Kinda Makes You Wonder, Part II

[hwyhawg]

So Exxon/Mobil had in excess of $11 billion in 2008 Q2. I wonder why.....hum.

Let's put ourselves in the leather-swivel chair of the CEO. If I had a FINITE supply of oil that I was fighting with the "emerging economies" over. If I had a limited refining capacity which had not been expanded since 1976, due to Federal regulation, and was furthermore required, again by Federal regulation, to formulate 18,000 different kinds of petroleum. If I had 60+ mllion acres of leases that I was paying each landowner a couple of hundred dollars a year for and had dubious promise of oil production, not to mention the acreage tied up in litigation and land use requirements. If I DIDN'T have CONGRESS' blessing to go where I KNOW the oil is (ie. Outer Continental Shelf, where it's nearly oozing out of the seabed). If I was not allowed, again by Congress, to develop an infrastructure to get the oil from the source to the refinery (ie. pipelines in Alaska and elsewhere). And, finally, if I had millions and millions of new gas-hungry autos on the road that required my product, I don't think I could help leaning back in my leather-swivel chair and laughing about the HUGE bonus I was going to get, and the dividends that the shareholders had coming.

My fellow Americans...know your enemy. It's not the energy companies. It's ourselves, by way of the idiots we elect to Congress. The proverbal joke's on us.

Hawg

[hwyhawg]

PS: Was watching Fox Business Channel tonight. They were interviewing the president/CEO of a company that specializes in offshore exploration and drilling. He stated with absolute certainty that they could get rigs up, running and producing in a 1-2 year time frame.

I'm weary of the debate on this. It's a no-brainer. If Congress doesn't get the hell out of the way and let market forces and exploration/production companies do what they do best, then at least the Dems need to get the hell out of the way so the Republicans can act in a comprehensive, constructive fashion to increase supply HERE AT HOME. What has happened to the Democrats? What has happened to the party of FDR and the New Deal- taking swift, decisive action in the face of a national emergency?

Sad thing is that we know. Special interests. A plague which infects the Republicans as well. But I have to say, the GOP is clearly on the right side of this one.

Hawg

[swamprat]

Correct you are. I just wonder if they have overestimated the amount of oil reserves offshore to make the case. I also wonder if our current oil wells here producing less than they could to also make that case.

There are alot of unanswered questions.

I think that congress should get the hell out of the way regardless of who is right or wrong.