we still haven't signed the Ottawa Treaty banning land mines either.

what a country, eh.

the revolution will not be televised...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of over 200 people, a highly committed group of professionals who have decades of specialized experience in trade issues and regions of the world. They negotiate directly with foreign governments to create trade agreements, resolve disputes and participate in global trade policy organizations. They also meet with governments, business groups, legislators and public interest groups to gather input on trade issues and explain the president's trade policy positions. The agency was founded in 1962 and has offices in Washington, Geneva and Brussels.

link

I'd imagine if they start getting record profits again we'll see the windfall tax issue come up again.  A windfall tax might be a good environmental policy move, but it's not going to generate the revenue it would have a year ago.  And it's probably not going to have the popular support it had a year ago either when everyone realizes that a windfall profits tax would raise gas prices again.  (That was always what I saw as a downfall of the windfall profits tax idea - it's not like the oil companies would just eat the tax.  They'd collude to pass it on down the chain and when people saw the even higher gas prices, they'd scream bloody murder until the tax got revoked.  Taxes are too easy to revoke in this country and too politically difficult to put into place to make for good environmental policy - I'd rather see something less dependent on tax punishments because I have zero faith that they can withstand the whims of the public.)

(And now I click through the link you provided and see it makes the same points I just did, so there you go.)

(ps, I think I should bring back the knit-a-palooza diaries now that it's winter, don't you?  I'm one attached i-cord away from being able to model my completed purple sweater...)

"Little people are very stuff-intensive."