Today in the land of Shut the Hell Up: Oil companies! That's right, everyone's favorite polluters are whining about President Obama's new budget. According to the Wall St. Journal, Big Oil is crying about a tax increase that doesn't exist. Well, it kinda exists. It's more of a "this is something we gave you a break on 10 years ago so you could develop new sources of oil, and you've been sitting on this oil while the average American is paying through the nose and you're making money hand over fist, so we're not gonna give you a break anymore."

The WSJ reports that Obama's plan will cost oil co's at least $31.5 billion over 10 years. Now, that's every oil co. that does business in the US. Spread that out, it's $31.5 million per year. Ok, so here's the really hard part: Exxon-Mobil, the largest private oil company in the world, reported revenues of $477 billion LAST YEAR. Now, we all know that oil is expensive to come by, so how much of that was profit? $45.22 billion! Profit. After expenses. So, let's do some math: $45.22 billion - $31.5 million = $45.218 billion. Jeez. I don't think their CEO will be able to operate his private jet on that.

One of the best lines from the WSJ article is this one: "Democrats have been battling oil firms to get royalty payments from Gulf of Mexico leases signed in the late 1990s, years when the government apparently accidentally left price triggers out of contracts."
Yeah. The Clinton administration "accidentally" forgot to put limits on a tax break for business. Sound familiar? Just like they "accidentally" left out a time limit on legislation allowing low interest mortgages?

Look: the fact of the matter here is that the oil industry has been making tons of money the last few years, at the expense of the average American. All we're asking for is a piece (and a relatively small one at that) of the pie. Oh, and what do we want it for? Researching alternative fuels. You know, that thing the oil industry claims to be spending billions on. Yeah. That.

"I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts."

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)