Maxine Waters Threatens to Nationalize Oil Companies

No, really. From the NYT:

In one of the more pointed exchanges, Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, seized on the record $40.6 billion profit of Exxon Mobil in 2007. She pounded on the company’s senior vice president, J. Stephen Simon, demanding to know if gas prices would be lower if the company earned a few billion dollars less.
At another point, Ms. Waters brazenly suggested that perhaps the American oil industry should be nationalized, acknowledging that it was an “extreme step” but one that might be necessary if outsize profits and exorbitant gasoline prices continued.

I have one small correction. Last year, ExxonMobil didn’t earn $40 billion, it earned $70 billion. Guess where that missing $30 billion went? I’ll give you a hint: Rep. Waters’ salary.
Here’s the video:

Posted by on May 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm


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