Petrofraud and the New Depression
By Michael Fox
Created Jun 30 2008 - 10:54am
Petrofraud is a word I coined to describe the the great con job that is
the
Bush administration's policy - that policy is the only policy they have or
have ever had, with respect to energy, foreign affairs, war and our
economy.
All of it has been about oil. And the present speculative bubble is the
crowning achievement of the scheme.
They are laughing all the way to their banks in Dubai, Switzerland, and,
no
doubt, Paraguay. A superb *****sment of the pathology of this sociopathic
bunch can be found in Charley Reese's chilling column, America is the
Rogue
Nation [1], which details the lengths to which they are going - in our
name - to achieve their nefarious goals. We are being robbed into
bankruptcy
to enrich a relatively small oligarchy, within which an even smaller group
are retaining unimaginable wealth.
Once these statements would have sounded outlandish; the ravings of an
extremist. Now, however, we all know it to be true. Even those who still
fancy themselves "conservative" know what's happening, though many of them
retain their allegiance to the Republicans as a form of faith.
What is it about faith that makes it so devastatingly ruinous? It is
simply
this: it is the belief in something or someone just because. Because one
wants to believe it, or because one was raised to believe it (even if
further education proved it wrong), or because one voted one way and
doesn't
want or can't process the idea that it was so dreadfully wrong. So they
become more fiercely adamant in their wrong-headed convictions. But heads
are coming out of the sand.
As the zeitgeist has ****fted, thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Al
Gore
and countless others, the public has awakened to the need to reduce our
energy usage and ****ft to renewable, non-polluting resources. Auto
manufacturers have slammed shut whole plants and discontinued models of
large trucks and SUVs as gasoline flirts with $5/gallon. The interesting
part about $5/gallon gasoline is that it is the point at which people
significantly change their habits; for some, it becomes their only
non-sustaining expenditure (outside food, home, and utilities). The person
who had only $200/month after basics can no longer buy clothes. Hell, they
can barely afford to dry clean the ones they have. That extra $200/ month
is
going to fuel tank and increased home utilities bill. The oilmen in the
West
Wing are squeezing the last dime out of the public for their cronies in
Houston. In a Depression, there's no spare change.
Ironically, Bush's legacy may well be that it was through his ill-gotten
and
mismanaged steward****p that the American public became serious about
conservation and self-sustenance. The same could have been achieved by a
president who understood the good that government can do (rather than how
much he could steal from it) by placing high taxes on gasoline when it was
still $1/gallon as Bush took office. Had a $4/gallon tax been levied at
that
time, the oil companies would have still been profitable, but the hundreds
of billions of dollars they have raked in over the past 7 years would have
been going to maintain a domestic infrastructure that is now the disgrace
of
the developed world. Had we been paying high prices for gasoline due to a
tax, the change in the public mindset would have occurred just the same.
That infrastructure improvement would have, included electric-charging,
biofuel, and hydrogen stations, as well as modern rail service. The oil
bubble could never have occurred, because by this time usage would be flat
or reduced, and the meme about shortages wouldn't have been applicable.
Either way, the change in mindset has been achieved.
Every day, more gas-guzzling vehicles are retired and replaced by cars
that
get twice the mileage, airlines are cutting flights and cramming more
passengers into fewer planes, and people are using their air-conditioners
more judiciously. In the end, changing the driving habits of Americans
will
be spun as Bush's greatest achievement. Of course it came as a way to
benefit his cronies from Riyadh to Houston, but it there it is.
The major difference is in who's angry. If a large tax had driven up the
price, and in return for it the United States had initiated a massive
infrastructure project - adding modern train lines, additional subway
lines,
and substitute fuels - the conservative anti-tax crowd would be furious.
As
it is, the only people who are happy are those getting larger dividend
checks from their oils stocks, and those who have speculated successfully
in
oil futures, although I suspect most of them grouse at the pump just the
same anyone else. My guess is that both of those investments have rather
worn out their welcome.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure that wasn't maintained with those same
hundreds of billions of dollars has decayed. The other achievement from
these policies will be losing the entire Mississippi River basin and all
its
tributaries for the Republicans: from the levees in New Orleans, to the
Bridge in Minnesota, through the levees and farmland in Iowa, Missouri and
Illinois, the breadbasket knows where the blame lays.
What to do Now
So it is in***bent upon all of us to further cut our consumption now, as
one
should during wartime anyway. The sacrifice of this war should be against
those who are really waging it at our expense (the oil companies and crude
speculators). Petrofraud has brought us here, and minimizing our use of
what
has become as basic as food will be our out. Ride share; plan your trip to
minimize your mileage; retire your car and replace it with a more
efficient
model as soon as possible (and if you can select an American car with high
mileage, you will be sending a vote to Detroit saying you want more of
these
models, and saving a domestic manufacturing job); and buy locally grown
produce (this is a step that will improve your diet and save thousands of
gallons of diesel).
As there's no doubt that gasoline prices will plummet after Labor Day
(banking on short memories in November): Don't be fooled. It's the end of
the con.
Author's note: This week I would like to given a special shout-out to
Martha
and Sylvia, who, while having been married for years in the eyes of our
family and everyone they know, are now married in the eyes of the law.
Brava, ladies! At last.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues.
I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an op****tunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are
at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
|
