The following two graphs pretty much sum up my feelings about the oil and gas industry.
First, courtesy of the
U.S. Energy Information Administration, here are fourth quarter profits (2004 and 2005) by line of business. As you can see,
the major energy companies are totally raking it in, particularly when it comes to the "upstream" side of the business; that is, oil and natural gas production. In just the 4th Quarter of 2005, the main U.S. energy companies made
$25 BILLION in net income producing oil and natural gas. Gee, you think they could afford to give some of that money back to their country in a time of war and huge budget deficits? But perhaps the NEXT graph will help explain why the Congress and Bush Administration won't go for THAT!
Next, courtesy of
Open Secrets, is where the oil and gas industry gave its money in 2004 and - so far - in 2006. That's right,
Big Oil gives overwhelmingly to Republicans. I know, I know, big surprise! But, put these two graphs together, and I think it tells a strong story. Or am I just imagining that Big Oil and the GOP are joined at the hip? Am I also imagining that
Big Oil is receiving huge subsidies - explicit and implicit - from the U.S. public, even while that same public is paying $3 per gallon at the pump?
What the hell is going on here? Is our political system totally corrupted with oil money or what? Is the movie Syriana, which dramatizes the corrupt intertwining of Big Oil, politics, terrorism, and repressive Middle Eastern countries, real or is it fiction? Do we desperately need someone like Jim Webb, who despises this system and just yesterday called for a windfall profits tax, now more than ever? Is another lobbyist or buddy of Big Oil the last thing we need in Congress right now? Exactly, I thought you'd see it that way too! :)