Exxon just broke the record for profits for a company in America, and if we have to fight a thousand wars and deal with terrorists and despots to keep them on top so be it they say
The United States will always rely on foreign imports of oil to feed its energy needs and should stop trying to become energy independent, a top Exxon Mobil Corp. executive said on Tuesday.
Who will be the first leader – in any party – to go straight to the American people and offer a real plan to get us off this oil that is quite literally killing us?
WTF?
Are We Going to Be Exxon’s Slaves?
Short answer: Yes.
The same guy adds; “”Realistically, it is simply not feasible in any time period relevant to our discussion today,’
In 1978 Barry Commoner wrote “The Politics of Energy” warning that
we must use the remaining fossil fuel resource to make the transition
to alternative energy sources before they become too expensive to
extract, or we run out.
What portions of the oil profits have the oil producers put into that
project? Squat. Why should they? the government did away with
all tax incentives.
This issue can be clearly laid at Washingtons doorstep. We have
enabled and coddled industry and the voting public into cheap
fuel addiction;
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/
A Manhattan Project of gargantuan proportions will be necessary
if we intend to make it to the mid 2000’s. Do our elected
representatives have the guts to do what has to be done?
And the alcohol thing takes more energy to produce than the
energy it produces, so Bush’s small penis project won’t solve a
thing, except to give a nice cash crop to giant agribusiness
like Archer Daniels Midland.
Get off oil. Yeah right. Not in our lifetime.
Oil = gasoline, plastics, polyester, solvents, pesticides, food containers, appliances…do I need to go on?
We need more supplies and refining capability. If Bush had any balls he’d issue an executive order to begin drilling in ANWR now.
Dugger – Any response to the Exxon statement above, which seems to contradict what the president had to say on the subject last week?
Isn’t it un-American to contradict the president? I forget.
Exxon, a private nterprise, makes a profit and we are ’slaves’ to the company? Really? I can buy my gas any place I want. Don’t like their profits, organize your own oil company and sell it cheaper or give it away. See if it works. We will lose our dependence on oil when it becomes economically feasible to do so. We have not fought any wars for Exxon.
Dugger, sheesh
LOL. Because the oil companies don’t collude or anything, and its certainly an industry wide open to competition, right? Please, peddle your talking points elsewhere.
The basic problem with most republicans is that they lack the faith to believe that public policy can be used for the common good, and that corporations are always going to provide for us in a way that government can not, even though government has, in the past, intervened in very meaningful and positive ways.
Until they let go of this cynical attitude we’re not going to see much change. How big do the income and trade gaps have to become before they realize there is a problem? I’m inclined to think it’s when they personally have no job, no health care, and no safety net to catch them on their way down.
Bush’s energy plan was pathetic, and does little to relieve our “addiction” to foreign oil, so in that sense, this quotation is not far off the mark.
“We need more supplies and refining capability. If Bush had any balls he d issue an executive order to begin drilling in ANWR now.”
After all, it’s a matter of national security!
My household spends about $1500/year on gasoline. The Fed takes over $20,000 from my family’s pocket every year, around $10,000 more if you throw in Social Security. If I don’t pay, the government will take everything we own at the point of a gun and quite possibly put us in jail.
Tell me again who this slave’s master is?
You like that army?
You like that interstate system?
You like being in the best country in the world?
Thanks for paying your taxes. If you don’t like them, you can leave.
Dear Stick,
Why don’t you try to find out how much of your income tax goes towards supporting “small businesses” and “family farms”, which are actually just extensions of large corporations– McDonald’s franchises, for example. Where’s the republican outrage when it comes to corporate, rather than personal welfare? Givemefugginbreak.
Also, maybe you should try to walk away from Exxon without paying for $5 worth of gas– you’ll see who’s pointing a gun in your face then.
Justa,
“The basic problem with most republicans is that they lack the faith to believe that public policy can be used for the common good, and that corporations are always going to provide for us in a way that government can not, even though government has, in the past, intervened in very meaningful and positive ways.”
Actually, I view government like a big fat hippo. Invite him into your house to fix a broken lamp and he destroys the TV, sofa and washing machine. Now I will acknowledge ther are a few times and things where we want that hippo (defense, etc) to be in action but, in general, the less he is used the better. I would say liberals knee jerk government program/hand out at every hiccup in life.
Dugger, Gee My Old LaSalle Ran Great
I fuess I’d feel better if I saw some sort of public benefit to that ton of profit. They claim to be making all sorts of innovations, but I’ll believe it when i see it. More likely, its just so the CEO can have an H2 in every single state in the Union.
I don’t think we’re slaves, I think we’re the abused wife. We know the shit he’s doing, but everytime we try to leave… we just can’t. He goes before Congress and swears he’s a changed man and would never profit out of a natural disaster. Then goes and hits us in the face with a tire iron. Oh sure, we’ll leave him… maybe… If he doesn’t kill us first.
Exxon made a profit. Thats neither illegal nor immoral. The oil business is notoriously up or down, kiddies. As I said, if you don’t liek the way Exxon does it, start your own oil company and give it away. Or develop a car that runs on rutabagas.
Dugger, the real World, Like it or Leave it
that runs on rutabagas.
Dugger;
Really, do you think it’s that simple? Don’t you remember what the
Big Three and the Government did to the Tucker? (If you remember the
LaSalle, you gotta know about the Tucker)
Sermant,
The Lasalle quote was from Archie Bunkers theme song (referring to my sometimes old fashion-sounding pronouncements). And I am sorry to say I’m ignorant of the Tucker. What?
Dugger
Holy Moly. Just Google it. It’s a car.
First, the real cost of a gallon of gas is more like $5+ after you factor in all the hidden costs (subsidies, military commitments abroad, taxes, and so on). As gets repeated often enough, “just Google it.”
Second, Exxon is not just “making a profit.” They leverage their lobbying muscle to win numerous tax breaks, subsidies, and other government perks. They also directly control the price of gas right down to the city block (yes, it’s true, Exxon can pressure individual gas stations if they wish thanks to computer controlled supply chains). It’s also well known that major oil producers deliberately put the squeeze on oil supplies to drive up cost. On top of all that, here in the U.S., oil companies are given practically free reign to drill on public lands at well below their market value (and by “well” I mean practically free). Now ANWAR is in the cross hairs, too, despite being public land and projected to yield only 6 months worth of crude, but taking decades to do it.
Don’t even get me started on the cost in human lives and an environment literally melting under the strain (btw, some 2/3 of U.S. greenhouse gases come from vehicles, so simply jacking up the CAFE standards to something approaching the 21st century could actually save the Earth…but that would mean having a fuel efficient Hummer and that’s un-American…because…err…uhh…it means smaller profits for avaricious multi-nationals who would rather drop phosphorus bombs on children then give up the green? Nah, it’s gotta be those liberals trying to force me to breathe clean air and guard against an environmental catastrophe so monumental that gambling against it would seem to require brain damage so severe that doing mercury shooters for a year couldn’t match it.)
Government sanctioned price fixing
semant,
Well I could have Googled and then pretended I knew.
Dugger, Lazy but Honest ?
Dugger;
Is honesty always the best policy?
eg. when significant other asks “Do I look fat in this?”
Re: the Tucker.
C’mon, Dug. You’ve seen ‘em. Here’s one. There was also a movie about it.
Basic plot: maverick genius wants to build revolutionary cars but the evil corporations conspire to crush his dreams.