Laughable

Ha Ha Ha.......But really, this isn't funny. In the Senate committee meeting yesterday with (big) oil executives, there was lots of complaining it seems. You can read an article about it here:  Senate committee puts big oil execs in the hot seat. One response was so disturbing, it was, well, hilarious. Presumably in response to taxation and regulation on 'explorable' land, the Conoco Phillips chief executive cries "We have shackles on us." Considering all the literal and (much more grave) metaphorical shackles throughout history, the use of this word to describe difficulties in appeasing shareholders is, well, laughable.