Posted on 05/23/2008 12:38:17 PM PDT by markomalley
Have you seen the television spots produced by oil companies? If so, you might be under the impression they were in the business of selling sunflowers and good vibes rather than energy.
In general, oil executives have done a horrid job of defending their industry, opening themselves up to fact-deprived populist attacks that ignore the complexities of the energy mess.
This week's sham of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing saw Big Oil executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron and three other companies take the stand. With quivering voices, they explained basic economic principles to Senate demagogues who, incidentally, bear far more responsibility for high prices than the execs themselves.
The lead demagogue, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, leveled numerous preposterous charges. He claimed that there was a "disconnect" between supply and demand and the gasoline prices that consumers are wrestling with at the pump.
Leahy, one hopes, knows that oil companies have little to do with the price of oil per barrel. He knows full well that they can't control OPEC production or Hugo Chavez or the dramatic increase in oil demand by China, India and other developing nations. So in this case, the only "disconnect" is between facts and Sen. Leahy.
Most of the senators moaned about "profits" — a topic that has nothing to do with the fundamental problems we face. And though $40 billion in profit sounds massive to us, in the context of the entire fossil fuel industry, it's far less magnificent.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter asked "why profits have gone up so high when the consumer is suffering so much." Good question. Perhaps Specter can also ask why government seizes more in profit per gallon of gas than the wicked oil companies. Then, he might want to discuss why Congress continues to obstruct the search for more energy and the import of smart energy.
Start with ethanol (the good kind): The massive farm bill — supported by every senator on the Judiciary Committee — continues the policy of applying high tariffs on Brazilian sugar-based ethanol to protect American companies. Instead of opening this market, Congress is continuing mandates and subsidies for corn-based ethanol (the bad kind). That's a price consumers pay whether they want to or not.
Talk about nuclear energy: The cleanest viable large-scale energy source available to us already provides around 20 percent of our electricity. Congress has done little to promote more use. Leahy's state of Vermont enjoys this clean and relatively cheap energy. Why not the rest of us?
Talk about exploration: Any mention of drilling in the tundra of Alaska incites apoplectic reactions. Yet a sliver of land in Alaska's 19.6 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could yield 10 billion barrels of oil. It wouldn't dramatically affect prices in the short term, but the long-term benefits are clear and numerous.
Talk about refineries: Can we get a new one? Please? It's been 35 years.
So what has Congress come up with instead? It creates unrealistic expectations about renewable energies (and some have great futures) and advocates for punitive "windfall profit" taxes to diverge more money from private industry to centralized government.
How any of this helps consumers or alleviates foreign energy reliance is a mystery.
"Stop ripping off the American people. Ride your bike to work, everybody," yelled a protester from the far-left group Code Pink at oil executives. (She, undoubtedly, had just pedaled her 10-speed to Washington from Fantasia.)
Riding bikes out of necessity — as folks in Third World countries do — is exactly what we can look forward to if energy policy continues to appease the Code Pink crowd rather than help the American people.
CNBC put up a poll asking who was to blame for the current oil situation. I voted on the website and because i could only choose one, my top choice was congress. I would have chosen congress, consumers (too many gas guzzlers on the road) and speculators. As of last check, poll shows that 34% blame congress.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24775533
More specifically, blame old hippies.
And pray they are out of our national picture sooner rather than later.
On CNBC this morning, the hosts were shocked that in their “Who’s to blame for high oil prices?” poll, Congress came in as #1 with 30%, while oil companies came in the lowest with 4%. They just didn’t figure that the US consumer blames the good-for-nothing Congress for putting our oil production on hold for the past 30 years with regulations forbidding drilling in ANWAR, on federal lands and off the continental shelf.
Yes, hopefully the voters will hold every politician who voted for these bans accountable for the $4/gal. gas prices they will be paying this Memorial Day and through the rest of this year.
Don’t sweat it. Shooting down increased drilling? For shame. Congress has gone too far this time, and We The People will respond by rising up and re-electing all of them again (and again, and again...).
Not entirely clueless, these oil companies. I’ve been in Texas most of the winter, and I repeatedly heard a radio spot that went:
“Ever wonder who owns the big oil companies?”
“Chances are, it’s YOU”.
They then go on to point out that most mutual funds and 401Ks include oil company stocks, and that a LOT of middle-class and even not-so-middle-class people have 401Ks and/or mutual fund investments.
It was well done, not sensational, and ought to be expanded to the entire country!
BTW I liked the way the oil company execs testified to Congress this time. They are beginning to show some backbone.
It'd be good to blame republicans for not educatin ghte public that they and the 'rats are to blame.
Where's John Boner when his country needs him?
“More specifically, blame old hippies.
And pray they are out of our national picture sooner rather than later.”
Here! Here!!
I didn’t catch the hosts surprise this morning, but i don’t tune in until after 7 am west coast time. My husband laughed when he saw the poll, but as I pointed out, the cnbc viewers are more in tune to how the economy works and probably more aware as to who is responsible for not allowing more drilling in this country than the average joe out there.
“In general, oil executives have done a horrid job of defending their industry”
I’m not sure they’d ever be able to do a good job, really. The American people are, by and large, ignorant of how economics work.
Dems thought they’d get a replay of the tobacco company hearings where they won brownies for beating up on the CEO’s of an indefensible product. These oil guys fired back pretty good and the hearings made them look bad.
The best was Maxine Waters. =) Nationalize oil. Glad she said it.
Current Results
Who is to blame for America’s oil crisis? * 9011 responses
OPEC 4.5%
President Bush 16%
Congress 35%
Speculators/Investors 26%
Big Oil 3.8%
Consumers 15%
Not a Scientific Survey. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.
No incumbants
No incumbants
who’s poll is that?
Voted Congress as the main reason for the “oil crisis...”
Not sure it is really a crisis. The market is reacting to a confluence of situations that brought on by deliberate decisions. The decision not to drill domestically is huge. Of larger concern is the lack of new refinery and nuclear power production capacity (30 years or so).
All of the above brought to us by the efforts of NIMBY, left-leaning, fire-hating, chicken little eco-dweeb congresscritters.
Thanks to nobel laureate al “the sky is falling” bore, the industry of green will most likely wreck any hope this country has of recovering from shortsighted congresscritters....all in the name of saving a planet not in need of saving.....
ruefully
I love my gas guzzler! It fits, carries everything I need it to, gets me from where I am to where I want to be (perfect mass transit), and does all this in at a high level of comparative comfort and safety.
Speculators/Investors are basing their figures on how much oil is available which makes it a congressional issue. So both answers are nearly the same. But for most it does appear to take the heat off of the real problem.
bttt
Someone got the message, many congressional opponents to drilling from Alaska have changed their mind.
Actually, the word she used was "socialize", before she caught herself. And she called herself a "liberal" twice.
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