Elaine Meinel Supkis
Bolivia is nationalizing their collective national resources. What an amazing idea! Instead of using public resources to enrich a very few, it will be used for the entire nation. Meanwhile, as American energy companies make record breaking profits, American schools struggle to run their buses and buildings.
By PAULO PRADA
Published: May 2, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 1 — President Evo Morales of Bolivia ordered the military to occupy energy fields around the country on Monday as he placed Bolivia's oil and gas reserves under state control.Surrounded by soldiers at an oil field operated by the Brazilian energy giant Petróleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, Mr. Morales ordered foreign producers to relinquish control of all fields and channel future sales of hydrocarbons through the state-owned energy company.
He gave foreign companies 180 days to renegotiate existing contracts with the government, or leave the country.
"The time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources," Mr. Morales declared, according to The Associated Press. "The looting by the foreign companies has ended."
The decree is the latest step by Latin America governments from Venezuela to Ecuador to assert greater control over the energy sector, moves that have sent shivers through foreign producers.
Shivers? How about insane hysteria! After the entire American media spent the last five years howling like fiends over Venezuela, now this! The pesky people in South America, one by one, shaking off American sponsored dictators all because America made this big thing about spreading freedom and democracy....no! The oil companies now see clearly the mistake, doing all that propaganda!
The American media is still pushing for democracy and freedom. Dafur! Save Dafur! The people there are being beaten up and their lands stolen! Beat up Palestinians and steal their lands! Oops.
And democracy might come to Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Thoughts about that nightmare keeps oil executives awake, sweating fear. Naturally, once people get to really vote about things they vote for things the oil executives loathe. In America, a lifetime of propaganda about how all natural resources belong only to those people who "find" them is part of the "pot of golden oil at the end of the rainbow" fantasy of sudden wealth, diamonds as big as the Ritz gold rush mentality, it is hard to overcome.
Right now, most Americans realize there is no gold in them thar hills so they go to Vegas or the casinos on the rivers and streams and try to strike it rich there just like in the gold rush days. Meanwhile, everything is falling apart thanks to the high cost of energy.
By BILL POOVEY,
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The high price of diesel fuel for school buses meant children in one Tennessee school system got a holiday Monday — their second in a row.Some 3,800 youngsters got Friday and Monday off because of the action taken by Dallas Smith, superintendent of Rhea County schools in east Tennessee, to ease transportation spending.
"That kind of situation is probably the most extreme I have heard," said Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, based in Albany, N.Y., and a spokesman for the Washington-based School Bus Information Council.
Schools were closed last winter, the snow days were taken even though there was precious little snow. Anything to cut costs which are devastating schools and governments and wrecking budgets everywhere. Many people will be laid off, classes made larger, things cut, property taxes will go up and up. And the oil companies love this. Their executives will be living inside of diamonds as big as the Ritz and the slaves will be allowed spartan pens to live in. Whoopee.
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 29, 1:57 PM ET
BOSTON - On the brink of the 21st century, a group of energy experts peered into the future of natural gas, and what they saw was quite rosy — and quite wrong.
To satisfy growing demand, producers could crank out a third more natural gas over the next decade at "competitive prices." It could "power our economy" for decades beyond. Or so said the National Petroleum Council in its 1999 report.But natural gas prices soon headed skyward, with prices charged by producers spiking late last year at nearly five times 1999 levels. This past winter, though starting off warm, saw the average gas-heating household spend a record $867, a 17 percent increase, according to federal data. As for that predicted robust supply, the country's annual gas output has strangely slipped by 3 percent over the past six years.
Something is broken in the economics of natural gas, say people inside and outside the industry. The bright dream of an economy built squarely on clean-burning natural gas is slowly deflating. Although we still derive almost a quarter of the country's energy from natural gas, its share will slip in coming decades, federal forecasters now say.
"What's going on now is so dysfunctional, it is really remarkable," says industry consultant Jim Choukas-Bradley.
As all energy companies rush to the end of the rainbow to collect their pots of gold, they all know that energy gets cheaper if you have more and more expensive if you have less. It is pretty simple. They are not "competing" with anyone. At this point in history, the Hubbert Oil Peak applies to all energy systems since oil is the cheapest element in this system.
Whatever form of BTU is used, it will start off at the point of value of oil. Namely, if oil is cheap, all other systems have to drop prices but if oil is expensive, all can raise their prices. This is why heating a home with electricity is never ever cheaper than heating it with oil. Natural gas was cheaper than oil for a while but only thanks to government controls. Now, free at last, it rises like a bird into the sky. There is zero incentive to increase oil or natural gas production. And at this point in time, it is also geologically impossible.
Alternative fuels like solar and wind energy can be made ever more efficient but it will never be cheap. Instead of living at odds with nature, we will have to live in harmony if we want to be comfortable. Namely, this means becoming used to not living in a bubble and even more so, building so we can take advantage of sun or shade rather than ignoring reality. Americans are by far and away, the world's biggest users of energy. This is now going to become increasingly expensive as we have to price out of reach, much of our energy use.
World crude oil prices surged to near 74 dollars Monday amid continued worries over Iran and Bolivia.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose 1.82 dollars to close at 73.70 dollars a barrel. On London's ICE Futures exchange, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was up 1.87 dollars to finish at 73.89 dollars a barrel.
Traders are concerned about the possibilities that Iran's oil exports would halt if the United Nations imposes an international sanction on Teheran for its nuclear activities.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday that the United States might seek actions against Iran outside the United Nations Security Council.
The UN Security Council on Friday received IAEA's report on Iran, which says Tehran failed to comply with UN deadline to end uranium enrichment activities.
The United States, along with Britain and France, have been hoping to push the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution to punish Iran for its noncompliance. However, Russia has been reluctant to see Iran under sanctions.
Countries unable to tap into world financing systems unlike super-red-ink America, are really hurting now. Every time Bush and his oily friends swing the sword of war and sanctions over the head of the defiant Iranians, thousands of people perish in distant third world countries. If this keeps up, next year, thousands of Americans will die, too. Even as we pretend to worry about Dafur, our government is showing depraved indifference when it comes to millions of Pakistanis or Indians rioting over high energy prices.
How many people will be facing starvation in two years because of this? Not just in Dafur but all over? Hyper inflation is already beginning to devour the world's poorest nations. Eventually, the cyclone of currency devaluations will visit our own shores. Already, the dollar staggers onwards, propped up only by the yen and yuan. And the yuan is letting us go.
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Elaine, dear... did you actually read that NYT article you linked? More than half of it, anyway? There's a little problem.
In your drawing above, the Statue of Liberty (representing the US no doubt) is howling about the Bolivian situation. But the US isn't doing the howling here - US oil companies aren't that heavily invested in Bolivia. So who's howling? Brazil!
From the same NYT article:
"Petrobras, the biggest investor, with over $1 billion invested in Bolivia, criticized the government's "unilateral attitude" and said it would take whatever steps necessary to "protect the rights of the company" and guarantee Brazil's supply of gas, half of which comes from Bolivia.
The importance of Bolivian gas to Brazil — the largest market in the region — prompted concern even from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist and former union leader who publicly hailed Mr. Morales's rise to power."
"Whatever steps necessary"? Sounds to me like Bolivia's action isn't going down very well in Brasilia!
(You need to try to get past your fixation on the US every once in a while, Elaine dear...)
Posted by: JSmith | May 03, 2006 at 09:43 AM