Hello dear Reader, If we haven't yet met, please allow me to introduce myself. (Kind of sounds like one of those amazing $24 gazillion-dollar-email-opportunities from Nigeria, doesn't it? It's not, trust me, please read on.) I am the financial editor for Oil and Gas Investor. My bits and pieces usually involve commodity prices, new E&P microcaps, equity versus debt, contango and backwardation, pipe overhangs and a tangle of other concepts, but this space is where I go for fun. According to Webmaster, here is where I get to spout off about whatever I want. And you get to tell me when I have veered off course. Sound good? Okay then. How about that Hilary? She says she wants an energy windfall tax to punish those evil-empire CEOs. I say, shouldn't her handler whisper in her ear that ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Marathon, et al. are publicly traded companies, not privately owned by Raymond, Mulva, et al., and we actually like the boost to our 401k when everything else is heading south? So the chief executives make a lot of money? Excellent. Keep up the good work, guys. Demonizing successful energy companies and then pledging “energy independence,” well, you know, that’s just crazy talk. Or am I missing something? Bonus question: What will stabilize U.S. oil supply and demand? Higher prices, more fuel-efficient cars, or some new-fangled technology Schlumberger has yet to invent? Talk soon, Jeannie