[clue-talk] oil...

[Nate Duehr]

Angelo Bertolli wrote:

> Let's see, if I were an oil company... I'd hold some drilling 
> opportunities "for a rainy day."  The oil companies definitely want to 
> "cash-in" when there's a crisis one day.  I'm not against drilling for 
> more oil here, but I am against just letting companies do whatever they 
> want.  If they want us to open up more land for them, they need to have 
> some obligation to use it for the benefit of the country and not solely 
> to maximize their profits.  If not, I say start a public drilling program.

Change your phrase around and apply it to your business:

"I don't want you to be allowed to maximize profit in your business."

Is even saying such things sane in this country?

I've never understood this anti-oil-company profit sentiment.  They pay 
massive taxes (even if people think they get breaks that are big, their 
taxes still dwarf a lot of industries), and they make their money at 
market prices that are traded on an open market.

In fact, if you want a piece of their profits, you have the right to 
invest in them... many pay decent solid dividends too.  Yes, like all 
American corporations there are fat cats at the top, but there's also 
hundreds of thousands of employees getting paid, shareholders getting 
paid... it's just big business.

Supply and demand...

Try limiting the profit of any software or computer hardware companies, 
telecom, or whatever... and watch them scream.  I don't like that Dell 
grew from a tiny company into a big one!  Limit their profits!  Damn them!

It just sounds insane when you look at it that way.  We're either 
Capitalists, or we hand over all oil production to the government and 
take whatever price we get, right?

I guess it's "evil" if it's an oil company wants to sell us something we 
all use, but Automotive companies that make nothing but gas guzzling 
cars are worthy of government bailouts because it would "hurt too many 
Americans" if they go under????

(Just wait, the next multi-billion dollar bailout is coming for Ford and 
General Motors... it's political now.  Obama has promised it to the 
auto-makers, and I'm sure McCain would do it too.)

Yes, I know oil companies try to slow the growth of alternatives -- but 
let's get real about that too... if the alternatives were all that 
cost-effective, they'd take off... and are now that consumers and 
companies are "going green"... (as if that means their energy 
consumption changed much).  And EVERY business tries to erect barriers 
to entry.  Think Apple, Dell, or any other tech company doesn't have a 
fleet of patent lawyers?

Limit their profit!  They're evil!  (Ha!)

We'll bail out automotive manufacturers who continued to build cars that 
weren't efficient enough nor had enough quality, compared to foreign 
imports -- and they CONTINUED to do it into an obvious energy crisis...

And we'll do that so people don't "lose jobs" in the midwest...

And those cars do what?  Burn oil.

But we'll in the same thought think that oil companies shouldn't explore 
for oil here and force them to go to other countries to find their 
product, even as we still are willing to pay for it and have it shipped 
here?

Here's my thought -- want to lower the profits of the oil companies?

Stop using oil.

Otherwise... what exactly is it you'd like to see?  A cap on their 
profits?

If that somehow makes sense to you, then why not cap all businesses?

Will you volunteer your business to have a cap on future profits?

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I used to work for 
Texaco.  Even way back then, people who worked in the oil biz were too 
nice to just come out and say the truth... "You need us."

In fact, it was always almost like people acted like their job was 
"dirty" and they wouldn't talk about what they did for a living.  (And I 
worked for a pipeline and tanker scheduling / mostly the accounting 
division... all they did was the paperwork, and it was massive.  They 
also had traders who were daily trying to get the best price for every 
drop of it used, or they weren't any good at their jobs.)

I don't get it.  People want "green" but are still driving.  Then they 
start thinking that the "evil" part of that is the profit of the company 
providing them the product they're addicted to?

Good luck with that insanity.  Sounds a lot like the excuses 
drug-addicted people convince themselves of... it's the crack dealer's 
fault I'm still using, he makes it too easy for me to get the product.

Oh and he makes too damn much money, someone should limit his profits!

Nate