Those Evil Oil Companies!

On Wednesday, I came across an article in the Washington Times online, from Tuesday's edition. I've been hearing all kinds of whining and moaning about how much profit the oil companies are making.

This bothers me on a deep, deep level, because when I hear that a company shouldn't make that much profit, or that sports stars shouldn't be paid that much money, I get upset.

I usually don't say much about it because I'm just too tired to try to convince a sleep walker that he's sleep walking. Know what I mean?

But I grew up with the constant threat of nuclear war possibilities between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. A world with capitalism versus socialism. And like some people have an ability called perfect pitch which allows them to 'know' any musical note heard, I have a pretty good ear for socialist and communist talk.

So when I hear Americans moaning and angry over the huge profits of oil companies, or even sports star salaries, my socialism sensetive ears perk up. It gets my hackles up as some say, though I'm not sure what exactly a hackle is.

I believe with all of my heart, that when we as Americans, start judging companies on their big profits, we have just stepped into a socialist mindset.

I don't think it makes someone a socialist to think this way or make this complaint, but it signals to me that this person has entered into a dangerous line of thinking.

How much is too much profit? Who gets to decide this? Your complaining about the oil companies, and other companies's profits being too large, is, to me, a danger. It is the beginning of a line of thought that the political left in this country has perfected; they repeat a complaint enough, and you'll start making the same complaint without really thinking about it.

Please don't fall for it America! Research these things for yourselves!

America, economically, is built on the foundation of free enterprise and capitalism and the desire to better oneself. The very idea that you would point your finger at someone else, or even a legally operating company, and say, "You make too much money" is jealousy, plain and simple. That's a terrible frame of mind to operate from. You don't want to live in that place.

Now I want to quote to you from this article from the Tuesday, August 8th, 2006, Washington Times by Patrice Hill:

Big Oil Reinvests Big Profits To Tap Costlier Reserves

Big Oil's record profits attract attention and outrage, but an independent study has found that oil companies do exactly what economic textbooks say they should do with all that money: They invest it in oil exploration and development efforts that eventually should relieve pressure on prices.

The top 20 U.S. and Canadian oil companies actually invested 50 percent more than they earned in the past 10 years in efforts to produce more oil, but adverse geopolitical developments conspired to give them fewer opportunities to expand production while fading oil fields in the U.S. and elsewhere forced them to spend substantially more just to maintain current production, according to the study by the Ernst & Young accounting firm.

"Reinvestment is under way, and it's strong," said Charles Swanson, an energy analyst at the firm, but "average costs to find and develop oil and gas reserves have tripled since 1997, while total reserve-replacement costs have more than doubled."

The study found that the top companies -- including Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, among others -- took in a mind-numbing $5 trillion in revenue from sales of oil and related products between 1995 and 2005. After subtracting the cost of equipment, leases, labor and other operating expenses, the companies posted whopping profits of $336 billion.

Over the same time span, however, the companies spent even more than they earned -- $550 billion -- on oil exploration and development. Some of them went deeply into debt to finance new ventures, especially during times of lean profits.

These are just the first few paragraphs from the article which TOTALLY DISMEMBERS THE ARGUMENT THAT THE OIL COMPANIES ARE MAKING TOO MUCH MONEY OFF THE BACKS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

But please follow the above link and read the whole article.

For decades now, the power of environmental groups's ability to use the court system to delay and/or block the development of oil fields here in the U.S. that are known to have huge deposits, and their ability to stop the building of new refineries and even power plants, has brought us to this predicament.

And America's political left scream that these huge profits are obscene, yet they conveniently 'forget' to tell you that these profits, historically, have been used up in developing further oil sources and new technologies. America's political left makes a big deal out of 300 billion dollars in profits, but willfully deceives you by not mentioning that the oil companies have typically used ALL OF THAT PROFIT, AND MORE, to open new oil sources, etc. To the point of going in debt!

So next time you hear on the news about the disgusting amount of profit the oil companies are making, remember that they use ALL of it to reinvest in new oil fields and technology FOR US.

Be careful what thoughts you allow to pass through your lips. We all tend to consider the Soviet Union's demise as the defeat of socialism/communism, but if you fall prey to this type of thinking I talked of earlier, you are jumping on a bandwagon that includes Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and other such notables.

What was once called socialism or communism in America, now goes by the name "Progressive."

I wouldn't want you to be lumped in with those guys, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to be either.

I'm just tired of Americans swallowing without question everything reported on the news and adopting the first negative spin on that report as their own position.

What? Can't we criticize?

Of course. Look at the shutdown at Prudhoe Bay right now. What is happening there is like me ignoring the check engine light on my car and the squealing of my brakes until my car is undriveable. If there is a problem with the pipeline, shouldn't that have been taken care of in routine maintenance? Of course it should have been, but the oil company's bigwigs chose to ignore comon sense.

And we'll pay for that at the pump, trust me.

But don't fault companies making profits in a free enterprise, capitalist economy like ours. Especially if evidence shows that they reinvest those whopping profits in more exploration and the like. Keep in mind the part of the article that said, "Over the same time span, however, the companies spent even more than they earned -- $550 billion -- on oil exploration and development. Some of them went deeply into debt to finance new ventures, especially during times of lean profits."

That is all.

I'm gettin' a nose bleed way up here on this soap box anyway.