I realize the knee-jerk leftist response to a company making a lot of money is to blow the producer's knees off--one reason countries run by such people turn out to be poverty-stricken hellholes.

We hear this hysteria every time prices go up, and dead silence when they go back down.

If you honestly think ripping money away from the oil companies will bring down gas prices, increase supplies, or fix anything except the envious hatred for wealth that consumes a lot of people, go for it.

It's sad that politicians who are butt-ignorant about business, technology, economics, and pretty much everything except politics, have this much power to screw things up. I don't recall the government passing out cash to strapped oil companies back in the 80s when oil prices were in the toilet and wells were being closed off.

Exxon took in 370.7 billion in 2005. Half of that went to purchasing crude oil and other raw product. After other expenses, 36.1 billion was net income (profit). About ten percent.

Among the other expenses were excise taxes, income taxes and other taxes and duties that added up to 95.6 billion, or almost three times the amount of profit.

The people lusting for the blood of oil companies are simple-minded idiots who have no idea what they're talking about.