Author: Trūists.ōrg

Ex-Shell CEO Says Big Oil Can Live Without Subsidies

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February 11, 2011 Large oil companies don’t need tax subsidies when oil prices are high, a former CEO of Shell Oil said Thursday.

“In the face of sustained high oil prices it was not an issue—for large companies—of needing the subsidies to entice us into looking for and producing more oil,” John Hofmeister told National Journal Daily.

Hofmeister retired from Shell in 2008 and founded the group Citizens for Affordable Energy. He testified to a House subcommittee Thursday on how Egyptian unrest affects oil prices.

Before that hearing, he told Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., in a private conversation that big oil companies don’t need government help. Markey mentioned Hofmeister’s comment in a news conference later Thursday when introducing legislation eliminating $5 billion worth of subsidies to the major oil and gas companies. “He told me that privately [Thursday] but that he would say that in public if asked to do so,” Markey said after the news conference.

The issue didn’t come up in the hearing, but Hofmeister confirmed to National Journal Daily he had said that to Markey. “I told him that my overall position on that topic has not changed from testimony I gave back in 2008 when we had the very high gasoline prices,” said Hofmeister, who testified in several hearings during the spring and summer of 2008 when he was CEO of Shell. He noted that other executives of major oil companies who testified then echoed the sentiment.

Hofmeister’s comments come at a time when Democrats in both chambers of Congress are calling out Republicans for their continued support for the subsidies while pledging to slash funding in almost every area of the federal government. Republicans have not and almost certainly will not cut the subsidies despite this political pressure. The GOP and the American Petroleum Institute say that the subsidies are necessary so jobs in the industry aren’t lost or shipped to other countries.

For the major companies like Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon, that doesn’t appear to be true.

Hofmeister said the range at which large oil companies don’t need subsidies is around $70 a barrel or higher. Brent crude oil closed Thursday at slightly higher than $100 a barrel.

“The fear of low oil prices drives some companies to say that subsidies should be sustained,” Hofmeister said. “And my point of view is that with high oil prices such subsidies are not necessary.” Hofmeister stressed that he was not talking on behalf of Shell or any other oil company.

“If prices revert to very low levels, it may take such subsidies to keep drilling,” Hofmeister added.

He also pointed out that small companies need the subsidies at all times. “Independent companies operate under different economic parameters and generally don’t have the resilience and a big expensive well that they can depreciate quickly.”

To that end, Markey’s legislation, which is co-sponsored by other House Democrats including Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., excludes small, independent companies. Yet Hofmeister said that proposal would be illegal since it targets specific companies over others.

“I think that’s discriminatory,” he said. “It’s a much more complicated subject. Any bill that is discriminatory against specific companies would be found to be illegal.”

Hofmeister made headlines this month when he predicted gasoline prices could reach $5 per gallon by 2012. His prediction is only getting closer in light of heightened unrest in Egypt and President Obama’s continued push for what Hofmeister sees as a backward offshore drilling policy.

“If we stay on our current course in this country where we refuse to drill, we make it even more difficult to acquire new leases in this country coupled with international turmoil, the current path is only aggravating that and making it worse,” Hofmeister said. “We could reach that [$5 gasoline] sooner.”

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20150102140723/http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/ex-shell-ceo-says-big-oil-can-live-without-subsidies-20110211

Abraham Lincoln, Political Tyrant?

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“It wasn’t until I became an adult and started reading history on my own that I began to doubt the version of events I was taught several decades earlier. For example, did you know that Lincoln suspended civil liberties in the North, including the writ of habeas corpus? That he filled the jails with more than 13,000 political prisoners, all incarcerated without due process? The Supreme Court protested Lincoln’s disregard for our Constitutional protections…

…If you’re open-minded enough to consider another point of view, let me recommend two books by Thomas J. DiLorenzo to you: The Real Lincoln and Lincoln Unmasked. In these two books he presents a vastly different view of Abraham Lincoln than you’ve heard before. I promise.”

Continued: Abraham Lincoln, Political Tyrant?

Dead Officer Signed Red Light Citations

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Baltimore police and transportation officials are trying to correct a problem with about 2,000 red light camera citations that may bear the signature of a police officer who is dead.

The problem concerns the sworn statement that appears on the citations confirming a police officer has reviewed the camera images to verify a violation has occurred.

On the citations in question, that signature belongs to Baltimore Officer James Fowler, who was killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania on Sept. 27, I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller said.

The I-Team was shown one citation that cited the driver of a van for running a red light in the middle of the day in northeast Baltimore. The date of the violation was Jan. 12, 2011.

A retired city officer who didn’t want to be identified told 11 News he’s an acquaintance of the driver who got the violation. He said he recognized Fowler’s name, who he worked with before he retired, and realized Fowler couldn’t have been the one to review the ticket.

A city police representative blamed the problem on a computer glitch, which is the fault of the company that operates the camera system, and he said the problem has been rectified. Letters are being sent to people who got the violation notice.

The Police Department said it does not blanket approve citations, and only the violators got the erroneous copies. A department representative said internal copies show the name of the officer who actually reviewed the violations.

Legal experts said any citations issued after that date bearing Fowler’s signature may be difficult to enforce.

The city’s red light cameras are a reliable revenue source. In January alone, about 9,300 red light citations were mailed to drivers trying to beat the lights, Miller reported.

The citations cost violators about $75.

Source…

Consumer Reports: Common generic drugs beat brand names

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They’ve become household names: Celebrex, Lipotor, Pristiq, Toviaz. You’ve probably seen the ads on television, and strained to hear long and frightening lists of warnings about side effects.

Drugmakers shell out billions of dollars each year to target consumers with those ads ($4.3 billion in 2009) and even more for promotions aimed at doctors ($6.6 billion in 2009), according to IMS Health, an industry group that monitors drugs sales and marketing.

The trouble is that the ads work. Consumer Reports’ research shows about one out of every five people who take a prescription medication said they’ve asked their doctor to prescribe a drug they’ve seen advertised; of those, 59 percent said the doctors complied, according to a survey in May 2010 by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. But what the ads won’t tell you is that those newer drugs are often no safer or more effective than older medications that cost a fraction of the price.

That’s where Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs comes in. CR doesn’t test drugs the way it tests cars or refrigerators; it uses research from experts at the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, based at Oregon Health & Science University. The CR Best Buy picks could save you hundreds to thousands of dollars a year.

Most of the CR Best Buy picks are generics. That might give you pause. But to get approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a generic-drug maker must prove that its product contains the identical active ingredient as its brand-name counterpart and that the drug is “bioequivalent,” meaning that as much active ingredient enters and leaves the bloodstream as fast or as slowly. Generics that meet those criteria should have the same therapeutic effect as brand-name drugs.

Many consumers have yet to take advantage of the low prices for prescription drugs offered by many retailers.

For example, some American consumers still pay an average of $50 a month for the generic drug pravastatin to lower cholesterol. But you can buy a 30-day supply for $4 at Target or Walmart and pay even less per dose for a 90-day supply.

CR Best Buy picks include:

► For High Cholesterol. Not all cholesterol-lowering statins are the same. Inexpensive generics are the best option unless you have had a heart attack or have another heart problem. CR Best Buys:

• Generic lovastatin or pravastatin. To lower LDL cholesterol by less than 30 percent.

• Generic simvastatin. To lower LDL cholesterol by 30 percent or more for those who have heart disease or diabetes, or for those whose LDL is not highly elevated but who have had a heart attack or have acute coronary syndrome.

• Atorvastatin (Lipitor). For those who’ve had a heart attack or have acute coronary syndrome and highly elevated LDL.

► Diabetes. Older drugs work just as well as newer drugs and are safer in some cases. They could also save you a lot of money. CR Best Buys:

• Metformin

• Glimepiride

• Glipizide and Glipizide Sustained Release

► Heartburn. Make sure you really need a prescription medication; many people don’t. If you do, pick the least expensive option because no one drug is clearly better than another. CR Best Buys:

• Generic omeprazole

• Prevacid 24HR

• Prilosec OTC

► Depression. Antidepressants can help some people, but they aren’t always necessary. CR Best Buys:

• Generic bupropion

• Generic citalopram

• Generic fluoxetine

• Generic paroxetine

• Generic sertraline

► Pain. For moderate pain, generic drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen are your best bets. CR Best Buys:

• Ibuprofen

• Naproxen

► Allergies. Newer antihistamines are less likely to cause drowsiness, but they cost more than older drugs. Inexpensive generics are the best option. CR Best Buys:

• Generic loratadine

• Alavert (loratadine)

Source: Consumer Reports: Common generic drugs beat brand names

Egypt protests reveal hypocrisy of bipartisan foreign policy consensus

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The response of the US political establishment to the popular uprising in Egypt reveals the hypocrisy of a long-standing bipartisan foreign policy consensus.  Unlike Democrats and Republicans, Greens and Libertarians are united in their support for the people of Egypt in their fight to topple its oppressive regime.

The protest movement that erupted in Egypt over two weeks ago aiming to topple the nation’s authoritarian regime, headed by Hosni Mubarak, immediately captured the attention of the global media and heightened an acute contradiction in the decades-old foreign policy consensus of the US political establishment.  Rhetorically, the bipartisan Democratic-Republican party consensus stands for the expansion of freedom and democracy across the world.  In actuality, however, Democratic and Republican administrations alike have consistently supported repressive and tyrannical governments with massive amounts of foreign aid.

Hosni Mubarak assumed the presidency of Egypt in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar El Sadat.  The government of Egypt has imposed “emergency rule” on its people more or less continuously since 1967.  Under this law, the country’s president has free reign to restrict the freedom of assembly and speech, police are empowered to search and seize any individual at will, and the government has the authority to arrest and imprison citizens indefinitely without trial.  Among the primary demands of the protest movement in Egypt are the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, the repeal of the emergency law, and the implementation of legitimate constitutional reforms.

The United States has provided between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in military and economic aid to Egypt every year since 1979.  The untoward uses to which such aid is put became apparent when the state’s police forces sought to quell the January 25th uprising and launched all out attacks on protesters.  As ABC News reported on January 28th:

“Egyptian riot police are firing tear gas canisters bearing the label “Made in U.S.A” against street demonstrations in Cairo.”  The article continues, “the protesters see U.S. aid as the key that allowed President Hosni Mubarak to hold power for almost thirty years.”

The contradiction between the rhetoric of the US political establishment regarding the promotion of freedom and democracy abroad, and the reality of the bipartisan Democratic-Republican foreign policy consensus in support of dictatorial regimes, has been apparent for quite some time.  As George W. Bush stated in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2004, “For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability.”  The disconnect persists, however, and is obvious in the confused response of the Obama administration to the events unfolding in Egypt.  Administration officials and emissaries continue to express support for both Mubarak and the protest movement that seeks to topple his government.  On the other side of the duopoly divide, Republicans are equally conflicted about the popular uprising half a world away.

Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, the Green and Libertarian parties have both taken an unambiguous stance in support of the Egyptian people and against the bipartisan Democratic-Republican policy in favor of foreign entanglements with corrupt and repressive regimes.

Green Party leaders declared their support for non-violent protesters in North Africa and throughout the Middle East in a statement issued late last month.

“The Green Party of the United States supports democracy, here, and throughout the world. We hope that the protesters in Egypt succeed in deposing President Mubarak, and we’re thrilled to see so many young people stand up against dictators,” said Dr. Anthony Gronowicz, a former Green candidate for Congress and a member of the party’s International Committee.

“We condemn the brutal responses to the protests, including police violence and the shutdown of the Internet,” he continued.

David Doonan, the mayor of Greenwich New York and a Green Party member, criticized the US policy of supporting dictators such as Hosni Mubarak.

“The US continues to send the Egyptian government billions of dollars in military aid, some of it now being used by security forces to beat and teargas protesters,” he said, adding, “For true stability in the region, North African and Middle Eastern governments must serve the interests of their own people instead of the demands of the US State Department and western business.”

This sentiment was echoed in a statement released by Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle.  Hinkle declares his support for the Egyptian democracy movement on the basis of the Declaration of Independence.

“My sympathies are with the Egyptian protesters. Our very own Declaration of Independence said that government exists to secure people’s rights, and ‘whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government,” he wrote.  Hinkle then calls on the US government to cease “foreign meddling.”

“In almost every case, U.S. intervention has made American taxpayers poorer, and it has usually served to entrench corrupt authoritarian rulers,” he stated, calling for an end to such “aid.” “Libertarians call for the U.S. government to stop interfering in the Egyptian crisis, and to end foreign aid to all nations, including Egypt.”

Those who continue to advocate US intervention and aid in every corner of the globe in the supposed interest of promoting freedom and democracy abroad might consider revisiting George Washington’s farewell address and reflect on the state of freedom and democracy at home:

“The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”

Source…