On the fourth anniversary of "Mission Accomplished," Commander-in-Chief Codpiece is set to veto the Iraq war funding bill that would set benchmarks and a date for redeploying U.S. forces in Iraq. At the same time, average retail gasoline prices are set to hit $3/gallon. If one of the reasons for the catastrophic decision to invade Iraq was to stabilize a major center of oil production, that's certainly worked out well for us, hasn't it?!
It would be one thing if rising gasoline prices were slowing consumption, helping subsidize the retooling of the industry infrastructure, or providing new revenues for conservation actions and alternative energy development, but (spoiler alert!) that seems not to be the case. In fact, what is happening is that the record-setting oil industry profits resulting from this price gouging aren't even going into needed upgrades in the industry's infrastructure; rather they're going overwhelmingly into shareholders' and executives' pockets. You see, that's how the executives and boards of directors of these companies keep the shareholders pacified while they vote themselves generous salaries, bonuses, and platinum parachutes. The middle class gets screwed and the Wall Street country club set rejoices: Mission Accomplished!
