Exxon Mobil makes a lot of money; billions of dollars per quarter, to affix some scale to the notion. During those quarters that the massive firm only makes a few billion in profit, most Americans are oblivious. When those same Americans have to pay $4.00 per gallon to go to work, they get a little testy at the mention of “Big Oil”. The political hot air competition (Republicans blame prices on the inability to drill everywhere, Democrats blame them on greed and reckless subsidy) is getting us nowhere. But, just for the sake of argument, let’s cover the two arguments, and be done with them.
Taking $4 billion in subsidies away from Big Oil (if those subsidies went exclusively to those firms; which they don’t), would not lower gas prices. Period. For the same reasons that The Rational Middle lampoons GOP legislators for their attacks on Big Bird and Food Stamps, a $4 billion cash grab by Democrats is a stab at chump change in the scale of our budget. Yes friends, $4 billion, on the scale of the budget of the greatest country on Earth, is very nearly as important as the freshener you might see in a public urinal. As to the Republicans shrill, incessant, and obnoxious screams to Drill, Baby, Drill…
IT WON’T LOWER GAS PRICES NOW, AND NOT MORE THAN A QUARTER OR SO OVER TEN YEARS!