There’s a lot of talk right now about the skyrocketing oil and gas prices. With the summer blends kicking in and the flooding in Iowa jeopardizing the corn crops, most people will be paying $4 a gallon for the majority of the summer. Who is to blame for the high pump prices?
Republicans and Big Oil?
The Democrats, liberals, and Greens say this. And they point to the oil companies and say “Windfall profits! Price gouging! Bush! Cheney! Enron! Evil!” These people are still pushing the theory that Bush & Cheney are doing this to “make their buddies rich”. I offer you this: they’re already rich. They’ve been rich for years. It’s not like they were poor and all of a sudden they’re millionaires. “But they’re doing this to get more rich!”
Does anyone believe this anymore? Seriously?
They’re rich because — like Bill Gates and Doug Daft — they are the top-tier management of global corporations with shareholders who demand profits. They are rich because they are responsible for managing the exploration for, and the drilling, refining, and delivery of, a global resource. These “greedy oil companies” employ tens of thousands of people worldwide, and operate on a profit margin hovering around 8%, which is about 1/3 that of CocaCola and Pepsi. They make a lot of money because every around the world buys their product, so they sell a lot of it.
As fast food companies have blossomed, so have the sales of Coke, but Doug Daft isn’t hauled in front of Congress to testify about CocaCola’s record profits last year, earned on about a 28% profit margin. And I don’t hear you complaining that a medium Coke that used to cost 30 cents is now a buck-twenty-five. Why not?
So if Big Oil, Bush, and Cheney are not to blame, who is? (more…)
|
Comments (2)
Sens. Diane Feinstein D-Calif. and Mel Martinez R-Fla. authored a bill with 11 co-sponsors, including Sen. Barack Obama that was incorporated into a housing bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee 19-2 before the Memorial Day recess — a bill that creates a national fingerprint registry.
The outcry from the the mainstream media here in the United States — the very same people who complained about our privacy and liberties in the wake of the news that the NSA was listening in on phone calls involving known terror suspects — is where? Their silence is deafening.
Barack Obama is showing us through his actions exactly who he is. But are we paying attention?
You need to make your voice known. Use The Mailbox to contact your senators. Tell them since it is an affront to liberty and privacy, vote “no” on the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act (S. 2595). And monitor the progress of this bill in our Action Center.
Via email, we received a PDF of a document entitled “Swine Industry Crisis”, originally prepared by Dallas Hockman, who is with the National Pork Producers Council. In it, there are some startling revelations. Namely, that while the U.S. is the largest producer and exporter of pork in the world, the industry is headed for hard times due to high feed prices. This is a direct result of the use of corn for ethanol.
The end result?
According to the document, pork producers are estimated to lose a total of $3.3 billion, while consumers will suffer a loss of $8 billion due to reduced pork consumption and increased prices.
The document is attached below for your perusal. It is only 6 pages and a quick read. It’s highly recommended that you do.
Ethanol is a substandard, inefficient fuel, and far from the Holy Grail of fuel sources. The continued use and federal subsidization of ethanol production will only further deepen the economic problems we are currently facing, both at the pump and in the grocery store.
Actions to take: First, use The Mailbox to contact your representatives. Send them the document. Tell them that further use for corn as fuel — and government subsidies that encourage ethanol production — is disastrous for both our economy, and the availability and affordability of our food. Second, most states require that gasoline that contains ethanol must be clearly stated as such on the pump. So contact the offices of the major petroleum manufacturers who add ethanol to their gasoline, such as BP. Tell them that you will not purchase their products if they contain ethanol, and will give your business to filling stations that only sell ethanol-free blends.
Document: National Pork Producers Council report: Swine Industry Crisis