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protecting robber barons .....


9 August 2006

TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY SITE, PARKES

PRIME MINISTER:

We are looking at a number of practical measures which might, at the margin, provide some response to the difficulties I know Australians are experiencing with high petrol prices.  And one of the issues, one of a number of issues we are examining, is that one, but there are quite a number of others.  When our examination has been completed, then if out of that examination there are announcements or policy changes, then there will be an announcement made about those policy changes.  But we must not lose sight of the central fact, that the cause of high petrol prices is the high world price of crude oil. It's affecting everybody and that is something that no Australian government can control, and it's very easy for some in the community, including the Opposition leader to make populist comments.  But he knows, and I know he knows, that this is due to world circumstances that nobody can control. But at the margin, we may be able to make a difference and that's what we are looking at.

More cynical deception from the rodent ….

In claiming that high petrol prices are a function of higher crude oil prices, the prime preanster deliberately obscures the fact that it’s the global oil giants, reaping obscene profits on the backs of consumers, who control the entire petroleum supply chain, including the massive oil reserves “liberated” from Iraq.

So our great besider would have us believe that we are big & mighty enough to rid the world of Saddam & steal Iraq’s wealth, but we have no capacity to control the rapacious behaviour of a few global conglomerates?

Moreover, whenever anyone has the temerity to highlight the extortion racket being run by the oil companies, our great protector is the first to defend their “modest returns”!!

If oil is such a precious resource, why is it trusted to the clutches of thieves?

And if our great international statesman is such a good buddy of bushit & blather blair, how come the world’s superheros haven’t figured-out a way to reign-in the excesses of the robber barons?  

Everyone knows the answer ….. it’s because they actually don’t represent us at all …. they’re far too busy representing the interests of their corporate sponsors & patrons.

That’s what the rodent really means when he refers to taking action “at the margin” ….. as long as it's always our margin.

'decent' profits .....

‘It has been a very good war for Big Oil - courtesy of OPEC price hikes. The five oil giants saw profits rise from $34 billion in 2002 to $81 billion in 2004, year two of Iraq’s “transition to democracy.” 

But this tsunami of black ink was nothing compared to the wave of $113 billion in profits to come in 2005: $13.6 billion for Conoco, $14.1 billion for Chevron and the Mother of All Earnings, Exxon’s $36.1 billion.

For these record-busting earnings, the industry could thank General Tommy Franks and the troops in Baghdad, the insurgents and their oil-supply-cutting explosives.

But, most of all, they had to thank OPEC and the Saudis for keeping the lid on supply even as the planet screamed in pain for crude.

When OPEC raises the price of crude, Big Oil makes out big time. The oil majors are not simply passive resellers of OPEC production. In OPEC nations, they have “profit sharing agreements” (PSAs) that give the companies a direct slice of the higher price charged.

More important, the industry has its own reserves whose value is attached, like a suckerfish, to OPEC’s price targets. Here’s a statistic you won’t see on Army recruitment posters: The rise in the price of oil after the first three years of the war boosted the value of the reserves of ExxonMobil Oil alone by just over $666 billion. (The devil is in the details.)

Smaller Chevron Oil, where Condoleezza Rice had served as a director, gained a quarter trillion dollars in value. Chevron named a tanker after Rice, but given the firm’s change in fortunes once she became National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State, they should rename the whole fleet in her honor.

Altogether, I calculate that the top five oil operators saw their reserves rise in value by over $2.363 trillion.’

Big Oil & The Trillion-Dollar War Bonus

whilst our own “great besider” wrings his hands & claims that he & his warrior prince buddies, “georgie bushit” & “aussie tony”, can’t do anything about the price of fuel, he defends the interests of ‘big business’ by claiming they are entitled to make ‘decent profits’.

Now, having found the courage to rid the world of the great ‘evildoer’ Saddam, whilst plunging the middle east into chaos & destruction, it would seem to me that sorting-out a the “oil profiteers” wouldn’t be that big a challenge ….. that’s if there was any real interest in doing so.

fat chance …..

update from the trough .....

‘Feeling a little squeeze at the gas pump?

You are not alone - U.S. consumers are expected to pay an additional $200 billion this year for oil and gas products.

These billions, notes Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., amount to a "massive transfer of wealth from average Americans who can't afford it to big oil companies who already were experiencing all-time record profits."

While ordinary Americans are forking over upwards of $3 for a gallon of gas, 15 distinctly unordinary Americans - the CEOs of the largest U.S. oil industry companies - are celebrating their biggest paychecks on record.

According to a new report, "Executive Excess," by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy (PDF)], Big Oil CEOs last year took home an average $32.7 million in compensation - 518 times more than average oil industry workers in 2005. The ratio for all industries in 2005 between average and highest paid worker was 411 to one, while the average globally in advanced countries is 25 to one.’

Time to Rein In the Pump Profiteers