The Myth of American Energy Independence

 

 

 

Do you really think “American” oil producers and energy companies aren’t exactly like the Saudis, the Venezuelans, and the Russians when it comes to profiteering?

I’ve given more thought to one of the great myths blazing across social media right now, barnacled to the current debate about rising gas prices.

That myth is the simpleton silliness that American “energy independence” means lower gas prices.

Nope, it doesn’t.

Read: Exxon posts biggest profit in seven years on high oil prices

Fact #1:

American “energy independence” means almost nothing to domestic gas pricing (or other energy costs).

Fact #2:

Oil is priced in a global marketplace, so the prices inside the United States move up and down with the world price. This is true whether we import oil or not.

Fact #3:

U.S. gasoline prices reflect world oil prices, albeit with a lag (see Footnote 1).

Please stop with this mass-manufactured delirious delusion that American-based oil companies are somehow more benevolent than energy sources and nations outside the United States.

Putting it more bluntly — wake the fuck up.

Do you really think “American” oil producers and energy companies aren’t exactly like the Saudis, the Venezuelans, and the Russians? Do you really believe the energy sector here (and there and everywhere else) won’t skullfuck American consumers for every fraction of a penny they can possibly hike at the gas pump? Do you really believe energy “providers” won’t use every international crisis and barrel-price increase to pump up prices?

Ever heard of Enron?

Of course, oil companies are mostly big international conglomerates now. They bear no flags. They have no allegiances, other than to corporate boards and shareholders. And, they will RAISE PRICES just exactly the same as the Canadians, the British, the Arabs, and the Russians. That’s precisely what they’ve done. That’s precisely what they’re doing. And that’s precisely what they will continue doing.

Sorry folks, Exxon-Mobil isn’t giving you a discount just because you’re American.

You and I are consumers. They are big companies. We are going to get fucked to the max no matter if that oil comes out of a desert in West Texas or Al-Ahsa. American-based oil companies are exactly the same as other energy suppliers around the world when it comes to squeezing you for every penny at the pump they can get.

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Footnote 1:  The US actually does not produce enough oil to cover all of our consumption. That’s one of the reasons we have to import, and pretty much have always imported over the past 70 years. We do produce more natural gas and more coal than we use here in the United States. So, we have an excess of those types of fossil fuels — and therefore, we export. So if you put all those forms of energy *together,* then we produce a little bit more than we consume. But we still must import oil to meet our needs.

Footnote 2:  I can’t help but add that this same tactic (lying) is being copied by Big Pharma as they lobby and run a bombardment of TV ads to destroy initiatives to introduce federal price negotiations on prescription drugs and try to kill the importation of medicines from countries like Canada. Big Pharma parrots the same tired canard as the oil industry about so-called American “independence,” as though as American companies they’re acting in the public’s best interest. Fact is, they are protecting their monopoly and will do everything in their power to cut out the competition and squeeze every dollar from our pockets.