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Another Republican Lie Dies as America Becomes #1 in Oil Production and Gas Prices Soar

There is an old superstition that “bad news comes in threes,” and although Americans have had more than their share of bad news, Republicans have had a rash of good news over the past week. They successfully enacted sequestration cuts to wild celebration and self-congratulations, killed between 700,000 and a million jobs, and learned America’s infrastructure is 25th in the world behind Oman and Barbados. If all that good news wasn’t enough to please Republicans, a new report reveals that their favorite contributor, the oil industry, surpassed Saudi Arabia’s petroleum output in November 2012 to become the number one oil producer in the world.

The good news does not stop there, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that the US will be the world’s largest petroleum producer within the next few years that will guarantee the oil industry continues posting record profits for years to come. Naturally, increased oil production and record profits mean big oil will continue paying next to nothing in taxes, and combined with billions in oil subsidies courtesy of Republicans in Congress, they will be able to increase their political contributions to anti-environmental causes, invest in propaganda denying global climate change, and fund GOP candidates lying about the marvelous benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Republicans are desperate for Presidential approval of TransCanada’s oil transport system across America to further increase oil company profits as the refined tar sand is already slated for export to Europe and South America. Approval of the pipeline will be extraordinarily good news for John Boehner who invested in seven Canadian tar sand companies in 2010 anticipating President Obama’s approval that certainly would increase his stock portfolio, and it prompted him to viciously lie about the pipeline’s permanent jobs (20), and its contribution to America’s oil independence. Besides John Boehner, the only beneficiaries of the pipeline is TransCanada and its investors, oil refineries in Texas, and European and South American nations importing Canada’s oil.
The increased oil production is not all good news for Americans though, because the glut of oil is keeping gas prices curiously high, and the processes for extracting gas and oil are decimating the environment that Republicans mean to perpetuate with cuts the Environmental Protection Agency and a steady campaign touting the safety and health benefits of chemical-laden hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques. However, there are Americans who believe that fracking-related earthquakes and poisoned water supplies are too high a price to pay for oil industry’s profits, especially when taxpayers give them billions in entitlements and oil giants like ExxonMobil paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2009 according to their filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Republicans claim America is broke and cannot afford to feed hungry children, seniors, or provide school lunches for low-income working families, but they never fail to find enough taxpayer dollars to give the oil industry in subsidies and special benefits (tax breaks) that Democrats and President Obama have sought to end in light of oil companies posting perpetual record profits, and attempts to “reduce the phony deficit.” Doubtless, Republicans will continue fighting to reduce corporate taxes for big oil because zero is a burdensome rate, and billions in oil subsidies will have to be augmented with more tax credits and corporate welfare funded by slashing anti-poverty programs, and Republicans claiming America is broke will reap greater campaign contributions for their due diligence.
Maybe it is good news America is a leading producer and net exporter of oil, but Americans pay a heavy price in lost tax revenue, toxic environment, and curiously high fuel prices for a few oil corporations’ profits Republicans are increasing with subsidies and special breaks. All the while, they claim America is broke and cannot take care of its least fortunate citizens or invest in green and renewable energy sources the rest of the world is taking advantage of reducing their dependence on fossil fuels, but America is different than the rest of the world. Under Republican rule, America opposes investing in green and renewable energy sources, or its crumbling infrastructure, or fighting child poverty, but this country invests heavily in the private oil industry helping them become heavy Republican campaign donors, the largest petroleum producer in the world, and arguably one of the biggest federal welfare recipients.
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Evermore Jones
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
This is an interesting article, I had thought the republican’ts were just stupidly trying to run the economy like their own pocketbooks. Its sounds like I was wrong. ‘Twas all just stage dressing.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 9:40 pm
We have been saying it with the data like forever.Stick around anf some right winger will come and say under the President oil production has dropped.
They are a joke and I am being kind
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Peter Barnett
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 10:05 am
Under the President, oil production has dropped.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 10:21 am
Why?Oh Why?
http://imageshack.us/a/img40/1374/slide2662901813701free.gif
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Rue2u
Mar. 7th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Have been screeming for months the repubs are orking to take over america and when they do we the American people will no longer have the vote nor will we have any rights no more higher education no medical no food stamps for the poor hell we will all be poor the picture is coming together~~~
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barf ailes
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 9:37 pm
dont matter if were swimming in texas tea. this country hasnt built a new refinery in over 30 years. thats how they squeeze the pipeline, and gas stays high…. after all exxon needs to make a billion bucks a day.
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fedded-up
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 11:33 pm
While it is true that there hasn’t been a brand-new refinery in the U.S. since 1977 (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=29&t=6), the ones that are in place, at least some of them, have been heavily modified to improve both production and capacity through the years. In addition, the very first new ones have received approval to begin building (http://freedombytheway.com/2011/03/02/yippee-two-new-oil-refineries-in-development-first-in-us-in-35-years/). One is in South Dakota, the other in Arizona.
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ED
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 10:46 pm
they are multinationals they have refineries over seas
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ED
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 10:47 pm
google exxonmobil germany
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 10:55 pm
Sarah Palin on suicide watch. This has to blow everything Romney, Palin and McCin not to mention the rest of the GOP lied about out of the water.
Drill baby drill. There is a huge shame in us paying these gas prices while we are the biggest oil exporter.
Its not shame, its criminal
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Sarah D. Mutt
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 11:01 pm
These are the same oil and mineral leases the Republicans gave away to the energy industry for 10¢ on the dollar.
We need to take away the taxpayer subsidies AND force the oil companies to return a big chunk of the profit they’ve made stealing resources that belong to the American people.
Isn’t there a law against stealing public resources?
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Inez
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 11:37 pm
With the passing of Chavez will be out of the loop for Venezualian oil? Citgo and Joe Kennedy were helping the poor. Now what? Will Citgo effect our ability to use their product? Will the military assume leadership?
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Alfred Newman
Mar. 5th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Gasoline is high because refinery output is low. Refinery output is low because American refineries are working spring maintenance turnarounds and switching production to summer gas. Yes it really is that simple and there really isn’t a conspiracy.
Everyone is quick to talk about the amount of oil industry profit but slow to talk about the actual margin. Why, because the story is much different. I don’t think many here who are actually engaged in business would think that 9% profit was outrageous. Well, that is where Exxon is right now.
It’s time to think about how much money oil companies SPEND to provide gas for your SUV’s.
Think for yourself once in a while-you might realize EVERYBODY is lying.
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 12:19 am
their profits speak louder then what they spend. And they specifically keep refinery output where they can keep gas high. Its not limited to spring. Profit is profit over margin. Along with the subsidies we give them they are doing just fine.
They have plenty to export, we pay higher prices. Shouldnt happen
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Alfred Newman
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 6:41 am
Think about what you just said in terms of greed. Doesn’t make sense. Anybody in business wants to sell as much of his product as he can.
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Reynardine
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 8:27 am
We are a captive market, because after WW II, the petroleum and automotive industries procured the dismantling of most of our public transportation systems.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 8:38 am
Did General Motors destroy the LA mass transit system?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/551/did-general-motors-destroy-the-la-mass-transit-system
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:03 am
in my opinion you are right and you are wrong. If I was making lunch boxes I would make as many as I could sell. But you don’t need a lunchbox.
When it comes to oil which everyone needs, the price can be manipulated and you can make just as high profit on selling less than you can by selling more. If you can sell less, and pay less for refinery space and time, would you do it? It’s listed not simple matter of manipulating the price based on supply. I can tell you I’ve only got 10 gallons and the price is five dollars a gallon. To produce that 10 gallons took less investment on my part then it would be if I had 30 gallons and sold it for 2.50 a gallon.
I don’t know if I explained that right I hope it makes sense
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:17 am
Real Problem with Gas Prices Is Oil Speculators
http://www.creators.com/opinion/daily-editorials/real-problem-with-gas-prices-is-oil-speculators.html
Or not
The fallacy of blaming oil ‘speculators’
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-02/opinions/35456451_1_oil-prices-oil-demand-demand-dips
You be the judge.Myself, I tend to believe that speculators on Wall Street has a hand in market manipulation for their own profits till they lose big then they embrace socialism when its time to pay the piper.
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:24 am
Absolutley. However the gas supply is manipulated to encourage those who buy and sell the gas
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mjh
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Think about what you just said in terms of greed. Doesn’t make sense. Anybody in business wants to sell as much of his product as he can.
There’s a difference between wanting to sell as much of your product as you can (the free market) and trying to game the system in order to do so (fraud) . . .
.
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Nik DeWitt
Mar. 7th, 2013 at 7:22 am
This is true, except when you know your product is a rapidly dwindling resource and the longer you can keep it in short supply, the longer you will have a product to sell at inflationary prices. This was one of the first things OPEC realized and put into effect when they were created. Oil is coming to the end of its’ profitability level and the people who can make the most off of it now, are going to be the people who will be in a position to take control of the next needed forms of energy.
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JF Shepard
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Gas prices are high in part because the cost of tar sands oil is very high…..
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Could you provide a link for your assertion?Or are you just mentioning tar sands because its in the news now.
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Dean wagner
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:22 am
Drill baby drill.Thats worked out really well for the American people now we are about to become the leading producer of oil and it has done nothing to help what we pay at the pump.Anyone who defends oil companies are obviously the same idiots who voted for Romney and believed his flip flopping lying BS.
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:27 am
and that’s the real kicker, I don’t think we are the leading producer but we are the leading exporter. It just goes to show me that the gas companies have absolutely no loyalty to the country that gives them the oil. I suppose they would want subsidies in order to keep more oil here.
It’s the same with the Keystone pipeline. Canadian oil right now goes to the Midwest and is refined in the Midwest. It is also used in the Midwest. If they build that pipeline that takes that oil straight to Texas and then on overseas, oil costs in the Midwest are going to skyrocket. Because refineries space within the US will not be increased to make up for what the Canadian oil that we now use and will soon be gone.
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fedded-up
Mar. 7th, 2013 at 12:12 am
Shiva, you’ve got it mixed up a bit. We are not even in the top 15 for top oil exporter: http://www.eia.gov/countries/index.cfm?topL=exp
The problem is, and always has been, that we are the #1 consumer of oil, by a gargantuan margin. In 2011, the big news was that we were slated to begin exporting more than we imported, i.e., become a ‘net exporter,’ a status we have not had since 1949! But we are nowhere near being the biggest exporter. We would be if we didn’t consume so much of it.
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Nik DeWitt
Mar. 7th, 2013 at 7:30 am
One word. Nationalize! It has worked very well for a number of countries. The only reason the reich wing has worked so hard to make it a dirty word is because it would cost their real constituents a major portion of their profits.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Speaking about rethug lies and false talking point:
NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT REPORT
ADP National Employment Report Shows Solid Job Gains Adding 198,000 Jobs in February
http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/2013/February/NER/NER-February-2013.aspx
And when they saint ray- gun did better,this is the reason why
If Public Jobs Were Growing At The Reagan Rate, Unemployment Would Be A Point Lower
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/01/493669/public-sector-reagan-unemployment/
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Anne
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 12:57 pm
It’s only one more lie among the many they’ve perpetrated and also one more that factual information easily discredits.
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deansinger
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
It really doesn’t take a genius to see that Big Oil is being served by the politicians they’ve bought. I would love to have the Pledge of Allegiance recited in Texaco and Chevron boardrooms instead of elementary schools. We can hold that as legally binding, right? What I want to know is, am I the only one viewing this article with an ad at the bottom from a “Breitling Royalties” inviting me to invest in petroleum royalties? Now that, my friends, is irony!
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David
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 2:54 pm
This article is so devoid of factual references that it’s just as laughable as any political fanatic article out there. Anyone who actually takes this seriously, without doing their own research, is a political drone (and not the kind that white house uses against American citizens either) drinking in the kool-aid.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
You want factual references?
U.S. crude oil production in first quarter of 2012 highest in 14 years
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=6610
Not good enough sparky?
Oil production in US hits highest level in 15 years
Reports from the Energy Department released this week show that overall crude output in the US rose 3.7 percent to 6.5 million barrels per day by the week of September 21, according to Consumer Energy Report.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/0928/Oil-production-in-US-hits-highest-level-in-15-years
I,m sorry sparky but at one point you will have to live in what we call,REALITY
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mjh
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 5:18 pm
Anyone who actually takes this seriously, without doing their own research, is a political drone (and not the kind that white house uses against American citizens either) drinking in the kool-aid.
Then, by all means, David — feel free to provide some FACTUAL references that disprove the points made in the article . . . or risk sounding like a political drone drinking the kool-aid . . .
.
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Pete
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Oil and gasoline are commodities. They are traded every day, just like soy beans, corn and pork bellies.
Refineries and speculators bid for the oil and gasoline. In the past, oil trading and how many contracts could be bought and sold was tightly regulated. About 10 years ago the Bush administration deregulated oil trading. I’ll let you judge how it turned out.
Deregulation allowed anyone and everyone to trade oil and gas. When the money came flooding in, prices climbed.
When we attacked Afghanistan, oil started moving higher, but when we attacked Iraq, one of the worlds major oil producers, on top of deregulated trading, oil really took off.
It reached its highest price ever at $147 a barrel in 2008. Deregulation, speculation and stories about Peak Oil drove it to those levels, not supply and demand.
It is important to know there was never an oil shortage. There are periodic refinery shortages due to weather or seasonal blend changeovers, but when it hit its peak, there was so much oil available they had ran out of places to store it. All the storage tanks were full. Companies were renting tankers just to hold the oil until someone else bought it.
When the financial crisis hit in 2008, oil fell from $147 to $40 in roughly 6 months. Wholesale Gasoline prices fell from $3.60 a gallon to $1 during that same 6 months. The fall of both oil and gas was a result of Banks and other large speculators dumping their trading positing. As soon as the bailout money started flowing, oil and gasoline began shooting back up.
Had Oil and gasoline trading not been deregulated, prices would still have climbed higher due to production disruptions in Iraq, but it would not have risen to the levels it did, and it should not be trading at these levels now.
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mjh
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 6:20 pm
For rightwingnuts, “regulation” is an obscenity . . .
.
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Sherlock
Mar. 6th, 2013 at 9:01 pm
Talk talk talk talk — No one knows the difference between action and motion anymore. I’m puking. Glad I’m old
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gsb
Mar. 7th, 2013 at 9:38 am
The Rethugs will always, always find enough money to start a war, just like they will always find enough to fund he rich. Those with less, are just so much garbage to be covered up, so they don’t need to take a look. Remember Nancy Regan? and the homeless? that attitude is still high on the repugs list.
To hell with the welfare of our nation,(You people) meaning us, are nothing then chattel for our use. We will do what we please with you all.
What we (You people) need to do is, get rid of them all.
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Jeremy
Mar. 8th, 2013 at 7:04 am
It never fails to impress me how little people understand the basic principle that COMPANIES CANNOT BE TAXED. This article is full of fail – ‘we can’t feed poor kids because they give tax breaks to big oil…’ – don’t the mothers of poor kids have to buy gasoline? Don’t they need products? If you tax big oil – the consumer pays the tax at the pump and also pays for the tax in the direct passing to the consumer in products. The cost of that tax paid by other companies (delivery truck drivers for example) will just be passed on in the price of deliveries, and the price of products, it all goes up to cover the taxes. Go ahead, add $100 a barrel tax to oil. The ‘Big Oil’ will make the same money they make today – You on the other hand will be paying $10 a gallon for Gasoline, $8 for a loaf of bread, and milk will be $15.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Mar. 8th, 2013 at 7:12 am
Why start the morning with nonsense?You waited all this time to post and this is what you came up with?Words fail me.
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shawn corrigan
Mar. 11th, 2013 at 9:55 pm
i dont think you can reason with these dooshbags. they dont understand business. however we need to dissolve the barriers and realize we are both right and left on the same side. i hope!
the side of freedom and the constitution. i dont know how we can work together to defeat the globalist ultra bankers rothschilds ,sorros, bilderbergs, cfr’s trilaterals rockefellers etc but we all need to establish who is above the law and stop them before we plunge into a totalitarian state of horrors.
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 11th, 2013 at 10:12 pm
I see we note Soros but not the Koch and many other billionaires who give vastly more to politicsa then Soros. Alderson or whatever ihis name is come to mind? Buying your soul for Israel?
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Shiva(Moderator)
Mar. 11th, 2013 at 10:09 pm
Im with you Sparkie. We need to get used to being a slave to the corporations. Whats wrong with people? The corporations always know whats best for us. I pray towards wall street every morning
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