Profiteering

You were for Clinton before because he was a winner, guaranteed. She was a favourite. Now, if you’re still for Clinton, it’s probably because you’re fanatical. There aren’t many Clinton fanatics left, let’s face it.
Peggy Noonan and Carl Bernstein describe the Tuszla incident as a watershed moment in Clinton’s campaign. I think it’s more like the woodshed moment.
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It’s interesting how making a lot of money in one industry is fine, especially when a Democrat’s in power. The dotcom industry is an example of that. But making a lot of money in another industry, especially if it’s oil industry while Bush is in power is obscene and wrong. Greedy, even.
One has to ask one’s self: what do they mean when they say that the oil companies making a lot of money is wrong? What does that mean? When does it become wrong? When is it less wrong? When gas was at $1.00 a gallon? Four dollars? When do you draw the line?
And who exactly is wrong? The workers? The technologists? The scientists? Gas station attendants? Shareholders? The big executives who get $20 million a year even though the company is not profitable? Oh, wait, it is profitable, so maybe they should get $20 million a year. Who exactly is part of the wrongdoing? That money goes to US companies. Would they prefer that it go offshore?
Oil is a commodity like anything else. You don’t see a politician running around saying that the grain brokers are thieves and that they’re making too much money. Even if, as we know, there have been riots recently in Mexico over how high the price of corn has gone. Many senators and politicians that scream and yell about the wrongness of oil profits are the same ones who, by supporting things like ethanol, have artificially upped the price of corn and various other items that might be the subject of their green fantasies.
Do they ever say that corn farmers are ripping off consumers? Of course not. Most corn farmers do not appear in the local famers’ digerst in DeMoine. They’re not even people. They’re major corporations, factory farms. This is the inconsistent world of politicians of all stripes, including Republicans and consservatives. They say what they think we want to hear.
What I really wonder is if this is really what we want to hear? Is this what we want to think? If so, we’re pretty ugly. We cheer while politicians take from one pocket and boo when they bring to our attention the oil profiteers. No one boos the farm profiteers who take our subsidies, enjoy supply management, marketing boards and other instruments that artificially inflate the price of everything we consume. Maybe we deserve what we get.