Well in case anyone didn’t understand why the Harper Cons are calling native people and environmentalists “radicals” and “foreign interests.” Leave it up to Tom “Strangelove” Flanagan to explain Big Oil’s plan for Total World Domination. The branding of opponents as “radicals” is part of a strategy to make sure the
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Montreal Simon: Joe Oliver and the Leaking Pipeline
Oh. My. Oily. Oliver. What bad timing. Canadian pipeline builder Enbridge reported a leak from one of its pipelines on the day public hearings began into the company’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline. And don’t you love this? Enbridge declined to describe how it could be safe to continue operating a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Joe Oliver, the Radicals, and the Foreign Interests
You know….if you needed a cheap and apparently inexhaustible source of natural gas to heat your home, you could do worse than connecting a hose to Joe Oliver’s big mouth and another one to his other vibrating orifice. Environmental and other “radical groups” are trying to block trade and undermine Canada’s
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Pipeline Debacle
Oh no. How embarrassing. I see Stephen Harper was doing the hula hula in Hawaii today, trying to get Obama to change his mind about the Keystone XL pipeline. Because he said it was a “no brainer” so now he looks like an IDIOT.And so does little Jimbo F…
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 readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Some Truth About The Tar Sands
There has been an unending stream of propaganda coming from the people in big-oil about the tar sands. In particular a group that calls themselves CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) representing the exploiters of the tar sands, have been busy greenwashing the destruction that is taking place in Alberta
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Some Truth About The Tar Sands
There has been an unending stream of propaganda coming from the people in big-oil about the tar sands. In particular a group that calls themselves CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) representing the exploiters of the tar sands, have been busy greenwashing the destruction that is taking place in Alberta
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: Some Truth About The Tar Sands
There has been an unending stream of propaganda coming from the people in big-oil about the tar sands. In particular a group that calls themselves CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) representing the exploiters of the tar sands, have bee…
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: U.S. Self-sufficient Oil Production would be a Threat to both the Tarsands and the Keystone Pipeline XL
U.S. Oil Production a Threat to Canadian Oil Industry So let’s say the U.S. becomes relatively oil self-sufficient by 2017, as some argue, and let’s say that self-sufficiency does not fully offset imported oil from Mexico and V…
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Time To Enter a Twelve-Step Program For Our Oil Addiction
This was first posted on July 28, 2010. Unfortunately, it remains just as accurate a year later, despite the promise of the leaders at the 2009 Pittsburgh G8 to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. Is anybody else getting tired of being told that we have t…
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Heating Up Out There
What a week it has been! With the backdrop of the verging-on-farcical U.S. debt credit crisis brought on by the tea-baggers in Washington, and the pieing of Rupert Murdoch, a whole lot has been going on the global warming front, and not just the extr…
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada, A PetroState? The Face Of Climate Corruption in Canada
From The Mark News: Energy ministers from across Canada have just returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of the tar sands, given to them by the oil companies themselves. Now, they are sitting down to debate the future of energy policy in Canada at a m…
Continue reading350 or bust: Yours Truly, BP: The Legacy of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster
The NRDC’s recent report on water quality at vacation beaches highlights the continuing legacy of the BP Gulf oil disaster, which killed 11 workers and spewed approximately 170 million gallons of oil and released 200,000 metric tons of methane …
Continue reading350 or bust: Business As Usual Is Over: Value Change Required For Survival
Today’s blog posting was initially posted on 350orbust on June 30, 2010: Chief Oren Lyons said, when speaking about Climate Change at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN Headquarters in 2007: We’re talking abou…
Continue reading350 or bust: Koch Industries: The Dirty Business Of Climate Denial
A short animation by by Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham which details the efforts of billionaire oil barons Charles & David Koch to undermine belief in climate change and prevent legislation that threatens their profits. By pouring money into bogu…
Continue reading350 or bust: BP Is Creepy: NRDC Issues Damning Water Quality Report on Gulf Beaches One Year After Oil Disaster
The NRDC released its annual “Testing the Waters: A Guide To Water Quality At Vacation Beaches” report last week, which included a special section dedicated to oil-related closures, advisories and notices in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP …
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con Oil Pimps and the Secret War in Europe
One more reason not to wear a maple leaf on your back pack if you visit Europe.
Newly released government memos have exposed a secret war that Canada is waging in Europe to kill clean energy policies and ensure no market closes to the di…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: What do the Cons and the Saudis Have in Common?
They both hate high gas prices.
For all the wrong reasons.
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said Sunday that he wants oil prices to drop so that the United States and Europe don’t accelerate efforts to wean themselves off his country’s…
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