Posted on 05/28/2008 9:28:47 AM PDT by milwguy
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) -- Dow Chemical Co. will raise product prices by up to 20 percent almost immediately to offset the soaring cost of energy and raw materials, and the CEO of the chemical giant lashed out Washington on Wednesday for failing to develop a sound energy policy.
"For years, Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America's manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy," Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement.
"The government's failure to develop a comprehensive energy policy is causing U.S. industry to lose ground when it comes to global competitiveness, and our own domestic markets are now starting to see demand destruction throughout the U.S."
Liveris said soaring costs for Dow are "forcing difficult discussions with customers
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
And here come the domino’s....
milwguy wrote: “...they are in the pockets of ethanol whores like ADM, wind whores like GE, and Cap and Trade whores like AL Gore.”
Don’t forget the CFL whores (GE, Phillips, etal), and the corn whores (farm lobby, and Sen Grassley)
I wonder when the hell the American public is going to really get with it on this and go to DC and really raise hell. It is obvious they (polititions) dont care one bit.
All I hear is bitch and moan but nothing is being done to really shake them up.
It is not a crisis but chronic, and Washington can do nothing.
They’ll need to find a way for McCain-Feingold to rule that the 1st Amendment doesn’t apply to American corporations.
So why doesn’t this guy run for Congress? If you have idiots in Washington, you’ll have idiotic policies.
Well, at least we’re seeing the point being made in the MSM that Washington’s total failure to deal with energy policy has brought us to this point. It will become increasingly difficult for Washington to pin the blame on Big Oil or Big Whomever, when every business in the country is pointing the finger at them and their idiotic policies.
forgot about the CFL whores, thanks! Of course GE is in that bunch too. They are the worst by far, becasue their CNBC and MSNBC are nothing but shills for their ‘green’ power initiatives.
Why aren’t the media blaming Pelosi and Harry Reid? They are responsible for the ‘energy crisis’ by sticking their neck in the sand and refusing domestic energy exploration and refinery construction.
Note that this guy doesn’t even get the opportunity to testify before Congress . . . and this storm has been brewing a long, long time.
Sure the point is being made, but the argument fails. Oil production worldwide is barely keeping up with demand, which should indicate that Big Oil is for some reason understood only by themselves and contrary to all principles of capitalism not producing as much as they would want to at these bull market prices.
Please use the main article headline, in order to avoid duplicates.
There is no energy crisis.
Cap and Trade whores like AL Gore.
Cap and Trade whores like John McCain.
Fixed it for you.
LOL! All this talk of Whores makes me think I am on Hooker Ave...
Except for the days of Drake's well and Spindletop, when was it different? Who produces more than is going to be bought for any length of time?
Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis...
::::
Washington could have, decades ago, and still can do ALOT. We have NO COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY POLICY and Washington does not give a damn. They are more interested in the power they get from pandering to anti-energy, anti-drilling, anti-oil concerns (the radical liberal greenie left) than they are about ensuring that America has the oil and nuke electric energy it needs.
Don’t say they can nothing. They can do EVERYTHING to fix the issues if they cared.
Thanks, not a dimes worth aof difference between the two on global warming.
I would imagine a company such as Dow uses more electricity and natural gas than oil, but I’m not sure if that makes your point invalid.
Well, it would certainly have helped if 10 years ago the Dems and enviro-weenies had not stopped drilling further exploration and drilling in U.S. territory. It might also have helped if they had not placed so many environmental restrictions on building of refineries.
East Texas
They produced and produced even when it was 10 cents a barrel and they couldn’t sell it because the Depression had begun and nobody was buying anything but they had to produce no matter what or just take a long walk off a short pier. They were stashing oil in every container they could find.
They cannot afford to drive there.
This is the kind of attention that needs to be brought to bear on this issue. It’s of course a multi-faceted problem but the bottom line is that it’s largely created by liberalism and our failure as a country to stand up a long time ago and say, “Enough is enough.”
We’ve been frogs in a slowly heating pot for decades and now that the water is at 211 degrees we’re scratching our heads and wondering what the heck is going on with the water.
MM
Petroleum is the feedstock for about everything Dow manufacturers. So prices will hit them not just in overhead but in direct material costs...
The plastics and other stuff, for sure. I was thinking about chemical manufacturing. I’m not an expert on either.
Washington can do nothing about the worldwide production shortfall. Even ANWR would remedy a fraction for only a year at peak and there are no more elephants. ANWR isn’t much of an elephant anyway.
Blaming economic problems on government exonerates the real culprit. This phrase should read ...
Congressional failure to develop a comprehensive energy policy is causing ... "
I would not imagine Dow Chemical would be especially knowledgable about the oil industry. Granted the chemical industry is a strange place also, but it is not the oil industry.
Because he has a real job!
Wanna buy a refinery? Got one right here for sale. Golden opportunity for the right owner.
1800 drill rigs is hardly indicative of a stopped exploration situation.
That might be best. A couple years ago what a lot of freepers did to shake everyone up was to give the Dems control of congress.
“Even ANWR would remedy a fraction for only a year at peak and there are no more elephants.”
This statement is exactly why we are where we are with energy. Ten years ago, who would have predicted Angola would some day be the #1 African producer of oil? Five years ago who would have thought Brazil would vault from an energy importer to energy independance and discover a 30+ billion oil field?
The TRUTH is that alaska, beaufort and chuchki seas contain untold billions of bbls of oil. The vast majority of these areas have NEVER been explored. The Russians are sending submarines to claim the ocean bottom near the north pole because why? The outer continental shelves of east and west coasts have not been subject to ANY exploration since the 70’s. New 3d seismic technology has VASTLY improved ability to find oil reserves, especially under thick salt caps in the deep water. To say no more elephant fields exist is ignorant, they are there, but they will be neither easy to find or tap anymore. Just because we fail to allow our oil companies to explore over the majority of alaskan coastline and our oceans just means we are stupid, not that their is no oil.
Why do you think Brazil has leased over 80% of the existing deepwater drilling rigs for the next 5 yrs? Is it because no more ‘elephants’ exist or is it because Brazil knows they do, but you need the right equipment to find and exploit them.
Sure we do. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will we allow any policy that is not suicidal. Our energy policy is to bring the country down by getting rid of the middle class, making everyone dependent on the gov't to survive, turn the economy into 3rd world status, and usher in the "Era of Rule by Divine Bureaucrats."
As another Freeper has mentioned, we need a Manhattan Project for energy. Over time, we need to get off oil and invent a solution that we ultimately control, not the markets or foreign countries.
Drilling in ANWR is short-term, drilling in the Colorado-Utah-Wyoming area is medium-term but we need to find something else other than oil for the long term.
The meaning of ‘elephant’ is not widely understood.
The estimate is that ANWR would provide approx. 6 mos. of oil IF IT WERE THE ONLY SOURCE OF OIL IN THE WORLD.
That is sooooo LOL
If ANWAR supplied only the 10 western states, those west of the Mississippi River, how long would the supply last?
how many billion bbls constitutes ‘elephant’ in your book?
Washington had addressed this issue. They've said: no new nuclear plants, no new refineries, no new oil drilling, no new hydro-electric dams, no increase in CO2 emissions, no new coal mines, no new windmills, no . . . . no . . . . no . . . .
Pretty soon we won't be allowed to fart because the CO2 emission will harm the polar bear.
This is the translation: sit down, shut up, back to the stone-age with you. I'm just surprised how many people put up with it.
It’s not so much quantity but velocity. Prudhoe was an elephant and produced 2 million bpd for a while. ANWR might hit 1 million bpd. It might be 200 billion barrels like Bakken but if it can’t be produced at huge velocity it is not an elephant.
I’m just surprised how many people put up with it.
:::::
This is the crux of the problem. Washington gets away with what it knows the people will not fight for....this is a classic example. The American public needs to start telling Washington what they will and will not do -— we saw how that works with the first big attempt at AMNESTY for all illegals. It worked very well -— the people must learn that THEY DETERMINE WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES, AND HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT WE HAVE, not the other way around.
That was the intent of the founding fathers -—
Nobody knows until they drill and see.
Washington caved to the Enviroweenies. We should have continued going Nuclear, but noooooooo. And once we had Electricity “too cheap to meter”, then we could have converted that to whatever form we needed for transportation..
If there is a rally in DC, I am there.
He’s an Aussie and he just gave the maximum allowed ($2300) to Hillary, via his wife, Paula.
Dow got rid of their crackers shortly after buying Union Carbide. Mainly users of Natural gas.
Liveris received a CEO bonus of well over 15 million last year. The company has never failed to pay a dividend. Through these price increases they will insure the bonuses and dividend will continue. Oh, if that fails they’ll just cut more U.S. jobs and move to cheaper labor over seas. Wait they’ve already done that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.