Posted on 06/16/2008 5:15:28 AM PDT by shrinkermd
...One reason for Mr. Gabrielli's optimism is last year's discovery of the offshore Tupi field, which is said to contain between five billion and eight billion barrels of black gold. Another, equally important reason is that, according to Mr. Gabrielli, neither environmentalists nor Brazilian politicians have raised concerns about exploiting oil in the waters off the Brazilian coast.
...I have another theory. And mine fits the pattern of resource development – or lack thereof – all over the Western Hemisphere. It comes down to this: Where government has the property right, restrictions on development tend to be low. But when the private sector is the owner, environmental concerns blossom.
Exhibit A is Petrobras. Not only did Mr. Gabrielli say there is no appetite for stopping offshore projects in his country. He went further. "Brazil has one of the freest and most investor-oriented regulation in the world. Even freer than the United States of America," he said, referring to the climate for oil exploration.
That may be so, but it would be interesting to know why, given Brazil's prominent embrace of socialism. It could be that the country is changing. After all there is now private-sector competition in the oil industry. Yet it is also worth noting that the Brazilian government has a 58% controlling stake in Petrobras's voting shares and 32% of its total shares. This means that some of Petrobras profits go straight to the government's bottom line, giving the politicians more money to spend on bribing their constituents.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The President of Brazil is a socialist with an 8th grade education and he gets it.
At least they’re drilling. They’re not as stupid as we are.
This means that some of Petrobras profits go straight to the government's bottom line, giving the politicians more money to spend on bribing their constituents.The Democrats are just as stupid as McCain in this regard. Cheap oil grows the economy which would give the rats more money to spend on their stupid rat pet projects. But they'd rather not have that money.
They're dumber than a bag of McCains.
A better question to ask is why the entire US govt, including the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial, all seem to be operating in direct contradiction to the best interests of the country. Stated differently, they seem to be actively working AGAINST the interests of the country.
Os gringos estão muito estipidez.
As ambientalistas gringas podem restringir toda a economia de combustível com imanginárias histôrias espantosas da perdição iminente por meio do “Aquecimento Global Antropomórfico”.
O governo gringo é constituido duma confederação dos tolos!
Tudo mundo está rindo de vocês, yanquis, mesmo enquanto estamos furando pelo petróleo nos nossos oceanos.
HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
You know socialists. The government can even commit genocide, and it's okay.
Democrats think money grows on tax-payers.
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.