Money's For Nothing & the Chicks are Free

Downhill Cruising. So Far so Good.
I hear that the oil companies are making a pretty penny these days, especially after the current gang took over our White House and the Congress. There's nothing wrong with it--making a profit--not the way the Praetorians are running things. Our President wears cowboy outfits, bought a ranch a few days before the election, and talks like a tough big dude. Impressions sometimes matter more than the facts. And, he isn't fighting for us, but, as Kevin Philips points out, he fights for the oligarchs and how to institutionalize cleptocracy as the order of things in this country. Of course, he makes others do his fighting when blood runs, so he doesn't feel the pain himself. Lately he's been complaining about high petroleum prices but he doesn't want to bring in the oil execs to his office and exercise some leadership, nor, god-forbid, try to even the playing field, or at the very least have some refs in place to enforce the little rules left in this brutal football game. Besides, everybody knows that the rich make money in the vacuum of space so it'd be unfair to be subject to a progressive tax system.


Let's see what he's done since the price per gallon of oil was $1.40 (US average) when he took office. He refused to force the auto industry to raise CAFE standards, he made his buddies in the oil industry so rich that when they retire they get half a billion dollar bonuses, has given upwards of $80 billion in incentives and tax breaks to oil companies, and he relaxed the environmental safeguards on air pollution. His Republican guard wants to give the taxpayers some $100 to offset the high gas prices, which is a crude joke. To be fair, some Dems are trying to be twice as ridiculous by offering a $200 rebate! Anyway, when BushCo started a war in Iraq he told us that, among other good thinwouldn't wouldn't cost us much since Iraqi oil would pay for the war & the reconstruction, and it would ensure ample oil supply & lower gas prices! Of course, we're running up a big tab (more than the Vietnam war), and guess who's saddled with this debt? The statement "Mission Accomplished" [click on the link for a cool video] takes on a new meaning, doesn't it?

The $100, or whatever amount we might get back, doesn't sound like a good deal to me in light of the big money given to the oil companies. What we've been paying at the pump and all the other price hikes because some 60% of all goods delivered in this country go via truck, plus the cost of the war, is a very heavy burden. Yeah, we got an energy policy that was formulated in the same manner as the Iraq war--and you know how careful, competent, and effective this has been.

Again, gouging isn't a good thing and there should be some serious investigation, but Americans have their share of blame. They're responsible for electing BushCo. Second, they're demand for oil hasn't diminished; actually, it has increased. There hasn't been any reduction in the numbers of 8-cylinder, gas guzzling vehicles sold in the US. Assuming that the auto manufacturers have done their marketing research, their ads for new cars emphasize power, size & speed, not fuel efficiency. Heck, Europe and Japan are flooded with smaller & much more fuel-efficient cars that would fit very nicely our city driving needs and for most short trips taking place in suburbia. Why do Americans buy off-road vehicles when some 95% of them never come near a dirt road?

Despite the con games played by the oil industry and our current political leadership, the fact is that all cheap oil has been burnt up. Cheap prices--I guess anything under $2 per gallon--aren't coming back. We are a tiny percentage of the world's population and yet we're consuming more than 25% of the oil produced. China is rapidly developing a bigger thirst putting more pressure on the demand for fossil fuels. Interestingly enough, China has higher fuel efficiency standards than the US! But, like many other things in life, choices must be made and priorities must be set. People who don't like politics should be reminded that leadership does make a difference. The elected representatives act in our name and have the power to re-arrange our national agenda. They may give us $100, our money, while they still possess the national credit card--which is the only way they can spend money today since they managed to waste a huge surplus and turn it to a huge deficit, about $8.4 trillion!

By the way, I wonder if most Americans realize that our debt is financed by the Chinese government and others who have a rather antagonistic relationship to the US. Why do they lend us money? I hear the interest is good and they can play the Repo man if necessary. As for the priorities, I can only dream what hundreds of wasted billions of dollars could have been used for, healthcare, scientific research, education, alternate fuels--something that could have benefited the common good, increased the commonwealth instead of mortgaging our future.

Now let's get back to a bumper-sticker mentality and hot-button divisive issues. After all, this is an election year when the appeals to the lowest common denominator will again add to the cacophony of our politics.