$36.14 billion in profit = sensationalism.

When Gov. George W. Bush was campaigning for President, he infamously said of oil prices:

What I think the president ought to do is get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots. One reason why the price is so high is because the price of crude oil has been driven up. OPEC has gotten its supply act together and it’s driving the price, like it did in the past. And the president must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.

Of course, that was in 2000, when the price of oil was under $30 dollars a barrel. Now, in his sixth year as President, the price is, ahem, a record $75 per barrel. On this basis, one wonders what candidate Bush would say about President Bush.

But now I guess we know the answer to the question, "What happens when two former oilmen occupy the White House"? The answer is clearly not lower gas prices.

But to Putz, all the talk about high gas prices is pure "sensationalism."

...but news reports and political sloganizing about "record high" gas prices are mostly evidence of sensationalism and innumeracy.

Damn that media ... again! But wait, what's this?

In January, Exxon Mobil Corp. alone reported the highest corporate profit in U.S. history: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the entire year.

And this?

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Hastert, R- Ill., sent a letter to the president urging him to investigate gasoline price gouging and whether or not the market was being manipulated.

"This $2.91 — over $3 in some areas right now — cannot be sustained by the person driving their kids to school or filling up their tractor with fuel," Frist said. "There is no silver bullet — that's obvious to most people now — but we need to make sure, though, the price is ultimately determined by supply and demand, that the markets themselves work."

Sensationlist drivel!

I'd say it's Putz who's the innumerate.