Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Oh, If We Could Tax Stupidity!

Today congresscritters will express their outrage at Big Oil's criminal profitteering from this summer's oil squeeze. You know Big Oil - you've got lots of their stock in your 401(K), and their profits will help pay your bills in your retirement. They're also the big corporations that took it on the chin when crude fell to $15 a barrel in the early '90s oil glut.

You'll see plenty of pyrotechnics today on Capitol Hill, but little substance. It's not Big Oil's fault that Ford, GM and the UAW have been caught completely flat-footed in hybrid vehicle development. Then again, if you remove 3% inflation for twenty years from the price of a gallon of gas you get a price that is less than what we paid in the early '80s. Unlike, for example, college tuition. Again, today's congressional hearing is not about substance, rather it is about theatrics and pandering.