Another Senatorial Hearing (aka Waste-of-Time)

I'd say I'm getting tired of these, but how can you get tired of the norm. The sites are on the oil industry for this one.

"To my constituents, today's hearing is about shared sacrifices in tough times versus oil company greed," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "Working people struggle with high gas prices and your sacrifices appear to be nothing."

"In the midst of pain, in the midst of suffering, the public sees headlines about record profits," Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, pointed out.

But other senators, some reluctantly, opposed taking measures against the industry.

"It's not terribly fun defending you, but I do," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

More speeches and the usual name calling. No intelligent questions reported.

I love this one:

California Democrat Boxer criticized the CEOs' pay and bonuses and urged them to make significant personal and corporate contributions to energy assistance programs.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm successful, so I should throw my money where you think is right. I suppose that I'd be doing the opposite of anything Babs suggests.

It wasn't all a complete waste. This bit is actually what I've been stating since the energy bill was signed.

Two senators at the hearing, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and John Sununu, R-N.H., both said Congress should look at rolling back tax breaks given to the oil industry in the energy bill earlier this year. Wyden estimated the tax breaks were worth $2.6 billion.

The CEOs said their companies were not receiving tax breaks, and two other senators, Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Mary Landrieu, D-La., said those breaks were directed more to smaller refinery operators and need to be maintained.

Sununu argued that while the tax breaks aren't needed, a windfall profit tax would be misguided. "Taxes that discriminate against specific industries, even ones as popular as the oil industry at the current moment, are a bad idea," he said.

Note that the ones defending the tax breaks are from heavy oil producing states. I'd love to see the figures that justify these tax breaks.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said he would oppose such a tax but told the executives that one of the first questions he gets from constituents is about the way oil prices are set.

"I think most Americans think that someone rigs these prices and that someone is getting ripped off and it's them," he said, adding that the industry needed to reassure Americans it was working to keep prices in check.

Gouging has been repeatedly investigated, and the results continually come up with no wrong doing. If most American's want to know how gas prices are set, maybe they can try a simple google search. The results come up with several quick and simple answers. Is there any reason for ignorance in this age of information? Or, do they just not believe the information?

Not really surprising that the whole thing was contentious from the start. Just remember this is your hard earn dollars at work.