forest is one where we cut trees down. They believed that.
Bush also tried to blame it on environmentalists by shedding tears that he couldn’t play oil magnate and drill for more oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. But think about it, where would the $100 come from?
One proposal circulating is to give you back some of your Federal gas taxes, for several months.
As the PI editorial notes, that does nothing to reduce demand for oil.It will merely cut money for other things our Federal Government does, like pay for education and health care. So in essence this proposal is true Republicanthink. Cut taxes and cut government. It does nothing to solve America’s addiction to oil.
Bush and his Republican cronies represent Corporate America and Corporate America is all about profits. And the oil industry is doing gangbusters there.
A Seattle PI business headline today says “Chevron earnings soar 49 percent to $4 Billion”
“…the performance marked the fourth consecutive quarter that Chevron has earned at least $3.6 billion as the company continued to capitalize on oil prices that have climbed above $70 per barrel since the first quarter ended.”
So do you think Bush will go after Chevron profits. Bob Herbert in another article in todays PI entitled “Bush drives nation even closer to cliff” notes that Condoleezza Rice was “a former Chevron director, even had an oil tanker named after her.”
Meanwhile as posted in the Washington Post yesterday,
“Exxon Mobil Corp.reported $8.4 billion in first-quarter profit.”
The earnings outstripped the oil giant’s profit in the first quarter of last year. Given current oil market conditions, analysts said, that puts Exxon Mobil on track to break the $36 billion record profit it made last year.
The Washington Post on Wed. noted that for ConocoPhillips, the U.S.’s third largest oil company, that:
“The Houston-based oil and gas giant said first-quarter net income rose 13% to $3.29 billion, or $2.34 a share, up from a year-ago profit of $2.91 billion, or $2.05 a share. Total revenue grew 23% in the latest three months to $47.9 billion from $38.9 billion in the same period a year earlier. ”
Altogether, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conoco Philips 1st quarter 2006 profits topped $15 billion. O.K. One guess. Whose pockets do you think that $15 billion dollars came from.
So in this land of Republican free enterprise isn’t this what you would expect You are allowed to take as much as you want, charge as much as you want and do as you want with what you get. It’s part of the Corporate Republican agenda.
You are allowed to soak the public for as much as you can because we don’t need regulation of any sort. Did you ever hear Bush speak out against his buddies at Enron as they soaked the public, you and me, with preposterous electricity bills.
Why would you expect Bush and the Republicans to go against their own businesses, that helped put them into office? Don’t complain about high gas prices, those of you that voted for Bush.
Did you really think he had compassion? What he has is passion for corporations making money. Don’t you remember after 9/11. His speeches to the American public weren’t about energy independence, no they were about urging you to continue to buy and consume, to keep the corporations in business. Think about it.
