retired_jmeshew

Well that's the film community for you. THe bulk of them are on the left and so the awards get skewed. It's like the new film "Brokeback Mountain." It's getting tons of award consideration on the strength of the subject it covers, not for the great acting, directing, or anything else (except perhaps the cinematography which looks pretty good).

But hey, it'a free market

Cosmo: have to agree, the U.S. is being very stupid by not taking Iraqi oil. We are indeed continuing to pay for it at inflated prices, though that hasn't stopped oil companies from posting the single largest profits last quarter in U.S. history- for all industries ever! Amazing. I reckon I should be paying about .50 a gallon with all that oil we ought to be getting for free

retired_duncan

Why do you think the US aren't taking the oil? The 'shortage' of oil on the world market has pushed up prices so US oil companies can sell it for more......it was never about taking the oil, just making it more valuable.

retired_tinkfaeree

Uhm, wewak. I don't really see why that would be of any good. Higher crude cost means also way higher cost for:

the military sector
for the plastic sector
the construction sector (just think of how much oil gets used for streets/asphalt)

On a side note: just do the maths how long it will take until the additional income (if any) would cover the war expenses - which are about a whopping 400 billion $ a year.

retired_jmathias

"Money makes the world go around!"

Period.

retired_duncan

Just another part of the world economy the US want to control.

retired_sriracha

Cosmo,

I think you are taking this too serious man! :o

If you want to start a revolution against me, well, you have the right! But this forum is not the right place.

retired_kswansonwoolf

What the **** are you on about?

retired_jmeshew

The problem with that argument is that is doesn't acknowledge the lack of refining capacity in the US right now. Oil prices are inflated (at least here in the states, and I suspect elsewhere) because no matter the supply of crude, there is limited means to get it to market in a useable form.

From a foreign policy standpoint, driving up the price of crude is of little or no value to the United States government. The U.S. government, unlike some others around the world, does not sell oil. While tax revenues might be increased through the artificial driving up of prices by the government, that is actually not the case, as when certain profit and production levels are achieved, massive tax breaks are granted to the U.S. based oil companies which is what is happening right now. This of course is an artifact of the oil crash of the 1980s.

While the oil companies are making ungodly profits, its not just U.S. based companies that are benefitting from this. Royal Dutch Shell, and British Petroleum also come to mind. It's more multinational than U.S. at this point. Take a look at the holding companies and subsidiaries that belong to each of the major oil companies and you'll soon see that it is hardly the U.S. alone that is profitting. Secondly, that ought to convince you that it's not the U.S. out to control the world economy. It's corporations. It's Japanese, Chinese, American, and dare I say it, even Australian multinational businesses that are out to control the economy. It's plenty easy to make the U.S. a target for all sorts of conspiracies, but the fact is that it all goes far beyond the United States.

retired_tinkfaeree

Excellent post, hooky. :thup:

retired_jmeshew

Why thank you. I seem to be able to manage one for every 500 or so :p