Oil companies average 4% profit while the government takes 15% profit (whoops, I mean tax). Who is profiting from our country’s “addiction to oil”?
I generally like the article except for that one passage, and it is possible I misunderstood it...it seems out of character with the rest of the article.
Strange idea? The industry had been doing the same for decades before. It took George a decade to come up with the right combination to be economic in the shale. But it wasn't a new idea, he just figured out the specific "recipe" to make it work in shale. No big break through, just years and millions of dollars of incremental improvements.
In his own words:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/08/interview-george-mitchell
Who’s your mama for oil?
Those petroleum, electrical, and mechanical engineers who mastered long and difficult college courses, and followed that by real work on real projects?
Or, the Dorkbama and his clueless marshmallow major idiots who have never run anything primarily because no real company would ever hire them?
One laughs to think of the Gruberdork doing anything but cleaning the batrooms on an oil rig. Economist, my as...er...Obamahole. Sounds like economics is rapidly joining the marshmallow major crowd.
One has to love this!
It’ll be nice to see the US tell the OPECers to go pound sand along with the green weenie enviroMENTALists—they’d better get pounding, there’s a lot of sand over there and both groups have a lot of catching up to do...! And diesel fuel for transport industries better drop too, and with that, prices on products as well.
Here’s the flaw. Greenberg thinks about “big oil”. The fracking boom has been a God send for thousands and thousands of individual property owners who get a monthly royalty check - especially land owners in rural areas. The secondary positive effects of the oil boom have led to employment; oil field service expansion; rising property values; increased tax revenues for cities and counties.
The only downside is that Obama may get the credit for the economic benefits, even though he opposed everything that enabled this.
“But what’s the new Autocrat of All the Russias, aka Vladimir Putin, to do now? Some 45 percent of his country’s now shaky budget depends on oil revenues, and they’re dropping as fast as the ruble”: I wonder if this is the very “hook” that God will put into Russia’s jaw and drag it down to attack Israel?