This is unfortunate rhetoric from politicians. We're a cyclical industry, earning a fair rate of return for everything we have to do to meet our energy needs, all the money we have to invest, all risk we have to take.
Some people and politicians who have been attacking the industry seem to think that our companies are owned by space aliens. It's as though simply taking money from or criticizing a company is not going to affect millions of Americans who have invested in it.
High oil prices are certainly a drag on the economy, ... Oil is taking money out of the pockets of consumers that could be spent elsewhere, increasing the cost of doing business and the amount of foreign exchange dollars that need be funneled overseas.