And the Oscar goes to...

The Senate Finance Committee.

Yesterday - a slew of big oil executives were paraded in front of the Senate Finance Committee to defend why they need tens of billions of dollars in oil subsidies courtesy of you and me the taxpayer.

And let's just say the Senators had a hard time understanding why this money is well spent..take a look:

(video clips of hearing)...

Sen. Rockefeller: "In the case of Exxon Mobil, that your effective federal tax rate is substanitally, is 3% lower than what the average individual federal tax rate is. Does that mean anything to you?"

Sen. Schumer: "Do you think that your subsidy is more important than the financial aid we give to students to go to college? Could you answer that, yes or no?"

Sen. Bob Menendez: "That somehow the loss of $2 billion a year, which means you only make $123 billion in profits, is somehow so punishing, somehow not part of shared sacrifice, somehow you need to go back at them at the pump to make up for it. That's hard to understand. It is hard to understand. I really..."

Based on that - you'd think that our lawmakers would get to work cutting off those subsidies immediately - wouldn't you?

But the truth is..you're just watching a show.

A show worthy of an Oscar nomination - where lawmakers pretend to express outrage over the behavior of corporate giants in America - and these corporate giants play their role with feigned regret - some nice sounds bytes are made for the media - the public is satisfied that it seems like people are being held accountable - but in the end what is REALLY going to come out of this hearing??

Absolutely nothing.

Why? Because while these particular Senators are supposedly kicking butt and taking names - behind the scenes they're graciously taking over 6 million dollars in campaign contributions from these very same oil executives.

And this isn't the first time we've seen this show.

Just last year after the BP Oil Spill - our lawmakers put BP CEO Tony Hayward in the hot seat and went to work - take a look:

(video clips of hearing...)

Rep. Bruce Braley: "97 percent of all of those egregious violations at U.S. refineries, on your watch, were against your company. That doesn't sound like a company that -- to use your words -- is committed to safe, reliable operations as your number one priority."

Rep. Bart Stupak: "I'm concerned that the corporate culture, from BP CEO Tony Haywood down to chairman and president of BP America Lamar McKay and chief operating officer Doug Suttles, that there's a willingness to cut costs and take greater risks.

Rep. Henry Waxman: "My time has expired and I'm just amazed at this testimony. Mr. Hayward, you're not taking responsibility. You're kicking the can down the road and acting as if you have nothing to do with this company and nothing to do with the decisions. I find that irresponsible."

So did anything come of this tongue lashing??

No - BP gives a lot of money to politicians and their campaigns.

In fact - just yesterday - Republicans in Congress passed the oddly named "Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act" - which lets oil companies dive right back into the Gulf as if the BP oil spill never happened - and get to work punching oily holes into the sea floor all over again.

Oh - and Republicans added an extra special provision in the bill that says if there is ever another accident in the future - then the 5th Circuit Court is where the case will be heard.

Why?

Because the Fifth Circuit Court covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi - all oil producing states - and oil-bought-and-paid politicians from those states, over the years, have made sure the Fifth Circuit Court is chock full of judges with, cumulatively, millions in oil investments and lots of drinking buddies in the industry...pretty handy.

So another hearing - and things actually got worse!.

It reminds me of a Senate Committee hearing last year on the Financial Meltdown when Goldman Sachs executives were put up on the sacrificial table and gutted by our lawmakers - take a look:

(video clips of hearing...)

Senator Clair McCaskill: "You are the bookie. You are the house. You have less oversight and less regulation as you all began this Wild, Wild West of tranches, waterfalls, equity tranches, residual warehousing, as you began all that, you had less oversight than a pit boss in Las Vegas."

Senator Carl Levin: “And when you heard that your employees, in these e-mails, when looking at these deals, said 'God, what a shitty deal, God what a piece of crap', when you hear your own employees and read about those e-mails, do you feel anything?

Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar: "I think that's very unfortunate to have on e-mail."

Yet - as soon as that hearing wrapped up - Wall Street lobbyists began passing out the bucks, and, surprise, congress went to work watering down to virtual irrelevance any real financial reforms or regulations.

And now the Republicans Party is making sure that even those weak rules aren't enforced, by defunding all the Wall Street watchdogs.

Again - a day of rage in Congress - and then nothing changes or things get even worse.

But this goes back even further - take a look at the House Energy and Commerce Committee back in 1994 looking into big tobacco companies and nicotine addiction:

(video clips of hearing...)

Rep. John Bryant: "I would also observe, Mr. Horrigan, it's very difficult for me to find you at this table characterizing anything as outrageous after seven apparently intelligent people have stood here and told the American people, 250 million of which know better, that cigarettes are not addictive. What could be more ridiculous?"

Rep. Mike Synar: "Does that offend you that free samples are available at QuikTrips across this country where children can walk in as they are purchasing candy and grab one?"

Rep. John Bryant: "They can't do that i they are going to be addicted to your product. And that's what your product does, it addicts people to something they can't get rid of later in life. It deprives them of the reason that otherwise would come to bear on a decision to make a consumer choice."

The best part of that hearing is that every single one of those executive said under oath that nicotine is not addictive.

Yet not one of them went to jail for perjury.

In fact, one of these criminals, Lou Gerstner, was even rewarded with the top job at IBM, where he went from killing people with tobacco to ruining American families by offshoring jobs.

And today - the tobacco companies are doing just fine - and their lobbyists are seeing to it that the profits keep rolling in - right along with the lung cancer deaths.

These so-called "Congressional Hearings" are nothing but a dog and pony show - year in and year out.

It's not what our politicians say - it's what they do - and they aren't doing much.

Unless we reverse some of these crazy Supreme Court rulings that have allowed corporations to claim personhood and buy off our politicians - then the American people will continue to be entertained by this theatre of the absurd once a year - and then get screwed over the next year when another oil spill ruins a pristine coastline - or another market crash wipes out their pension.

We need to take back our government and begin holding corporate crooks accountable.

Only then will we stop handing out promotions for great acting - and start handing out subpoenas for high crimes against America.

That's The Big Picture.