Here in one such exchange California Congresswoman Maxine Waters lets her mask slip when she threatens to socialize the oil and gas companies. Watch the reaction of the committee members on Ms. Waters right to her outlandish statement.
Note to Ms. Waters and Democratic members of the House and Senate: our government cannot legally take over an industry and set up shop as the new proprietorship no matter how much you want to emulate Marxist dictators from the past and present.
The following graph presented before the House Committee members by Chevron shows the position the U.S. companies are in with regard to leveraging the price of oil in world markets. The big players on the world's oil markets are foreign governments which own (have socialized as Ms. Waters would say) the oil companies operating on their soil. Most of the governments who are the big players in world oil markets are hostile to the United States and are highly unlikely to be sympathetic to the plight of American energy users. This leaves the American consumer hostage to the whims of market forces beyond our control. Coupled with a weak dollar the cost of energy for all Americans has skyrocketed to its present levels with no end in sight.
We are in this position today in large part because Democrats in the House and Senate with help of a few Republicans are preventing the United States from developing its own abundant resevoirs of oil by refusing to permit drilling in places like ANWAR in Alaska and in the contiguous states.
U.S. oil companies are shown in the right margin of the chart.
Click on graphic to enlarge.
H.T. Powerline and Sweetness and Light.