No Refineries! It takes Lots of people to build maintain and run refineries..

No Drilling, It takes lots of people to build rigs, do the exploration, and for the people to actually do the drilling, and then the shipping of it.

No Coal, Lots of people Coal miners, and lots of people in the shipping of coal..

Then they talk about all these “Green jobs”, well.. they are cutting off all the realistic jobs that currently exist today and not allowing for new ones to open up…

And aren’t the oil companies’ profit margins in line with those of other major industries?

At 7%, oil company profit margins are below most other industries.

“The fact, for example, [that] the shortage of refinery capacity could actually increase their profits so the less they invest the more they make indicates that you are not dealing with someone making widgets out there.”

One problem with this variety of analysis is that refining isn’t terribly profitable right now. No one is much interested in building a new refinery in the U.S. because they don’t make money. The oil companies are making money on crude oil production, not on refining.

Oil companies haven’t built refineries in 30 years not because they want to keep profits high, but because environmentalists won’t let them build refineries.

Refineries are enormousley expensive Ed. An oil company will not build a refinery at all if they can find a way to avoid it. The number of American refineries in operation has fallen to about half of peak at this point, although they are still refining the same amount of oil due to increases in efficiency.

At this point, I’m not sure that there would be any realistic benefit to building many new refineries with their multi-decade amortization. The reason they would do so at all is related to geography and not capacity. How much crude is self to refine in the US, Canada and Mexico, and what is the likelihood that the production will exceed current capacity by a great enough amount to justify the expense of adding refineries? I’m content to take a cue from the oil companies themselves if they start complaining about the lack of capacity.

Exxon says more domestic production and less regulation requiring custom refining.

Yes, let’s get those evil oil companies, and their CEOs, and their stockholders, and their employees, and the companies that do business with them, and their CEOS, and the shareholders of those companies, and the employees of those companies, and the companies that provide services to the employees of the oil companies and the companies that do business with them, and their CEOs, and their employees.

fleiter on August 7, 2008 at 9:54 AM

.
But wait, that’s pretty much all of us, isn’t it?….

She had better be a banker who can arrange preferencial interest rates whilst doing the breast stroke.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, “More than 350 generous campaign contributors — some of them donating $28,500 to dine with a presidential candidate — cheered Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday at an exclusive fundraiser for him at the Hilton Minneapolis Hotel. … It cost $1,000 to attend the general reception at which Obama spoke. His campaign didn’t disclose how many people donated $5,000 to have their picture taken with him. But 50 people paid $28,500 each to dine privately with him.”

Now that’s the REALLY, TRULY public financing he promised. It’s great to see him getting contributions from the little people.

Looks to me, he’s got that waitress in a strangle-hold.

franksalterego on August 7, 2008 at 11:05 AM

Further proof it’s just the same old politics. I’m thinkin’,.. the Kennedy/Dodd waitress sandwich. What is it with the donks and waitresses?

Snake307 on August 7, 2008 at 10:23 AM

Liberals are a bit simple, aren’t they? Thinks this is a story about a waitress. Give one a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” and it’d think that it is about trains.

Last nite i saw an interview of Chavez conducted in 1998 when he was running for the presidency of Venezuela; in the interview he kept reiterating how much Venezuela needed change and how sick Venezuelans were of the same old politics and how he was going to bring that needed change the nation was craving. He said he was going to unite the nation of Venezuela in a common effort to end divisive politics that only he would be able to transcend.

He was also pressed in the interview to reassure voters about his past radical associations and his leftist ideology and he said it would be silly to think that he would do anything to harm Venezuela, that he believed in democracy.

sound familiar?

Obama is Chavez lite (at least Chavez had military experience)

HARWOOD: “So could these high prices help us?”
BARACK OBAMA: “I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment.” (CNBC, 6/10/08)

“I’m going to fight for the waitress, not because I hate the oil companies but because I think it’s more fair.”

So, lemme’ see if I got this straight…

Tax the so-called “windfall profits”…Which will be passed on to the waitress, in the form of higher prices, albeit “gradually,” and also decrease the value of her 401k plan.

Looks to me, he’s got that waitress in a strangle-hold.

Sir Napsalot on August 7, 2008 at 10:45 AM

Tru dat, playa. Where’s my cut of da bling-bling?

Obviously, we sympathize with the waitress, but does that mean we hobble oil companies, especially when the pricing of oil has little to do with the corporations and everything to do with international supply and demand? We could in fact help both the “waitress” and the American oil companies by expanding domestic production, which would create American jobs and allow American oil companies to compete better against the massive, state-owned foreign oil companies around the world.

Is the waitress more important than all the oil comapany employees (of which many are low-level) that will likely lose their jobs because of the restrictions and overall demonizing Obama and the Dems will throw at them?

Spider79 on August 7, 2008 at 10:48 AM

You are true that some refineries have been renovated and expanded. It’s a major legal challenge from environuts to hurdle. BP in northern Indiana wants to renovate and expand to start the refining of oil sand from Canada. Guess what’s holding it up? But trying to get a new refinery built? That’s fought even harder by the envirotards.

She was standing in the kitchen preparing to boil eggs for breakfast, wearing only the ‘T’ shirt that she normally slept in. As I walked in almost awake, she turned and said softly, ‘You’ve got to make love to me this very moment.’
My eyes lit up and I thought, ‘I am either still dreaming or this is going to be my lucky day.’ Not wanting to lose the moment, I embraced her and then gave it my all, right there on the kitchen table. Afterwards she said, ‘Thanks,’ and returned to the stove, her ‘T’ shirt still around her neck. A little puzzled, I asked, ‘What was that all about?’
She explained, ‘The egg timer’s broken.’

Let’s tackle ‘Big Gold’ companies. Fair is fair, I want my share!

He certainly has little regard for the intelligence/curiosity of the average voter,..someone needs to clue him in about the internet and the ease with which information can be found.

a capella on August 7, 2008 at 10:19 AM

Something tells me that The Messiah is probably a fan of Fahrenheit 451

As API Chief Economist John Felmy has noted: “When politicians seek to punish these companies and ‘take their profits,’ they are not targeting industry executives but the hard-earned savings of working people.”

A study by economists Robert J. Shapiro and Nam D. Pham found:

* Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.

* Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.

* Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.

43 + 27 + 14 = 74% shares owned by individuals

Yep. From one pocket to another. His $1000 stimulus/rebate/tax credit or whatever it is now is going to be just like the previous “stimulus” (sold as a tax rebate) where individuals that did not even pay taxes received money.