Senator Henry Jackson lashes oil companies for earning "obscene profits" and U.S. News and World Report notes "Oil industry officials claim that they recieved this ultimatum from the Energy Secretary: 'Support the Administration's proposed tax on crude oil-- or else face tougher regulation and a possible drive to break up the oil companies."
Sound like something being talked up rather recently? Yes, but the above exchange is from the late 1970s in the Jimmy Carter era. The major difference between the reactions of the oil executives before Congress now and then: the oil executives then took the lashing; the oil executives now were not afraid to stick up for private enterprise. A very interesting note, one of the few people to publicly stick up for private enterprise and opppose the government's intentions was.....if you guessed Donald Rumsfeld, Congratulations! I am reading "Free to Choose" by Milton Friedman and all of the above info comes from his book. It is eerily relevant even to this day.
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