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The
Dupe of Oil
May
19, 2004
By Richard A. Stitt
"It's the oil, stupid! It's ours, we stole it fair and square."
That was a quote made back in the early 80s by Republican
Senator Sam Hayakawa. And now we have Bush spouting the same
message, only on a larger scale, urging that the world must
be made safe for gas guzzling SUVs. After all, who is talking
about sacrifice today?
For those of us who are old enough to remember, there were
many sacrifices the citizens made during World War II. Less
available gas was but one of the many problems which all citizens
accepted because then, unlike today, everyone had to give
something up to contribute to the war effort.
How soon we forget. But I have not. I understand one thing
quite clearly and that is the Bush/Cheney-orchestrated Enron
rip-off of close to $45 billion in California was accomplished
with incredible ease and alacrity. Now California has a Republican
governor, The Terminator, who is easily suppressing all litigation
which was seeking to recover billions of dollars for California
consumers and rate payers. Once again California is being
bombarded with Republican-sponsored legislation to deregulate
electricity and give it over to the privatizers and profiteers.
Coming soon to California: another energy emergency.
Though employees of Enron eventually lost their jobs and
401Ks in early 2001 due to the grand larceny committed by
Bush's largest contributor and Republican benefactor, Enron,
they were the first ones squealing with delight while they
were watching their stock values soaring out of sight commensurate
with the shortages and skyrocketing electricity prices in
California. Chalk it up to greed.
In the meantime, Bush insists that he will not forego one
penny of his $1.35 trillion tax cut giveaway to the wealthiest
10% of the population to help pay for his $500 billion federal
deficit nor help pay for his unending requests to finance
his Iraq war. Sacrifice to help pay for his Iraq war of choice?
Not by his filthy-rich corrupt corporate contributors!
Underscoring his contempt and disdain for the average worker
in this country, Bush demanded, and received, an additional
$87 billion supplemental in 2003 to be paid for by the taxpayers,
and recently added another $25 billion request to continue
his personal war of choice in Iraq.
The echo of Iraq's possession of WMD, the initial reason
Bush gave for putting 15,000 Iraqi men, women and children
in their graves and over 750 US military in body bags, has
long faded away, replaced now by the Bush guiding principle
that he is changing the world by bringing democracy to the
Iraqi people and setting an example for the entire Middle
East.
California now has the highest gas prices in the nation
and believe me, nobody gives a tinker's damn about why and
how we are being ripped off any more than they did back in
the early 80s when we were experiencing high gas prices and
shortages with people lining up to get their gas on state-mandated
odd/even days.
Most of the other states are currently whining that their
gasoline prices have "climbed" to $1.94/gallon. We haven't
seen gas prices that low in over two months in California.
Back in the early 80s Senator Charles Percy of Illinois
used the specious argument that Californians were consuming
more gasoline, thereby causing a nationwide gas shortage.
That bit of casuistry lasted until a survey was performed
later which showed California was consuming far less fuel
on a per capita basis than were the drivers in Illinois. That
was because Californians drove far more fuel-efficient, smaller
Japanese cars than did drivers in Illinois who were driving
heavy cars with V-8 engines and gas guzzling pickup trucks.
Now, Californians are paying $2.40/gallon for unleaded regular
and over $3.00/per gallon for the premium grade. But at least
this time around California has not become the chief "culprit"
in the price run-up. China's booming economy and increased
manufacturing have now become the bogeyman for the corporate
magnates and Bush/Cheney oil tycoons and are thus the chief
reasons for pushing oil prices through the roof.
At this point, over three years since Cheney's Energy Task
Force concealed all documents relating to the billions of
dollars which the energy producers extorted from consumers
and ratepayers, and since Enron's bankruptcy, we have returned
to square one with yet another Ponzi Scheme "oil crisis."
Only this time the whipping boy is China which has increased
their oil imports and consumption at a far greater rate than
all other industrialized countries.
It is interesting when you look at so-called future planning
by the corporate mavens that none are being held to accountability
for not recognizing the growth of the Chinese economy which
we read in the business news is running at about a 10% rate
per year and whose oil demands have increased by 30%.
Also, how did the Nobel Prize-winning economists and their
glittering fiscal estimates which are followed religiously
by Wall Street investors fail to anticipate the meteoric rise
in world oil prices? Should we dismiss these scholarly prognostications
and consider them as only as treatises which have about as
much reliability as a two-day weather forecast? Or are they
systematic accounts and pieces of code language carefully
produced for the Bush/Cheney plutocrats who stand to increase
their fortunes?
Though we can't or probably won't see the campaign contributions
made to Bush/Cheney by the oil conglomerates until well after
the November election, you can bet that much of their profiteering
is being pumped into the Republican coffers in order to solidify
their stranglehold and control on our once-vibrant democracy.
Now, however, inflation has become as much of a concern
as job losses. According to recent statistics in the daily
business news, the increase in energy prices will cost consumers
a minimum of $50 billion before the end of this year. That
is $50 billion less that customers will have to spend in Wal
Mart and other stores on consumer products.
There is also little question that oil production could
be stepped up immediately by putting pressure on Saudi Arabia
and other OPEC countries.
But why should Bush/Cheney want to do that now? This may
be Andrew Card's "new model" and his propaganda dream-come-true
scenario. The oil "crisis" could well become Bush's second
generation trifecta whereby the Republicans and their corrupt
corporate benefactors can control the oil market, bomb another
country, say either Syria or Iran, create another national
"emergency" and manipulate the voters by lowering oil prices
in time for the November election.
The ever-grateful drivers of the gas-guzzling SUVs will
then be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief as they
belly up to the gas pumps, praise be to Bush Almighty!
Some proof of this possibility can be read in the chapters
in Bob Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, in which he
states the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandr bin Sultan
bin Abdul, promised Bush he would use his leverage to lower
gasoline prices just in time for the November election. This
is the same person whom the Bush/Cheney regime trusted with
sharing knowledge for invading and bombing Iraq days before
informing the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
Power indeed does corrupt, and absolute power does indeed
corrupt absolutely. Again, history repeats itself as Americans
today, like those over twenty years ago, have become the dupe
of oil.
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