It's time to nationalize the oil industry.

[arcadian]

It's far too important to national security to be in the hands of people who put profit over the concerns of the nation.

[ThomWV]

1. Way too late - you can not nationalize a world wide institution

[troubledamerican]

27. 1973: Canada nationalizes Petrocanada in response to Arab Oil Embargo

This was not a "takeover" of an existing corporation -- it was a creation of a public oil company.

Right-wingers privatized it, of course, in 1990, when Canadian liberals got lazy and stopped fighting for truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrocanada

[MadHound]

2. No, it is time to get rid of the oil industry

It is past time that we got serious about developing clean, green alternatives.

Sad statistic: If we had begun with a serious program of instituting wind, solar and other green renewables in 1979, we could have cut our oil consumption by sixty percent by now, probably much more given that the estimate was made with late seventies tech in mind.

Yet instead we have delayed and ditherd, taken one step forward then two steps back. This has been a bipartisan effort. Just look at the wind farm off of Cape Cod, the supposedly oh so liberal Kennedy clan turned out to be nothing more than NIMBY's.

We absolutely need to start a program that develops and implements green, renewable energy solutions now. We've wasted far too much time. But instead, we're going to dither and squabble, allowing corporate America to steer the discussion into what is best for it instead of what is best for the country.

And fifty years from now when the crisis is killing us, we're going to die in resource wars because we were too stupid to follow common sense.

[azul]

7. Hello, too late: Iraq. Greenspan told us so.

"we're going to die in resource wars"

[Mother Smuckers]

11. It will get rid of itself, by attrition, eventually. There is no way to just "get rid" of it.

Not possible. As petroleum reserves continue to deplete, other energy forms will filter in to take its place...and at an increasing rate - don't forget we will need oil for many centuries to make products other than gasoline that we won't be able to replace (unless somebody finds a cheap alternative to plastic.)

[MadHound]

19. No, what is going to happen is we're going to continue this addiction to oil

Paralyzed by profits and corporate controlled governmental policy. We're just going to simply head right over that cliff with no parachute, and then the shit will hit the fan.

Really now, plastics? Carver started the solution to that one hundred years ago, soy and peanut based plastics, now we've got starch based plastics and other non-petroleum alternatives.

[Mother Smuckers]

24. Well, make up your mind. Are we going down the toilet completely, or will peanut-based plastics

rescue us?

:eyes:

[NNN0LHI]

14. Just had to get your licks in on the " Kennedy clan" didn't you?

Not very subtle.

Don

[MadHound]

20. Touchy, aren't you.

Do you dispute the truth, that the Kennedy's, including Teddy, fought that windfarm tooth and nail, holding up construction for nearly a decade. The Kennedy's have done some good in this country, but they also have their faults. Just because you personally put them on a pedestal doesn't mean everybody else has to as well.

You speak as though I've carried on some sort of personal vendetta against the Kennedy's, do a search, you will find that I haven't. I just don't idolize them, after all they are an elite political family.

Sorry if you can't handle the truth. If you're getting this bent out of shape about my mention of the Kennedy's fighting a windfarm perhaps you should examine your own motivations.

[paulsby]

22. god forbid somebody offer a non-partisan critique

kennedy was a saint. he could do no wrong.

:l

[area51]

3. It's time to nationalize the health insurance cartels,

considering how many people they kill each day.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. If this energy independence blather is real then nationalization is a forced move

I am at a loss as to how drilling more oil in the US makes us energy independent unless the government controls that oil.

Politically we talk about US-produced energy as if it belongs to an entity called the Untied States.

Which is doesn't.

[azul]

5. Right. Big oil companies will get it and sell it to China

or wherever they decide that will maximize profits.

International business interests trump national interests presently in the US. Many countries have nationalized oil for this reason.

[azul]

6. Would that make us all complicit of murder?

If killing people is inherent and intentional in burning fossil fuel when there are alternatives, is that not a crime? Or at least expanding the industry instead of phasing it out?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8257591&mesg_id=8257849

[Scuba]

8. Nationalize US Oil, Coal and other energy resources now, before it's too late.

[Mother Smuckers]

9. Unless "we" can figure out a way to lay claim to all the global resources, it would be an exercise i

in futility (and stupidity)

[arcadian]

10. We're doing a smashing job of it right now.

Iraq and Afghanistan

[Mother Smuckers]

13. Precisely. Imagine how much worse it would be were we to attempt it globally.

Forcible change to the world's fundamental economic engine just for the sake of change is hardly a guarantee of improvement. :shrug:

[Scuba]

21. So how do we correct the problem of wealth distribution?

[Mother Smuckers]

23. I can't answer that because I don't know how you perceive the problem or what would

represent a good solution. Sorry I can't be more responsive...

[Scuba]

25. Hypothetical, then...

I'm a middle-class American (assuming there's one left). My total net worth is about $40,000. Or you pick a number, doesn't matter.

If a one-time "wealth tax" was passed, and every American had to put in 10% of their wealth, and then that total wealth was redistributed evenly across all Americans (e.g., everybody gets 1/300,000,000 of it), how much money would I get back?

What would my net worth have to be for me to be at the "tipping point" where I get back exactly what I put in?

This approach would absolutely fit the definition of the red flag "redistribution of wealth".

Bonus question: Would most people who show up for Tea Party rallies be "winners" or "losers"?

[B Calm]

12. recommend! Nationalize the banks too!

[randr]

15. Apt Bucky quote

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller

[azul]

16. What if the new models keep getting smashed

by monopolistic business interests that have corrupted the competitive system?

[stray cat]

17. time to outlaw oil, coal and nuclear

the government can screw up too

[TheWebHead]

18. yes because the government is so expertly skilled in the field of deepwater oil exploration

given the performance of the equities involved in this spill, RIG, CAM and BP, I think a clear message has been sent out to the industry that making sure you're equipment is safe and properly functioning will be a priority. I'm guessing they took something like this for advantage because there hasn't been an issue with years of having 1000s of rigs in the gulf getting hit by dozens of hurricanes. Government can play a role by upping BOP regulations by making sure all players involved play by the same rules so some looking for a competitive advantage don't skirt around them, but I don't see nationalization as an answer, something that would be dangerous to U.S. equities and the current economic rebound.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

26. Yes, I can only imagine how safe and environmentally friendly...

...a national oil company run by Bush and Cheney for eight years would have been.

[Odin2005]

28. K&R