First, not only will drilling only directly help the big five oil companies but it should be explicitly stated these are the same companies the US used its military and diplomatic resources, along with a hell of a lot of money, to essentially give the oil in Iraq to. There are a lot of people who are kinda sorta ok with the war in Iraq figuring at least we got the oil. We didn't get shit but some dead sons and daughter and a giant credit card bill.
Second, the Republicans won't but I will call for the nationalization of oil. We have nationalized other industries for less in our past. Hell, Bush nationalized airport security six years ago. We have also nationalized the railroads (three times) and the Tennesse Electric Power Company. I know there will be a lot of philosphical conservative uproar but I can't figure out how it hurts you and I. The idea is that market forces will ensure that the oil companies will work in a way that is best for the consumers due to perfect competition. Does anyone believe that is happening in the oil industry? So don't buy into thier theorhetical capitalism arguments here. They don't actually apply in this case.
"There are a lot of people who are kinda sorta ok with the war in Iraq figuring at least we got the oil. We didn't get shit but some dead sons and daughter and a giant credit card bill."
This had not occurred to me. This is a stunning thing to contemplate. Iraqi oil goes into the world market to the highest bidder, Exxon/Mobil profits, the US taxpayers pick up the tab, in the process being reamed and overcharged by Halliburton and Blackwater and the other contracting firms. In the case of Halliburton, they move their corporate headquarters to Dubai to avoid paying anything back to the US taxpayer. The whole thing is kept afloat by stop-lossing our volunteer army and forcing them to serve three and four hitches. They play, we pay. The public always gets the shitty end of the stick. Every goddamned time.
Fuck!
