Thank you, Big Oil

It's not something most people want to hear, but it's still true. Thanks for the insightful and revealing article, Mr. Keister.

Now to sit back and wait for Jeffry Pages to show up and make a fool of himself again.

There is a God, and he understands! Further - Ayn Rand lives on, and on....

Simply awesome!

Could not agree more; love the line " go out and try to produce some oil yourself". Like Eddie Willers, I give a silent prayer everyday for those who CAN.

Thank you for the truth.

Amen. I haven't heard it any better than just put it. I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing Clinton, Schumer, Whitehouse, etc. complain about the oil companies. They provide an invaluable service to all of us and Congress treats them as if they were somehow un-American. They may make large profits in absolute terms, but they maintain a profit margin of about 7%, which is quite low especially when compared to some of the large technology companies.

From Wikipedia:

"The IARC, a cancer research agency of the World Health Organization, maintains MTBE is not classifiable as a human carcinogen"

MTBE is smelly and tasty in groundwater, which inconveniently indicates that water you drink contains gasoline. US EPA dropped the ball sometime ago overlooking that underground tanks of your corner store gas station is rusty and leaky. Without MTBE you can continue to drink water contaminated with gasoline without noticing.

Excellent article. I really don't understand why people don't realize the truth about why we are in a crunch now. If congress had been responsible about energy during the last two decades, we would be in a lot better position now. They are simply using vilification to to stay in office. Disappointing. Zach

Yes, thank you Big Oil. 100% of this problem with Congress. Alternative energy is just fine, if market driven but oil is here to stay and no fantasy of the liberal left or dolts like McCain are going to change that in the next 50 years. That McCain is on the oil profit train is just one more reason I am seriously questioning my vote for him. Why should I support a man who does not represent my views in the slightest?

Amen! I can't bear to watch any tv news because I can't stand to watch the 3 pinhead candidates continue this ruse! Since they are all senators of course they are not going to change anything.

Amen! I can't bear to watch any tv news because I can't stand to watch the 3 pinhead candidates continue this ruse! Since they are all senators of course they are not going to change anything.

Not only will the socialists in the US Congress be going after we the people next but so too all of the other industries in this country who's ROI is considerably more that big oil. You'd think the Constitution starts out "We the politicans,,,,,," The more government we "need" the worse our lives are going to be- just look at that ethanol sham and the recent mandated quintuple increase in production. How's that working out. Gas prices have gone up quite alot since this current congress got seated. Now there's some leadership!

BRAVO!!!!! Now if we could only get about 100 million other people to read that.

I agree 100% with everything you said but Exxon Mobil is the worlds 14th largest oil company.

I agree. If we look behind the Congressional curtain I believe we would detect Socialism at work. The first goal of the Socialist program is control of production;not just production of oil, but control of the production of goods and services. Once that is achieved the people are controlled. Simple, no?

Blame lies with the environmentalists and other activists who refuse to allow the building of a new refinery or nuclear power plant. It also lies with commodities traders who bid up the price of oil beyond what it should be. If it were only supply and demand, oil might be at $80 or $90 per barrel right now. The people who are betting on future scarcity are wreaking havoc in the present. THEY are the ones raking in the windfall profits.
We've been handed lemons, so let's make some lemonade, shall we? Give up the SUV. Drive a car that gets a minimum of 25 MPG. Reduce energy consumption at home. Don't leave the PC on 24/7. There are many ways Americans can cope with this market without blaming big oil. Without big oil, we wouldn't have what we have today. I think they were the ones who showed the energy potential of natural gas, which they used to just burn off the oil well. We would be using coal nationwide and creating an environmental catastrophe. Big oil is a convenient whipping boy but they are not the problem. It's not just Congress. We are part of the problem. We vote for those in Congress who deny us nuclear energy and other alternatives.

Our future as a civilization now depends on the number of stupid people out there who will fall for the Marxist profit is evil and must be limited line.
There are more stupid people out there than those of us who are paying attention.I am starting to get concerned.

Thank you for writing this excellent article. We need to educate the American people on how oil is produced and what it does for our daily life. First is the oil companies, next will be other businesses until government controls every aspect of our lives. I experienced this method in Cuba when Castro took over. At first he confiscated American companies and large farms to help "the little people." Most Cubans were happy----it is called resentment. Soon after, the government controled everything and everyone was equal indeed---equally poor.

Thank you some great insight into the oil industry. It makes no sense that the national media does not have the same agenda to help save our jobs and current way of living. When will working Americans MARCH on washington.

Speculators are the ones driving up the prices. Based on a few evaluations that I've seen, oil should be between $50-$70 a barrel right now, if not for speculation bringing up the price.

Amen, Todd!

DRILL HERE....DRILL NOW(americansolutions.com)
It's long overdue.
I am a lifetime resident of Florida and live on the Gulf Coast.

Re: Big Oil.

This animus toward oil companies is almost as big a canard as "man made global warming."

Some of the liberals no better and use it cynically but most really don't understand basic economics. In spite of the "obscene" revenues of the oil companies the return on investment isn't anything special. Lots of companies make more. "Windfall taxes" will only mean less oil.

Even a conservative like Bill O'Reilly cannot understand the economics. He asked "Who wrote down 125$ aa barrell?" Mind boggling.

The Republican candidates need to explain the realities of economics to the populace and point out also that it is very revealing that the Soros group and those of the same mindset, won't drill, or use nuclear power.

Best,

Lee Tabin

This is a wonderfully correct piece but with a major error: Congress is not to blame, modern environmentalism is. Congress is government and it has no mind. It does what it thinks best for itself only. Environmentalism with its Earthshare website raises nearly a trillion $$ for their radical causes. Of course congress is going to do what they say. They think it what the people want. What radicals want, radicals get, not because of their ideas, science (congress wouldn't know the difference), but because of their money. Plain old Democratic voters who think they are doing the right thing, continue to send the ecos the money thus actively promoting their own anti-American agenda. RWells

Thank you for this article! I wish it was required reading or reprinted in every magazine and newspaper in America. The American people need to wake up and see what Congress is doing to destroy us, not the oil companies.

Congress is too, to blame. Environmentalism started it, but Congress takes their bribe money, and then ignores the rest of us citizens.
I am environmentally aware, but we do NOT need government imposing it on us in the form of taxes. That will ALWAYS be a receipe for disaster, as we already know the tax money Congress collects will NEVER go to the environment.

"...we would be living in the 17th century." This is precisely what the environmental movement and the complicit fools in congress want us to do. There was a promise to become oil self-sufficient in 1973 (Arab oil Embargo.) What occurred was the exact opposite. While there is much talk about ANWR and off-shore drilling, there are significant reserves to begin large scale oil shale recovery. New techniques makes this affordable at even as low as $40 per barrel. Additionally there is no sound reason for not building nuclear facilities other than the legal cost and government regulations. Our own government is a terrorist organization against American business interests.

But we must remember...those who are the devout worshipers at the Church of Environmentalism WANT the world to be an Edenic utopia completely void of motors, electricity, plastic AND excess people. Mr. Ralph Wells is correct..."What radicals want, radicals get..."

Great article. Keep up the good work.

this is silly.
american thinker?
funny. how bout american non thinker, this is dumb.
the equation is simple, the oil industry has been both pusher and cartel for a very long time. as mark twain said, "History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes a lot."

ok then. who here can not produce breathable air, and just hot air like this big brother pro-corporation and pro big-government propaganda. times are changing or else.

One would think that after driving up the price of meat by speculating in cattle futures, Hillary would be the last one talking about "obscene profits." But apparently, one would be wrong.

Well, Jeffry Pages didn't disappoint. It is astounding that he actually believes what he said.

This attack on big energy in the name of global warming is just more trickle-out economics. Millions of American jobs have been lost in the last four decades through the environmental movement. (Really a G-20 global division labor cabal)
If McCain really believed in AGW wouldn't he also be going after big carbonated beverage or is his wife's income sacrosanct? What's the carbon footprint of big beer or big pop?

Mr. Pages, rather than spouting that which you hear without thought explain to us what a windfall profit is and why it should be taxed.
Apparently you do not remember the gas lines of the 1970's. As to nationalizing industries, perhaps a reading on British Steel before Thatcher privatized it? Show me one nationalized industry that operates in the black without subsidizes.
In addition, you proclaim to be for the little guy. Do you have a clue how many Americans have retirement and investment funds with energy stocks? Is the government going to take all that over to?
Why not nationalize everything? BTW, I hope you enjoy ranting on the PC built with plastics derived from oil and utilizing the innovation of the market and free people to innovate.
Perhaps you think the state could have done that as well?
I don't expect a response.

Alas, the legions of useful idiots who might actually benefit from this knowledge will never see it. They would no more read an actual newspaper or news column any more than they would jump under the next bus.

I assume Jeffry Pages will shortly be driving a geothermal powered car. I would also remind him that simply flicking on a switch does not guarantee that the wind will blow. Oh yes, and at 2:30 a.m.I can't wait for my solar powered car to run me to the all-night beer store. Mr. Pages, the thought of Barack Obama becoming president will become even more frightening as we approach November and I predict he will lose by a significant percentage. No doubt for this comment you will brand me a racist. But so be it. The man will lose because he is an empty vessel being manipulated by some rather dark, anti-American, anti-capitalist looney lefties with trust funds and a cadre of self-appointed bi-coastal academic elitists,

You forgot to mention in your otherwise excellent article, that evil Exxon-Mobil, is making so little profit on the retail sale of gas in the U.S., that it has decided to sell off all of its retail stations in the U.S. Now, if that doesn't put the leftist big lie to bed, nothing will.

If Big Oil is so great then why do they need a $17 BILLION PER YEAR Socialist Subsidy?

BRAVO ursa major...we need to find ou who thse "behind he scenes" manipulators really are because there is no doubt, in my mind, that they exist and Obama is merely a product of their anti capitalistic fantacies...frightening

Big Oil has been killing other countries (eg Educador)so that americans and the rest of the first world can get fat on the spoils of stolen resources. Well the party is drawing to a close and americans are about to feel real pain. Well overdue. Death to the oil companies is a fair deal.

Government watches out for the little guy? When did this happen?

Government doesn't watch out for the little guy unless it wants to step on him.

If you think putting restraints on big oil will drop the prices,better think again.The price of oil would skyrocket since oil companys would move over seas.

Whenever some of my "liberal" friends or relatives complain about "big oil" or "big any business" I always ask them if they think that "small oil" or small computer chip makers can make anything that they use. There is no such thing as "small oil" or "small computer CPU makers". It would be impossible without the economy of scale that large companies have. How much does a fab for Intel or AMD cost? Hundreds of millions or billions just to make the CPU in your computer that allows you to read your email or surf the net. Mr. Keister is right, it's a miracle that we have any gasoline at all. Without "big oil" and other "big business", we'd all starve and die within weeks or months.

JT, brilliant post. "Big Oil has been killing other countries like Ecuador so the first world can get fat on the spoils of stolen resources." Where have Ecuador, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, name the country, been for the last hundred and forty years. Nowhere. They've been sitting on their oil as long as everyone else in the world. Where were their entrepreneurs, risk takers, capitalists? Why didn't some scary genius in one of those countries take advantage of their natural resources? Why can they barely do it today? Look around your life and make sure you get rid of everything derived from the oil industry. As for the oil industry's death, if it is, so be it. One thing's for sure, I won't hold my breath waiting for somebody from Ecuador, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or Nigeria to create an industry out of nothing that fuels every inch of this planet. I certainly won't hold my breath waiting for you to do it either. God bless John D. Rockefeller.

Now I see what someone was referring to when asking when Jeffery Pages would show up.
Jeffery, surely you jest. Why on earth would Obama "slow" the rise in the price of gasoline? Why wouldn't it be rolled back? Why, if the profits are "obscene" and the costs are driven by speculation and the true cost of crude should be around $30/brl and the His Obamaness does away with these practises, why would prices not fall precipitously??
One would have to believe that through nationalization with Big Oil then "controlled" by Congress and Run by highly schooled, highly intelligent bureaucrats endowed with super concern for the average citizens plight with fuel prices, that costs would be slashed to the bone through mass firings, closing down non-performing assets and all the rest of the things that "good business" practise and acumen would require.
Prices would come down, would they not, otherwise why take the companies over?

Jeffry!!! My Man!!!
I was getting worried, man. I was reading all of these responses and I was like, "Where's Jeffry?!!". Hey Hoss, here's a little tip Jeff o' boy; you should actually read the posted article before transcribing the DNC newsletter's talking points. I'm just sayin', because then you might be able to edit the points a little bit so you don't sound like such an idiot. Of course, I forgot, forming an independent thought might be a little tough for you. Remember that little talk we had about getting a classical education with critical thinking skills?

please write more stores like this. people are reading them. thanks

Obama's trillions investment in
sol, wind... is double BS. Firstly, he is going to steal trillions from economy,secondly, every energy
produced by his phantasmagorical nonsense is
much more expensive than energy USA is having for two centuries-oil, coal, oil sands.....
Obama Hussein firstly, is going to win POTUS off. and secondly his brain soaked who knows with what belongs
on street corner with "bros"
not to off. of the POTUS.

Is this a typo or is the author intentionally mispelling Republicans as Republicrats?

Excellent article but I might point out that Exxon-Mobil is not the worlds largest energy company, it is just treated that way by the demagogues of politics. It actually ranks somewhere around 16th largest and the pols think that
if they can convince the people that controlling EM will matter a whit in world prices of oil is ludicrous.

jeffrey page, do you really understand business and what an obscene profit margin would be? well, farmers make almost a 16% profit margin and they receive large tax subsidies from the government. do you propose that now government start taxing our food supply and take over this industry as well? YES, you do, you gave it away in your comment about Maxine Waters. You are undeniably a communist. Government makes 45 t0 60 cents a gallon everytime you pump gas. Do you know how much profit is made by the oil companies on every gallon you pump? 10-15 cents a gallon. Who is making the most money? Your government is and they are making the money off the backs of the poor by exploiting them NOT big oil.

Who's feeling sorry for big oil?!!! Not me!!! Big oil will not be allowed to continue in the unbridled plundering of my Louisiana coast costing us our unique cultural heritage, our resources, our percious Louisiana coast and our livelyhood!!! If You all want big oil in your back yard then that is your choice but we are tired of them tearing up our Louisiana coast which they have been doing for centuries. We lose a football field of land ever 38 minutes thanks to coastal erosion. I plan to fight them with every ounce of my being in order to maintain what we have here in Louisiana. Back in the 1930s our Louisiana citizens saw big oil come in and buy up vast amounts of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes and force the descendants of the exiled Acadians to sepak English in school and if they didn't they were beaten and made to write lines such as "I will not speak French in school"...They weren't even allowed to speak French on recess thanks to big oil and the company town entities!!!! Big oil is making high profit returns and they are when it only takes 50 bucks to manufacture a barrel of oil....It's dialects 101 baby!!!! They are manufacturing the crises and they are giving us their well long before thoughtout manufactured solutions that is all!!! Big oil you don't have me fooled and I don't feel sorry for you at all!!!! And if need be I'll walk or ride a horse!!!! It's about long time Louisiana gets back to her "dwindling" or rather (the washing away") heritage!!!!

Drill Now!

Happened to encounter a prof at an New England boarding school 60th reunion last week. This elitist attempted to convince a bemused group of us that drilling oil in Alaska wasn't really possible; and that the answer to our energy problem was windmills rather than nuclear, We let him ramble on thinking he was selling a group of stupid geezers. He was truly a pathetic guy. He's one of those elitists to whom the global warming scam is a gift. It (finally!) enables him and others like him to do something to put those nobodys in the business world in their places.

To all the "obscene profits" crowd": So why is your portfolio not 100% invested in this obscenity? Or, if it already is, welcome to hypocrisy!
Clearly any extra "windfall" tax would be passed right through to the pump price. Whoops---do I detect the ghost of Nixon's gasoline price controls? Now THAT was a great success in government helping the little guys.

Ms. Mounier "Big Oil" is not what is causing the coastal erosion in Louisiana, the levees are. The levees route the rivers from their natural flow and move too fast as they empty into the gulf washing away the silt faster than it replace it. But where do you think the revenue comes from to fight coastal erosion? It comes from oil revenues paid to the state by those big evil oil companies. By the way if it weren't for the oil industry there would be nothing down there but a swamp!

Let's see. Orange Juice is $5-7 a gallon, depending on whether it's on sale or regular price. Gas is $4+ per gallon. Which is harder to do:grow and squeeze oranges or extract, ship, refine and deliver over 30 different blends of gasoline? No contest. By the way, my morning coffee creamer is $12.50 per gallon.

The bantering back and forth makes me wonder about profits and costs per gallon ? If you were to take the total profits of Exxon for all operations domestic and international, for the 2007 calendar year and divide that into the total gallons of fuels of all types sold in the US only, how much per gallon would that be? That number would probably be a real eye opener for many people (on one side of the aisle or the other).

I agree with much of this article especially the sections in which you refute the absurdity that is capping profits. The eagerness of the American left to resort to socialist economics continues to blow my mind. However, congressional reluctance to change current policy on drilling issues stateside is NOT the most prominent factor in determining oil prices.

The over inflated price of oil is actually a function our weakened dollar. As the value of the greenback decreases relative to other currencies, you will see the market gravitate towards commodities. i.e.: Gold, Steel, and you guessed it, OIL! Now, as these traders, whom I will now refer to as "speculators" for that is what they are actually doing, as these speculators start pumping money into this commodity you see a rise in the price, naturally. The speculators have abused their trading privileges. Fear mongering has allowed them to continue to drive the price higher whether or not the economy is showing signs of growth. WHICH, IT IS! The fear of recession, war and surging foreign demand allow them to continue to take forward positions in the market and continue to profit. The speculators are to blame. THEY drive the oil prices in the US and until there is more market regulation over these speculators, you will not see an appropriate market correction.

Finally, how did we get here? By here, I mean, in a position where market participants must resort to shady dealings in order to ensure equity growth. You can blame this on the man who actually is in charge of you economy. Not W. Not Congress. Dr. Ben Bernanke. As acting chairman of the Fed, Dr. Bernanke has failed to, until only recently, implement a strong dollar policy. The laissez-faire attitude of the US Fed has failed us. When there were first signs of a struggling dollar, Bernanke and his compadres should have stated that their number one goal was to ensure a strong dollar. This declaration would have been "fueled" an influx of foreign dollars coming into the US economy because with a valued dollar and surging economy the Fed's normal line of thinking is to maintain and/or INCREASE interest rates. High interest rates are very attractive to investors foreign and domestic alike, but most importantly the conversion of foreign monies into dollars strengthens the dollar by removing the amount of dollars in the monetary system. So, you were right in the end. Less supply and increased demand increases value. Only in this case it's not the value of a barrel of oil; it's the value of your American Dollar. You were right, just a little too fervent in political science and not economics.

I disagree that it's exclusively the US Government, but I think the moratorium on nuclear power has done more to put us in the position we're in today then anything else. We CAN replace oil, but first we need to be realistic about it and realize that we cannot afford to just subsidize and tax-weave ourselves out of this problem, we have to come up with a working solution that can finance itself, and nuclear can do that. With cheaper energy, it will then be less expensive to create silicone from sand to replace most plastics and polymers from gassified coal to make those that cannot be made.

Mr. Baker, the commodity traders have every bit as much right to the oil as you do. And anyways, since virtually EVERYTHING is traded by futures these days, by your logic it would seem our entire system is collapsing.

Anyways, I seriously doubt that commodity traders have that much to do with it - for one thing, when they sell the price goes back down. We would see spontaneous bursts of high and low with the buying and selling, $10 a gallon one minute and $1 a gallon the next, not a steady permaneant rise. The problem sir is a decreased supply and ever-increasing demand from the developing world. Part of that has to do with our own congress and part of it does not. More then anything, it is coming from a lack of innovation that is already starting to give way to new invention, and we need only wait a few more years to see technologies now on the side lines finally come to life.

Thanks Jeremy.

Commodity traders may contribute to volatility, but they DO NOT and cannot make a trend. No one is big enough to do that in a open, freely traded market. Trends are a result of larger macro-ecomonic factors, in this case, supply (declining) and demand (growing). The price discovery mechanism of commodity markets is simply signalling such and allowing us to make BETTER decisions going forward.

If the internet was around in the 1970s, I am sure all the leftist gobble-de-dook being spouted on this particular thread would have been no different then.

To the haters and knee jerk reactionists, I suggest you read up on Mr. Kondratieff. He formalized supply cycles about 70 years ago.

PS. He was a communist in the Soviet Union.

PPS. He was executed by Stalin on trumped up charges of un-Soviet type activities. Which is close to what congress and the left seem to want to do to Big Oil

Todd,
Who do you work for?
Big oil or the stock market?
First, the money has already been invested that brings our "life giving blood" to the surface. Dangerous, yes. But this technology is 50 years old. Second, your assertion that the oil companies just produce the oil and sometimes refine it is misleading. The total amount of money that is involved makes one naive to think that the oil companies would not do everything in their power to "limit" supply. Sorry Todd, you missed the mark entirely. Take the speculative buying out of a national security resource and the price will be as you say "supply and demand". Speculation has taken oil to absurd levels. Production is up, demand is stable. Last year price was $50. New fuel sources are "trying" to come on line, but no support and limited information will keep the "black gold" our main source of power for years. Good news for Big Oil who can rape the very people who made them as profitable as they are! And great news for the "thieves" who take profits from the "401K" banquet that has been laid out before them.

Take back your country, buy bonds, manage your own stocks, stay away from futures. Live long and prosper!

We should be grateful for oil prices doubling in the last year? What stock are you holding? Lucky for us, though, such steep rising prices become a self-correcting problem, because they bring out the best in human ingenuity. Just last week Reuters featured a little Japanese company named Genepax unveiling its water-powered car.

It seems foolish to think that oil is the be-all and end-all of energy solutions. Clearly, it's not, as it is non-renewable, finite and causes pollution. Had it not been for the oil industry's influence on our government, we could have been investing in alternative energy and fuels for decades. If I support more drilling, I'd be passing the problems of today on to my children and their children.

We are so dependent on oil because we have been too lazy to develop alternate means of energy or manufacturing materials.