L: Harold Doherty R: David Celiberti
I was privileged yesterday to be able to attend a presentation by autism expert David Celiberti Ph.D., BCBA-D, President of the Association for …
CathiefromCanada: The least of these
Montreal Simon has a wonderful post about the Occupy movement and the challenge of dealing with homelessness:I can’t imagine an Occupy movement that wouldn’t welcome the homeless and the marginalized, because how can you build a kinder, gentler, world,…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: F-35, Canada’s Maginot Line?
The Maginot Line. It was a massive, intricate, costly and high-tech line of fortifications the French built along the German border to defend themselves after WWI. The line consisted of fortifications, bunkers, trenches, tank obstacles, art…
Continue readingBene Diction Blogs On: Ron Luce’s Teen Mania subject of documentary: Mind over Mania
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Teen Mania is a multi-million dollar independent religious organization run out of Texas, it’s known for it’s intense stadium events called BattleCry/Aquire the Fire and for it’s in … Continue reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011.
The Progressive Conservatives have opened their nomination process, leading a number of candidates to declared their interest in opposition held constituencies. This first wave out of the floodgates have allowed me to update the list of declared and nominated candidates for the next provincial election: Calgary-Buffalo: Dawna Haslam announced on her Facebook profile that she […]
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Occupy Movement and the Marginalized
I see the Mayor of Vancouver is using a tragic drug overdose to justify evicting the city’s Occupy protesters.”I have directed the city manager to expedite the appropriate steps to end the encampment as soon as possible with a safe resolution being abs…
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: CBC Pat On The Head
There there CBC, it’s okay. The Conservatives are going to put you out onto the street anyway. If you can’t be fair during an election, Don’t expect the public’s protection. You’re so busy spinning a tale, The truth was missed, soon you’re for sale. The CBC was so busy running “gotcha journalism” they forgot to […]
Continue readingPiñera’s prostitute
Oh, Chile. What is happening to you? When the capitalist whores are literally coming out of the woodwork, you KNOW you’ve got a corrupt, ruined country. And look! Here comes one now: The famous “lady of company”, María Carolina, was invited to appear on the TV program, “True Lies”, where, true to her style, she […]
Continue readingMind of Dan: NEW FEATURE: What’s New In Science
Edited by “ThingsBreak”, we introduce a new feature of Planet3.0, the What’s New in Science page, which will feature abstracts of recent peer reviewed publications that may be of interest to the Planet3.0 community. [more]
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Big-Oil Monopolies Engage in Price-Gouging
Last week Exxon-Mobil announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, reporting $10.3 billion in profits, which is an increase of 41 percent from the same period last year. So far, Exxon has earned over $31 billion in profits in the first nine months of the year. It needs to be noted that Exxon-Mobil is also one of the big five big-oil companies that spends the most money muddying climate-change science – to add to their long list of egregious behaviour.
The people at Shell are also onto good times. Royal Dutch Shell announced their 2011 third-quarter earnings, announcing profits of $6.98 billion, like Exxon-Mobil more than double their profits posted a year ago, bringing their total profits for 2011 to over $21 billion.
In fact he big 5 oil companies have made $102.85 billion in profits since January 1. The massive increase in oil company profits year in and year has nothing to do with market forces but with good old fashioned monopolistic price-gouging. A report from the CFA (Consumer Federation of America) says:
The spike in oil prices has not been caused by natural market supply and demand. In fact, U.S. demand for oil has declined since 2005, while global demand has grown less than 4 percent. In addition, global oil reserves have been growing faster than consumption and the reserve-to-consumption ratio now stands at a higher level than it has been in a quarter of a century. Today, OPEC spare capacity is almost three times as great as it was in 2008.
The CFA also estimates that crude oil is about $30 a barrel higher than costs or historic trends justify, which generates needlessly high prices for petroleum products that drains about $200 billion out of the US economy.
The reason for this is speculators buy and sell as much oil as possible to make quick and easy profits. Speculators might trade a barrel of oil more than 20 times before it is ever used – the price going up with each speculative trade, and consumers picking up the final tab.
And let me close by reminding you that this kind of unregulated speculation has everything to do with what the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about::
Lobbyists and special interests (have) used their influence in Washington, D.C. to weaken regulations on oil trading. For example, in 2000, Enron convinced Congress to overhaul 60-year-old commodities rules that formerly provided checks and balances on oil speculation. This loophole allowed speculators to manipulate and potentially corner the market.
Wouldn’t it be great if governments paid as much attention to consumer groups as to lobbyists from big-oil and Wall Street? Maybe if they could afford to ante up the same kinds of bribes they’d be listened to.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saskatchewan Election Update
I won’t reproduce the post here. But see my updated Saskatchewan Election Links for all the information you’ll need for tomorrow’s provincial election.
Continue readingTerahertz: My BCHA talk: 14 Billion Years in 90 Seconds
I finally got a half-decent video of myself giving a talk. Of course the projector still failed to work with my laptop, so I went slide-less (but it still works I think). I gave this talk this morning for the BC Humanists at Oakridge Seniors Centre. The TalkOrigins article I referenced can be found here. […]
Continue readingHold the applause for Daniel Ortega
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega will undoubtedly win a third term in office next week. Despite gasps of horror on the Right, that’s nothing for any progressive to celebrate. Once upon a time Ortega was a principled socialist, a revolutionary whose…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What Do Banks Actually DO? Teach-In With Occupy Toronto
What do banks actually DO? Create credit out of thin air. Were Canadian banks bailed-out? Absolutely, to the tune of $200 billion. And they are still protected and subsidized more than any other sector of the economy. What must be done with these banks? Tax them, control them, and ultimately take them back. Those are […]
Continue readingcmkl: That whole gain an hour of sleep thing? Not for kids
Whoever thought of that as an upside for changing the clocks in fall did not have a young child. I carefully set the clock in our room back an hour before bed so that I could still observe the iron rule without having to explain the whole time change t…
Continue readingArt Threat: Lesbian art attack – The picks from Autostraddle’s NSFW Lesbosexy Sunday
The amazing crew at Autostraddle have compiled a slew of Lesbo art for all to peruse and politic upon, including a full-on gallery, list of installations, documentaries and more. There’s really no need to say more, you can go to our favourite feminist lesbian site if you feel inclined (or reclined). Happy lesbosexy Sunday. Image: […]
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: Cain 2012: Performance Art Project?
We should have known at Pokemon! Rachel Maddow is now convinced that Herman Cain’s campaign is nothing more than an elaborate performance art project. As far as offbeat theories to rationalize the otherwise inexplicable go, this hypothesis may have some … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe resigned sadness of Occupy Vancouver. Ashlie Gough edition.
I walked through Occupy Vancouver late yesterday afternoon. There was a pallor over the place with television cameras smothering the usual exuberance even further.
As I was headed to happier places, I shrugged off the curious state of affairs only…
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