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BY JIM FLINK
You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.
Ahh... the perp walk for big oil.
When prices rise -- Congress calls Big Oil in for a talk.
Want a sample? The Hill has it -- from Senator Chuck Shumer.
(Schumer) “You'd be likelier to see a unicorn in this hearing room than have Americans believe you need ...subsidies.”
The headlines out of today’s hearing.
Big Oil says -- crude should only be at $60 a barrell, not $100. Oil speculators -- to blame.
That caught the ear of The Wall Street Journal.
“Uh-oh, oil bulls... So it’s at least 40% overpriced. Keep in mind this observation is not purely academic: It’s certainly in Exxon’s interest to pin the blame for high oil prices on market speculators. Big Oil is not such a big fan of runaway oil prices, which tend to make people stop driving so much and draw lots of unwanted scrutiny.”
Scrutiny -- as in today’s hearings. Oil Execs told lawmakers, hands off our $21 billion in tax breaks, or we’ll lay off workers.
Senator Orrin Hatch agrees -- and says -- this could set a bad precedent.
“Are we to increase taxes anytime a company and increase quarterly profits due to high demand of a commodity? What if Wal-Mart profits increased due to a spike in global demand of cotton? What if an increase in demand for coffee results in Starbucks reporting record profits.” (ABC)
Big Oil says, these aren’t even subsidies.
On Bloomberg, one industry spokesman says, they’re tax breaks applied to all business, and should be discussed as such.
“And what they’ve done is say, we’re gonna go after five companies. And we’re just gonna pull those five companies out of a business wide tax provisions and we’re gonna punish them because of their earnings. I thought it was good to have successful companies in the United States who happen to employ 9.2 million Americans.”
But the San Francisco Chronicle says, this tax break hasn’t been around forever. And for big oil -- it hasn’t yielded results.
“The Bush administration signed it into law in 2004 to stimulate job growth... Since then, domestic oil production has dipped and then regained, currently sitting right near its 2004 levels. In other words, no net gain for the American public, despite billions in investment tax breaks to oil companies.”
Finally, for all the good theatre this might be -- no one thinks the congressional charade will amount to much. A columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, this is just blowing off steam.
“The timing of this hearing had a bit of irony yesterday, as trading in gasoline futures had to be halted on Wednesday in New York - because the price was falling so fast. In other words, the Gas Price Political Cycle that I wrote about earlier this week is in full bloom.”
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Transcript by Newsy.
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