Should the oil and gas industry be nationalized in the USA?

[mix]

Poll question: Should the oil and gas industry be nationalized in the USA?

Poll result (125 votes)
Yes	(96 votes, 77%)	Vote
No	(29 votes, 23%)	Vote

[madokie]

1. A long time ago

after all it is our oil and gas

[mix]

3. I agree.

Such an important resource should not be in the hands of private corporations. Those profits, if oil and gas corporations were nationalized, could be reinvested back into society.

But the problems of fossil fuels remain.

[Jkid]

5. Reinvest all of it into public transportation and clean energy.

Especially Amtrak.

[mix]

7. excellent ideas nt

[Catherina]

2. Most definitely n/t

[msongs]

4. the oil and gas belong to American citizens??? darn socialists, the conservadems wont allow it nt

[onehandle]

6. Yes. It's a question of National Security. nt

[Statistical]

8. I voted yes howevwer with compensation.

The takings clause of Constitution (5th amendment) requires it.

You may want to do another poll on compensation or no. I think many of the people voting yes think that it can just be seized without compensation.

[kratos12]

9. Yes but ...............

The only way to do it would be for congress to pass it, any unilateral move to do so by a President would result in massive upheaval and endless legal challenges.

I would love to see it happen....but it ain't happening.

[mix]

11. dream man! nt

[WeDidIt]

10. No

I am and will always remain an unapologetic capitalist.

[immune]

12. I used to say crazy shit like that, too.

Could've knocked me over with a damned feather when I discoved that I had more in common with the perceived enemy (liberal and socialist ideals) than with my supposedly locked in capitalist meme. I don't even remember what particular piece of information finally knocked the wind out of the corporate sails in my noggin.

When people say always, or never, they reject the potential for learning and growing. I'm just sorry that I waited until I was so far advanced in years to reject the insanity of capitalism. Too soon old, too late smart I guess.

[Cleita]

14. It's known as common sense.

I'm all for capitalism when it comes to making stuff. But when it comes to our natural resources, they belong to the people and should be mined for the benefit of the people. For instance, our government, meaning we, extract the crude and we sell it on the open market to the refineries and other industries that use oil. They are free to profit from it from there on in, but not before. I came to that conclusion not only growing up in a mining camp in South America but also living in the northwest and watching lumber companies rape the wilderness and not paying for it, like they were entitled to it and the people who lived in those places living on food stamps because of the poverty.

[immune]

18. Capital should also be nationalized

instead of being the product of a for-profit corporation that we may merely borrow, with interest added that is never monetized. That is purely a recipe for bankruptcy.

[Cleita]

20. I believe it was at one time. We had gold at Ft. Knox to back our

paper notes and it was controlled by the government. I used to think that the Federal Reserve was just that and am amazed to find out it's a private company.

[immune]

23. Yep, its private alright

Listed right under Federal Express in the phone book. And yet tens of millions of people think its a federal agency.

Ever wonder who ended up all that gold that used to be in Fort Knox? Nobody's talkin'.

[Cleita]

25. Oh, I'll bet the Pentagon has a story to tell about that, but of course,

it's classified.

[immune]

27. You may be onto something.

There's nothing quite as profitable to the financiers than war, they load both sides down with debt and collect from both the winners and losers after the dust settles. And the war machine grows more powerful because blood and money are joined at the hip.

[Scuba]

32. A wise man will change his mind. A fool never will.

[Cleita]

13. Not only gas and oil but all extraction industries too, like mining and

lumber. The proceeds should pay for the people's needs like education and health care after the raw product is sold on the open market.

[Joe Fields]

15. No, but it should be strictly regulated, and there should not be

any oil futures trading allowed.

[Cleita]

16. Dreamer.

The only way it will be strictly regulated with no oil futures traded is if it's nationalized.

[Joe Fields]

37. lol now look who is dreaming. What you propose stands less of

a chance of happening than my "dream."

[Cleita]

42. I'm not disagreeing with you there. Both of what we want is dreaming. n/t

[leeroysphitz]

17. How bout we just try actually regulating them for a while first. See how that goes...

[Cleita]

22. History lesson.

We did that and it seemed like we did it with some success after the Great Depression, until Ronald Reagan came along and said that the most frightening words to him were, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

All the regulations went out the window in the decades that followed and here we are. If it's done by mandate by the people or their government, there will be no private industry to throw off the regulations, ever.

[theophilus]

19. No, but the electric car, wind turbine, and solar panel industry should be. n/t

[Cleita]

24. I have to disagree with you.

I think it's the manufacturing of those things in the private sector that will create jobs. But it's the raw materials that should be controlled by the people and for the people.

Something that isn't being mentioned in these threads is we need to kick out the foreign manufacturers who are making stuff we can make ourselves. When it comes to stuff we can't make, then sure invite them in to do things.

[theophilus]

26. You might be right. Time will tell, it's just that we have been waiting of electric

cars and affordable solar panels and wind generators for a very long time. The private sector is not stepping up to the plate so I think it is time to give them a big nudge. If they want to get serious and start doing right by the world then fine and dandy. Otherwise we need government factories employing government workers making affordable alternative energy thingumbobs. IMO

[Cleita]

29. Here's the deal.

We have had a government that has thrown our money at the war industry, and then now at the banking industry, when they should be putting money up to seed these small industries like solar and wind and other things that need to be done whether with out and out grants or low interest loans. If they did this as progressives would do it instead of the way DLC Republicans do it with tax credits and trickle down economics, we would have a blossoming of these industries and the jobs that go with them.

Back when Obama was elected, I had five thousand dollars I wanted to invest for growth. I researched solar, wind and some other alternative start up industries in the hope that the trillions of money to boost the economy would be going to them. I went to talk to a broker friend of mine and presented my ideas and the companies I liked to him. The thing is they would need some large money behind them. I told him if Obama funds these industries for the future, it seems it would be a good buy. He told me that I should invest in BP because they are going to expand into alternative energy. I told him that I would have to wait and see how Washington would swing in this. He assured me that any stimulus money would be going to the established industries not the start up, risky ones. I told him I wasn't fond of oil, especially after Bush/Cheney and doubted that I would invest in them.

I didn't know the meaning of this until now. The stimulus money apparently was earmarked for the oil industry. We were being had. I never did invest that little bit of money. I had an emergency that I ended up spending it on otherwise, so it's gone but at least BP didn't get it.

[DailyGrind51]

21. Permitting an underregulated free market to govern the allocation of energy and healthcare, is like

permitting a lynch mob to govern our justice system!

[hunter]

28. I think it should be banned entirely.

No imports either.

Same with coal.

Pick a date, lets say 2030, and shut the fossil fuel industry down.

We won't do it of course, which means nature will shut it down for us... probably by killing us.

[H2O Man]

30. Yes.

Definitely.

[taught_me_patience]

31. Absolutely not

but it should be regulated. Nationalized industries tend to be VERY inefficient.

[Scuba]

33. And other extraction industries too.

[dipsydoodle]

34. To do so

your government would need to buying controlling interests in all relevant companies at market value. That's the way it works. That would need how much ?

[lib2DaBone]

35. BP & Goldman Sachs were partners in the price speculation in 2008

In 2008 and 2009 BP and Goldman Sachs conspired to manipulate the market and run the price of gas to almost $5 a gallon.

They should all be arrested.

[rucky]

36. Better idea would be to nationalize the energy industry

with a plan to phase out the oil and gas division altogether.

[AnArmyVeteran]

38. The people in the Middle East live in total poverty while resources are right below their feet.

Any nation's riches belong to its people, not corrupt, opportunistic corporations. Only a handful of countries actually share the wealth of their their country's natural resources. Hell, even Palin-the-Quitter's state of Alaska shares oil revenues with its residents in the form of annual checks of about $2,000.

Every drop of oil and every mineral that is in the United States territories belongs to the people, not corporations. But through years of corruption and purchasing of politicians corporations have managed to seize control over our resources. Why should the resources that the people own be stripped right out from under our feet?

In almost every Middle Eastern country the people live in absolute poverty while all the riches from the resources go to a handful of corrupt leaders. No wonder their countries are still so backward and living in 4th century standards. If all that wealth was shared with the people it would not only help the people who live there, but also allow them to enter the 21st century and live without fear of lack of necessities to live. If the standard of living was raised in the Middle East it would also lower the incidents of terrorism.

The people in the United States need to take back the resources under our feet as well. The oil being pumped out of the ground does not belong to any corporation. It belongs to us. If we nationalized all minerals and oil supplies we could then have the oil industry process the oil and give them a modest profit for their efforts. It is despicable how oil companies continue to make billions in profit every quarter while we are being gouged at the pump.

[mix]

39. Well said, great post nt

[Honeycombe8]

40. No. But stricter regulation, and strict enforcement of those regulations, with high-dollar fines,

should be instituted.

[mix]

41. Why should such important resources as oil and gas and their profits go to private entities? nt

[Honeycombe8]

45. Why not? As long as its government regulated. The service to customers is

better, when privatized, IMO. The incentive to make billions encourages exploration and finding new resources for energy....as long as the government incentivizes certain paths, which it has FAILED to do in the prior decades. Also, the taxes would be horrendous to fund miles and miles of cable and telephone wires. The government regulates that, and maybe subsidizes it, but private companies pony up the $ for the initial cost.

That's the way I view it.

[mix]

43. UPDATE: I took several real world "polls" informally

over the last few days and found that about 40% of those asked favored "nationalization", which had multiple meanings--from part to full ownership. Compensation was also contentious within this group, from full expropriation to full compensation. About an equal number were against it and the remainder seemed to have no opinion. Those who were against nationalization often used the word "socialism" to describe such a policy. Interesting.

The poll was done as a workshop activity with other educators over a two day period. I will do one more poll tomorrow with another group.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

44. Why not? It's our oil.