Posted on 06/17/2008 2:08:57 PM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan
Consider:
The Brazilian government has a 58 percent controlling stake in Petrobras's voting shares and 32percent of its total shares, which means that some of the profits go straight to the government's bottom line, giving the politicians more money to spend on bribing their constituents.
In the United States, American politicians do not benefit from a successful oil industry, since corporate profits go to shareholders, pensioners and employees; therefore Congress has a much greater incentive to respond to the concentrated power of the special interest group known as the "greens."
There are plenty of other examples, says O'Grady:
In Mexico, the state-owned oil monopoly, Pemex, has a history as a notorious polluter yet is seemingly exempt from political pressure to clean up its act.
Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba all boast aggressive, state-owned mining operations, yet neither the nongovernmental enviro-movement nor the political class utters a peep to object.
In El Salvador, a private mining company has spent years attempting to reopen to El Dorado mine, but have repeatedly been rebuffed by the left-wing, anti-private sector FMLN political party; since the government isn't the owner, a private mine doesn't inspire politicians in San Salvador the way Petrobras inspires Brasilia, says O'Grady.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncpa.org ...
Benefit, yes. Control, not yet!
See Maxine Waters....
The US Congress is the primary reason we are so dependent on foreign oil, and the primary reason we are paying so much for gas, diesel and other fuels. They have banned drilling offshore, banned drilling in the ANWR, obstructed construction of nuclear power plants, and they have passed the “Corn Laws” - their idiotic requirement that ethanol be blended with gasoline. The latter has driven up the cost of food, even as a well know oil expert, Boone Pickens, calls ethanol “a joke”. If all the farmland in the US were used to grow corn, it would only meet about 10% of our fuel requirements. And food prices of course would go into orbit around Jupiter. Our Congressmorons are ignorant of modern drilling techniques. instead of allowing the use of domestic resources, they hold mock trials of oil executives and criticize Saudi Arabia for restricting production. The two Senators from FL, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, are two good examples of those who oppose drilling offshore or in the ANWR. Voters should demand that Congressmorons learn how to spell “d r i l l” or be removed from office and supplanted by someone who has a brain.
I am so enraged at our green-anarchists. I’ve been on gardening message boards and petroleum message boards. There are so many people rooting for a down scaled horse and buggy USA.
Sorry about the italics for the whole reply, I was just a little upset! I hate politicians, don’t care what the letter is after their name. We are in a mess because we have ignored, nay, encouraged, the communist to take over our country under the guise of socialist. Period.
Not really. The *country* might benefit from increased tax revenues, but politicians benefit from crises. That gives them laws to pass which increases their individual power. The more the government intrudes in our lives, the more important an elected official becomes.
At this point, and especially with Democrats, I am far from convinced that the greater good of the country comes ahead of greater power for them personally. A dysfunctional oil industry serves their greed for power better than a successful oil industry.
The politicians and green ecotards have a symbiotic relationship.
No apologies necessary! I agree with you.
The pols have only power on their minds. The more voters that recognize what is happening, the better chance we have.
If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Nonsense. Oil companies pay huge royalties (usually 25% of revenue) to the government for all oil extracted on Federal Land, which is just about where all new reserves are likely to be found.
If the Feds were to offer to share some of these royalties with California and Florida, as McCain is proposing, the elected officials of these states would very likely stop their opposition to drilling. It appears Crist already has. Amazing what money does. It would also make drilling a lot more popular among the voters.
Some?
32% maybe???
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