For several years I have played a great song written by Billy Bragg called "The Price Of Oil". Ever since we were involved in the Iraq War, the price of gas and home heating oil increased as the war dragged on but spiked about a year ago. It reached its zenith last May when the price of gas topped out at about $4.50 per gallon. The residual effect was an increase in prices for any goods that were delivered by truck, train, or plane. We were all affected in many ways.
The price of gas and oil is currently back under $2.00 per gallon. What was the real reason for this spike? Did OPEC go wild with their prices? Did Hurricane Katrina hurt our oil production in the Gulf of Mexico? OR...was it artificially inflated to give the big corporations an even bigger profit in the last days of the Bush administration?
Whatever the answer may be, one thing is certain. Our "leaders" were asleep at the wheel at best and were co-conspiritors at least. I believe the latter.
"Voices on the radio, tell us that we're going to war. Our brave men and women in uniform want to know what they're fighting for. The generals want to hear the end game, the allies won't approve the plan. But the oil men in the white house, just don't give a damn.....
It's all about the price of oil....
Don't give me no shit about blood, sweat, and tears, and toil....
It's all about the price of oil".
-Billy Bragg, 2003
"The profiteers dance, their pockets are filled. They don't give a damn about my brothers or sisters they've killed"
-Dave Drew, 2006
Please...Think, use your brain! and at the very least... Question authority!!!!
DD
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1 comment:
Hey Dave,
Happy New Year!
I really enjoyed your birthday/Bartini party. You're a lucky man with a beautiful family.
Just a few comments on your "Price of Oil" blog: It's seems we are too quick to scapegoat today.
1) There are no oil men in the Whitehouse. Bush left the industry years ago as he never made any money. Cheney totally divested himself from the industry and Halliburton as a condition to become Vice President.
2) We should be thankful for our oil companies that offer us the lowest prices on gasoline in the world other than the oil producing/exporting countries. The U.S. oil companies work on the lowest profit margins (8% to 11%) other than Walmart than any company that I know of. (Just as a comparison, companies like McDonald's and Microsoft have margins in the 30%+ and Starbucks is in 50%+.) There record profits are a result of that margin percent times the cost of a barrel of oil. It is not unusual for their profits to be in the billions as it's a trillion dollar industry.
3) The price of oil has been increasing (prior to the current worldwide recession) due to "demand" outpacing "supply", This increasing demand is mostly coming from developing eastern hemisphere nations such as China, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc...). In addition, the most recent runup on a barrel of oil was due to the speculators and nothing to do with the oil companies.
4) Let's hope that Obama carries through with his promise to develop renewable sources of energy as soon as possible and not walk away from those promises now that we have cheap oil again.
'best,
John
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