Aside from the rarely asked question; "why are we burning such a vitally important raw material like oil as if it was a waste product", there are important questions about how we harvest, transport and refine it that must be fully answered.
There are several core concepts that are critical to the discussions about Keystone XL and other high risk / high profit projects. Before moving forward, they must be fully addressed and resolved.
- Who is in the best position to know how risky a given project is?
- Who is in the position to make cost benefit decisions regarding it?
- Who is in the best position to know its hidden risks.
Those are the people, corporations and governmental officials who should bear the full burden if something goes wrong, and without the safety and security of corporate shields or official immunity.
Rather than transport this extremely hazardous material across America's heartland at great risk, why not build a new refinery at or near an appropriately chosen point of entry to the US? Wouldn't this create far more permanent jobs, most of which would be highly skilled and long term? Wouldn't this offer greater cost effectiveness, and lessen environmental risks dramatically? Wouldn't this satisfy the needs of our energy producing neighbor to the north? And wouldn't this make the likelihood of these refined petroleum products benefiting the North American economies far greater, rather than endangering them?
Although it is far too big an issue to do justice here, lets keep in mind the tremendous value of clean water, and the importance of insulating it from risk.
The proponents of this pipeline are advertising widely that the pipeline itself will be totally safe and environmentally friendly. Their ads clearly state that the end product will be environmentally cleaner than "many" existing fuels, and that could be fantastic depending on the precise meaning and truthfulness of the statement. In an effort to reach a fair and equitable solution among honorable people, why not place rigid contractual obligations into any permit requiring that all of their promises bear fruit; with serious and meaningful penalties if they don't. If their claims are true, there can be no reason for objection.
They say the project is safe and will cause no damage to the environment. Frankly, we have all heard this before and we do not want to repeat the past failures. In spite of claims by Exxon and BP that they have been good citizens and that they were/are totally committed to 100% fully restoring the environment and fairly compensating every person and business damaged buy their oil spills, this has been far from the reality. Both companies continue to thrive, while countless Americans and our ecology continue to suffer the consequences of their actions.
Before allowing this project to move forward, please require them to have an indemnification plan, with real teeth, in place that assure the resources required to fully and promptly return to whole every single person, wildlife species, company, or piece of public land damaged by their project, up to the full value of the company and its founders, affiliated corporations and shareholders. Huge projects offer huge profits, but they also present huge risks that must be 100% born by those who are in a position to reap the gains.
Frankly, they will not accept these conditions because they know it creates a serious burden of risk, one they are willing to place upon the American people, but not themselves; and that is why this plan should be rejected out of hand. Keystone XL, and other similar projects are a terrible deal for America.
Real solutions for a financial recovery which do not cost a single tax dollar.
This is a summary of our initial post, For the full content please see the same title in the March 2009 archives. Please click this link, the full article will appear at the bottom of this page!
It's simple, much if not all of what ails us economically can be solved without costing one thin dime, that is what we mean by a ZERO COST RECOVERY.
Many of today's ills have come from easily reversible causes, here are a few to start you thinking:
- The Bible condemns usury (sort of); whether or not you are religious, this make great sense.
- "A Free & Independent Press is the Cornerstone of Democracy". I don't know who first said it, but they were spot on. Today's media does not hold the rich and powerful accountable, it is owned by them; they are at the core of the problem.
- Food costs have more than doubled, yet the family farmer is struggling while large corporate farmers are getting huge subsidies. One solution would be enacting anti-trust legislation that forbids the huge conglomerates which are so dominant in critical industries from operating at more than one level in the manufacturing and distribution chain.... Grow it, process it, distribute it or retail it - choose one!
- The price of oil at the well head is dramatically different from the price we see quoted on the TV each night. The difference is created by speculators in the commodities markets (the same holds true for food and other vital commodities). Force the CFTC to re-institute the commodities speculation guideline that were in place prior to 1990.
- Big Pharma spends far more on marketing and lobbyists than on R&D, some say the figure is twice as much. How much do you think this adds to what your prescriptions cost? Lobby our legislators to allow Medicare to negotiate drug costs with their manufacturers and watch prices fall to the levels enjoyed in most other countries.
- Health care costs are skyrocketing yet Physicians pay has decreased dramatically. How much do you think the near monopolies in Health Insurance and HMO's contribute to this?
It's simple, much if not all of what ails us economically can be solved without costing one thin dime, that is what we mean by a ZERO COST RECOVERY.
Many of today's ills have come from easily reversible causes, here are a few to start you thinking:
- The Bible condemns usury (sort of); whether or not you are religious, this make great sense.
- Big Banks don't work for America or Americans (or anyone else for that matter). Consolidation was touted as a way to lower costs, provide better service and more affordable fees to customers. Can anyone show me an example where these promised economies of scale came to life? How about the lower fees and better service?
- Bigger is not better, that is why anti-trust legislation was enacted. Today's financial crisis was brought to a head by the unvarnished greed of the giant banks, financial institutions and corporations with the complicity of the majority of our legislators, it is just that simple.
- The "Free market" is not the cause of this problem, the fact that it has been castrated, prostituted and redefined by the greedy is. "Free market" does not mean a market without rules, or domination by the richest and most powerful. Without meaningful competition, free markets cannot, and do not, exist - period.
Rollback, update and aggressively enforce meaningful anti-trust & financial sector regulations and the root cause will be eliminated. How about requiring a binding contract guaranteeing that all consumer beneficial promises be a part of all mergers and acquisitions? To be effective, it should include an onerous non compliance clause!
- "A Free & Independent Press is the Cornerstone of Democracy". I don't know who first said it, but they were spot on. Today's media does not hold the rich and powerful accountable, it is owned by them; they are at the core of the problem.
- Food costs have more than doubled, yet the family farmer is struggling while large corporate farmers are getting huge subsidies. One solution would be enacting anti-trust legislation that forbids the huge conglomerates which are so dominant in critical industries from operating at more than one level in the manufacturing and distribution chain.... Grow it, process it, distribute it or retail it - choose one!
- The price of oil at the well head is dramatically different from the price we see quoted on the TV each night. The difference is created by speculators in the commodities markets (the same holds true for food and other vital commodities). Force the CFTC to re-institute the commodities speculation guideline that were in place prior to 1990.
- Big Pharma spends far more on marketing and lobbyists than on R&D, some say the figure is twice as much. How much do you think this adds to what your prescriptions cost? Lobby our legislators to allow Medicare to negotiate drug costs with their manufacturers and watch prices fall to the levels enjoyed in most other countries.
- Health care costs are skyrocketing yet Physicians pay has decreased dramatically. How much do you think the near monopolies in Health Insurance and HMO's contribute to this?
-Corporations are NOT People. Our Founding Fathers did not think so when they formed our nation, why are we allowing it now?
Monopolies and oligopolies are the root causes of our problems. Cure these ills, and our financial woes will evaporate WITHOUT COSTING ONE DIME.
Friday, November 4, 2011
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