Oil Companies having to justify profits to Congress...

I don't have a link to the figures, but if I remember correctly rougly 2/3 of the price of a gallon of gas is actually taxes. The Evil oil companies are making several hundred billion in profits selling a product that the entire developed world needs. They provide a product and people buy it, that's how the free market works. The government on the other hand rakes in over a TRILLION in taxes on a product that they don't own or provide and they have the audacity to chastise the oil companies for making too much money!

Seems to me that the government and not the oil companies are the ones screwing American consumers. The problem is that the government has no one they must justify their profits to. The American people won't hold them accountable, because they've fallen for the fallacy that government is the good guy. Most of the sheep don't realize just who is doing the fleecing.

And one more thing about people who rant about the "evil corporations." What power does a corporation, or any business have over the people? In a truely free market they have NO power, since they're at the mercy of the market and of consumers. If we don't like their product, prices, etc. we can simply buy it somewhere else. If an opening exists a competitor will fill it.

A business or corporation has no power over anyone. They can't force people to buy a product or to pay a particular price. The only power a business can exert over consumers and market competition is through government legislation and the coercive threat of force attached to the law. Any purported "evil" committed by a corporation or other business would not be possible without government involvement and regulation of the market. The government is the enabler, the evil-doer, and most often the one with evil intent based upon self interest.