Offshore Drilling Ban to be Lifted by Bush

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Earlier I posed the query of "Please provide examples of [how oil companies were gaining their 9% margin illegally, unethically, or immorally]. I am curious how this opinion is formed."

So far, no takers.

Here

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Found these in just a few minutes of searching. There is much, much more out there.

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here


Here

Found these in just a few minutes of searching. There is much, much more out there.

Hey, no fair- I asked for examples to support KB's statement that deregulating (in particular, Energy) industries was a positive for anyone other than the powers that be, and all I got was a ersatz Econ lesson.


Good return, JW.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Here

Exxon gets sued for the actions of Indonesian soldiers hired to protect their employees getting harmed. Whether Exxon had complicity in the actions is questionable. The case is still not tried in court. Just because someone files a lawsuit does not mean that someone (or a corporation) has done something wrong.

Originally Posted by JWBear

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Yep... Shell Oil done wrong. I concede this one.

Originally Posted by JWBear

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Looking into this, I see that ultimately this story is about a corrupt politician in Equatorial Guinea, not about oil companies being corrupt (despite what liberal organizations claim).

Originally Posted by JWBear

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This is about a lawsuit against Panalpina - a freight forwarding company. At this point, Shell's involvement is just being looked into as a possibility

Originally Posted by JWBear

Here

This involves Veco, what was a small oil pipeline service and construction company. Yes, this is an oil-related company, but hardly a "big oil" company.

Originally Posted by JWBear

Here

Sorry - this is just a (highly spun) op-ed piece on a known extreme liberal web site. I'm not going to waste my time on this one.

So out of six stories linked, only one is really of relevance. Yep - ya got me convinced that the oil industry is massively corrupt.
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I am not trying to say that oil companies are saints deserving of our worship. They have faults. I just keep seeing them (and for that matter, any large corporation) being attacked as evil incarnate. It gets old.

[David E]

I have to agree with Kevy on this one.

The question was about the normative use of the profit margin. You can find examples of corruption and immorality in every industry. That doesn't mean the service or product they are in business to provide is wrong. Think how many things you use that are made of plastics - petroleum products.

While I can't dispute the news stories cited, all of the sources seem to dote on the aberrations and abuses so as to make them seem like the norm. (NY Times has already had to admit to a falsified series about poverty in NY; it took a lawsuit to reveal that the Mohammed Aldura video that Reuters constantly showed, which fueled the Intefada, was doctored; and most recently, Reuters had to retract the doctored photo with the multiple added smoke plumes of the Lebanon/Hezbollah incursion)