Chutzpah on the Streets of Washington

The classic definition of chutzpah is the man who murders his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court, claiming that he is an orphan. A similar thing happened yesterday in the United States Senate when the executives of Shell, BP, ConocoPhilips, Chevron, and ExxonMobile went before the Senate Judiciary Committee and demanded that the government provide them with some relief for their skyrocketing costs related to higher fuel prices. They claimed that lack of worldwide production was the cause of the price increase and that the senators could help the problem by opening up more U.S. controlled areas for greater oil drilling.

That they seemed slightly shocked that their “poor little rich girl” approach didn’t dampen the eyes of more elected officials should only be one iota of brazenness of their behavior. All this is, of course, after they’ve all posted the highest record profits ever in the history of the United States in the last two quarters. The chief executive of ExxonMobile, Rex Tillerson, earns an annual salary of $21.7 million and yet apparently believes the government that he and his political party deride owes him assistance because it costs more to fuel his (fueling) companies and his personal cars.

Meanwhile crude oil traded at over $135 per barrel last night on the Asian markets and the cost of a gallon of gasoline at the gas station outside my office was $4.19 for regular.

The one thing to make you feel better? Our friends in England have it worse. Gas prices in England are at around £1.12 per liter. Convert that to dollars per gallon and it ends up being about $8.81. Thanks, plummeting US Dollar!