My wife has been telling me about how the heads of several large oil companies have been brought before congress and ripped to shreds because they are making so much money by raping the American people with gas prices.
I would like to think that those people that we have put into congress are all trustworthy and have our best interest in mind. However, with all the special interest money that keeps pouring into the hands of our representatives as well as the lame laws that keep coming out of congress, it is my initial reaction to be wary of whatever congress says and does. This topic I am especially wary of.
Glenn Beck talked about this yesterday and I think he makes a good point. Make sure to click through to his full transcript on this. Make it a point to look at the picture of a graph that is on his page as it indicates the earnings of big oil compared to the cost of crude oil. Very interesting.
We here in congress have promised, as all three presidential candidates have also promised, to introduce and pass in the next term a cap and trade legislation bill that will increase the price of gasoline according to the EPA by an additional $1.50. Some people say it could be as high as $5 additional per gallon. More…
Tell me, is “big oil” evil? Or have we been duped again by the leaders we have put into office?
We have so many answers to our energy needs right here in America. However, somehow we have not been allowed to use them. We have our own oil. We have nuclear energy. We have plenty of wind. Our gasoline vehicles could be more efficient, we have hybrid and alternative power vehicles.
Who is the enemy here? Who should we really be fighting?
They are both to blame. It is clear that we are in/heading to a recession. Largely due to high gas prices, which push the price of food.
How is big oil affected by the nation’s suffering? Record earnings. So while many are loosing jobs, and having to change their lives to deal with the prices, Exxon and others are making more money then ever. Exxon just reported the greatest gains for the first quarter in the company’s history. See more here:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ixJfR6XyTKMV_rjrCGv1B_PyC0zA
Bryce, thanks for the reply. I can see how both are to blame. Although I do not have the full story on either side, I doubt anyone really does. I also blame myself, as an American, and in general the American people, for allowing ourselves to be complacent. Apparently we have made the assumption that oil would always be cheap and we do not care what other energy options might be out there because we are happy with just using gasoline. I am glad to see so many people looking into hybrid and alternate fuel vehicles. EXCEPT for those who have anything to do with corn fuel. Ridiculous. That is causing problems also. Bio fuel can be made from many other things much more efficiently than corn without having the negative impact on other things like corn is.
Problem number one is the media bias against big business. Sure, big business has its problems and issues. But, the non-biased media gives only one side, to the point of making us all believe its socialist (read, anti-capitalist) point of view is the *only* way.
If you own a business, what drives the continued success of the business? Is it making money for the government? Or, having a good to great profit margin? If the profit margin continues to decrease or is capped by government, the ability to survive, let alone compete is lost.
Margin of profit is a key indicator for any business, regardless of industry. Take a look at the profit margin of the oil companies against other companies (or industries). The link below shows a graph, though a few years old, but compares the oil companies against other types of business/industries.
http://everydayecon.wordpress.com/2006/04/26/oil-profit-margins-vs-other-industries/
The margin of profit in the oil industry is generally below 10%. A large number of companies have a much larger margin of profit. Why aren’t these companies covered like the evil oil companies? Hummm… could it be the liberal non-biased media again? Could it be a “talking point” for all the political figures of today?
Let’s take profit away from a publicly traded (read, owned) company for what reason? I just don’t get this mentality. It’s insane that we are having this type of discussion concerning a publicly traded company in AMERICA in 2008. If this was Cuba, Soviet Union, other socialist based countries, and I lived there, I would get it (read, be forced into it).
I don’t claim to be all knowing concerning business practices or all of the details concerning oil company profits. But, I do know it takes a lot of money, time and resources to be an oil company. I have been part of a few of these oil/mineral companies through my geologist father. I have seen first hand, as a child and as an adult, the extreme measures the oil companies go to in making sure they protect the environment, getting the oil/minerals from its natural resting spot to locations around the world. Again, remember the profit margin.
If you owned a company, and were suddenly told to “pay’ the government a piece of your profit, what would you do? What would the shareholders do once they “heard” their investments would be reduced by the government (rather than lack of a marketable product)?
What’s next? Could the government take more from other types of companies? Would capitalism as we have known it, be going down for the count? Would the government we all were taught, for the people and by the people, be heading into the arms of our socialist brothers of the past….
One more item would be, why oh why didn’t we invest more in atomic energy back in the late 70’s, early 80’s?
Again, the media bias along with the wave of idiotic, politically charged people like Hanoi Jane. France, who smartly invested in atomic energy, is much less dependant on foriegn oil.
Also, we have, on good research, lots of oil shale in the mountain west (Colorado, Utah and Wyoming) that could be mined to help offset the foriegn oil needs (until we can actually product alternative fuels).
Don’t forget ANWAR where vast oil reserves may exist (on good research).
Oh, but wait, again our fabulous media and wonderful liberal left put up all kinds of road blocks to these *currently available* resources.
These short run possibilites could help bring down the price of oil/gas an start the seperation from dependance on OPEC. These options would come at a cost and would take a long time (10-15) years to bring fuel to market.
The long term goal would be alternative fuels. The oil companies are already on R&D path, but time to market is very long and expensive. The auto industry is also on the R&D path for vehicles using alternative fuels.
But, as Vermont says, “live free or die”
Or, as per the Priest, “rock hard, ride free, all day, all night”