Why drilling in the Arctic Preserve won’t decrease gas prices

The Republicans are stepping up their campaign to allow Big Oil to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Preserve. They are saying that allowing the drilling will increase the amount of oil produced and therefore will force oil prices down. More supply equals lower price. This will not work the way they say it will.

Republicans readily admit that any oil to come from drilling in the preserve will not hit the market for 7 to 10 years, so there will be little effect to be felt until then. But there is an important word in that last sentence, market. The US will be selling leases to drill to Big Oil not so that America will have more oil, but so that the world has more oil. The oil is coming from our nation, but it will be sold on the global markets.

What do you think demand will be like in 10 years? While demand may be lower in the US in 10 years, global demand (Asia) will be much, much greater. So, much of the oil we take from our borders will most likely end up going to China and India. Will prices at the pump in the US be lower ten years from now? The smart money would be that prices will be significantly higher than today, despite whatever lower demand we can achieve. As long as global demand rises, prices will climb.

So face facts boys and girls, the only winners here would be Big Oil & Big Money. The rest of us would be the losers. If you want to allow the drilling at least make sure your lawmakers know that you want American oil for Americans. Its the least we should expect since we’re putting our environment at risk.

Oil drops, like they waned it to

A barrel of oil dropped from $147 to $129 in the last week. Reasons are myriad from the experts. The real reason is that the powers behind the oil increase (Big Oil & Big Money) need to have oil not be a factor when the election rolls around in November. With oil lower, Americans will feel more confident voting Republican in the fall. Big Oil needs a win so it can gain its much desired drilling rights in the Alaskan Wilderness Preserves. A Democratic win almost ensures that these drilling rights will take much longer to get. Look for oil to continue its rise in earnest after the election, regardless who wins.

Trilby Lundberg: In the pocket of the oil companies.

In this weekend’s survey, Trilby Lundberg announced in no uncertain terms that the oil companies were not at fault for the increasing gas prices. According to Lundberg, the rise had nothing to do with the oil companies’ profit margins. Thank you for letting us all know. How could we have thought of such a thing? If not for you stressing the point in your interview we might have made a grave mistake. Nice to have such an “independent” voice covering the industry for over 50 years.

Big Oil Faces Congress

The “Big Oil” companies again face Congress to prevent the removal of billions of dollars in subsidies it receives from the government. The House has passed legislation that would remove the subsidies, but the Senate, once again, has not. Why? Because they want money out of the oil companies to fund their present and future re-election campaigns. We will get a lot of posturing from the Senate, but this will only be for show, yet again. In the end the oil companies will keep their subsides, and the Senators will get their campaign contributions. A beautiful relationship made in Hell.

Government Bailout of the Financials Begins

After accumulating billions in bad mortgage debt, the financial institutions have finally conned the government into bailing them out. The first on the list is Bear Stearns. The Fed is set to trade good debt that it is holding for bad debt, which Bear Stearns has in spades. According to the article, this may be just the tip of the iceberg. Get ready for the Savings and Loan bailout all over again. That only cost US taxpayers a half-trillion dollars.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer finally gets nailed by his enemies

The champion of fiscal responsibility, Eliot Spitzer, was finally nailed by his enemies in the financial sector and the government. Caught up in a prostitution scandal, Spitzer will have to resign as a result of a year long investigation by the IRS and FBI. According to the reporting financial institution, “large sums of money” were being transferred from several accounts into a dummy corporation account. The large sum of money was $4300.

From the financial institution to the Department of Justice, all were enemies to a Democrat in high office who tried to clean up the system.

One would wonder why $4300 would trigger such an investigation. There was no history of such transfers prior to this one. The bank was required to report suspicious activity the involved things like terrorism. Was the governor of New York a terrorist suspect? Of the names supposedly kept secret (client names were replaced by number), why was the Governor’s name singled out for release to the public? Why were details of the Governor’s sexual preferences necessary to release?

The answer is that an enemy of the state, Eliot Spitzer, had to be taken down. Like the governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman, he was set up by his enemies and cut down like a dog in the street.

Oil speculators: Harbingers of destruction?

Is the run-up of oil by speculators a search for profit or an attempt at destroying an economy?

After years of trying to blame everything from demand to terrorism for the continuing rise in the price of oil, economists have stopped trying to find excuses and have blamed those who were to blame from the beginning: oil speculators. Speculators have been running up the price of oil since the invasion of Iraq. After President Bush (ala Lyndon Johnson in JFK, “Just get me the election; I’ll give you your damn war.”) invaded Iraq, he gave Big Oil and those invested in it the green light to start making the kind of profits they long waited for, but once the light turned green, oil was fair game for anyone and everyone.

Now that the United States is in a recession, putting the brakes on oil prices became a necessity, but also an impossibility. Greedy profiteers and foreign countries hell bent on the destruction of the American economy and the economies of the rest of the industrialized world are now in control of the price of crude oil and the fate of these economies. Who are these foreign governments? China? Saudi Arabia? Iran?

What better way to destroy the economies of the west than to control the price of this vital liquid. Pandora’s box has been opened by the rich oil interests here in America and abroad. Are we to be destroyed by their self-interested greed? Likely so. There are no politicians with the will to fight it. The American public is clueless to fight it. We are held hostage to it. Is this the end of America? Our addition to oil and the savage weight of our national debt has virtually crushed hope of a recovery. Most certainly, America will never be the same.