your Congressional Rep. He started the 2008 Congressional witch hunts by targeting MLB on steroids, and then followed with CEO Compensation. Unfortunately there will be more targeted witch hunts, though more for show then substance.
Kerrakles - agree that CEO compensation is totally ridiculous, but it's the responsibility of the Board and shareholders to rein in the compensation, not government. Altho I tend to look at CEO compensation when evaluating a stock purchase, I do own XOM, CVX, COP and others.
If I could suggest just one recommendation for this country, I would clone Suze Orman (OK, she is a little over the top) and put her in each high school and teach a financial literacy class. Now would I do her if she was a provider? Probably, but then she would tell me I am doing it wrong.
companies? It's one thing to listen to the ignorance of Boxer, Feinstein, Schumer & Durban, but even the Republican Senators joined the attack on the oil companies. I just wished one of the oil execs would have told the Senate to just shut the fuck up and learn how oil, or for that matter, how any commodity is priced.
This pandering populist message makes me puke, but considering most, if not all, politicians are lawyers, it makes sense they don't understand the basic premise of supply and demand. Factor in demand growth by the emerging markets, limited supply, a low dollar, and speculation by traders in NYC, London and Tokyo, including Goldman Sachs.
Considering we can't drill for oil anywhere in the U.S., and the fact that there hasn't been a new refinery built in 30 years, there is little expectation that oil will significantly retreat in price. These senators honestly believe the oil companies control the end product. Most of the refiners are independently owned by the likes of Tesoro, Valero, Sunoco, Frontier, Holly, etc. They pay for oil at the going rate. They make money on the "crack" spread, which has been going down the past 6 months. In fact, the Independent refiners are losing money.
So this is what we have to look forward to with Dems in 2009. More witch hunts. Henry Waxman and his little committee went after Roger Clemens and MLB on Steroids 6 months ago. Anything done? NO! Then Waxman targeted Angelo Mozillo of Countrywide and other CEO's on their compensation packages. Hope they target Bill Clinton's $300K speaking fee, or Tom Cruise's $25M per movie, or A-Rod's `0 year/$250M contract. This is the Dems version of McCarthyism. But considering the Dems constituents are union members, blue collar, and minorities, all led by the liberal elitists, this populist message sounds great.
Would Boxer, Feinstein, Durbin know how to read an Income Statement or Balance Sheet? They would realize oil companies net income is less than 10% after expenses, including R&D and income tax. How about targeting Microsoft, Google and other companies they have net incomes greater than 30%. We have a bunch for moronic fools in Congress, and it's only going to get worse.
The fools we really have to fear are those who vote for them.. and them being those that are pandering for the votes of the easily led....
Dim Wits
seem equally ill suited to govern. Even a basic understanding of economics, commerce and accounting would be a breath of fresh air in WDC. I really think that they all need to just go....
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1553399/
One week ago, Schumer claimed an increase in Saudi oil production of 1 million barrels per day would result in a 50 to 60 cent reduction in the price of gas.
Had we began drilling in ANWR, back in 1995, if Clinton had not vetoed the effort, we would be producing about the same amount, 1 million barrels per day. But of course this was prevented in part, based on Schumer's claim the exrta qmillion barrels per day would only have resulted in one penny in the price of gas.
But as the article states. . .
"It doesn't take a Ph.D in economics to know that both figures can't be right."
"Nor one in Poli-Sci to know why they're so starkly different nonetheless."
-- Modified on 5/22/2008 9:43:01 PM
Yes Chuckie Schumer was leading the witch hunt. Even the Republicans were following his lead with stupid illogical questions.
Congress has been parading the oil execs every year for God knows how long. For once, I would like to see one of the oil execs have the balls to poke his finger in their eyes and explain the basic principle of capitalism, focusing on the simple Econ 101 chart we all took in school. You know the one when supply and demand intersect, which then determines the market price. And yes, tell those stupid ex-lawyers that each Congress has stopped any drilling in Anwar, Intercontinental Shelf, Colorado/Montana for oil shale, etc...etc.
Well I was long on a few oil and ETF stocks, but have since switched to shorting oil and the oil and gas drillers. I will remain angry, but might as well make money before the tax rates increase next year. In 2009, I will avoid oil companies, insurance companies, and pharma companies. All are on the Dems target list.
Time to re-read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Or at least hold it up to a liberal's face, like you would hold up a cross to the devil. They go screaming into the night when you mention this book.
stay long the drillers, RIG/DO etc, they have the best technology and the foreigners,( who we buy oil from) will continue to hire them to find oil, even if we're too fuckin stupid to drill for our own
i'm gonna get a copy of the book and try your suggestion...
-- Modified on 5/22/2008 10:28:26 PM
I died laughing when that one executive would not tell the liberal SEN from Vermont how much he made 
Which in of itself is an open ended question.
The Oil EXc said he did not know
Hell its public record the Sen knows that but was not prepared for the oil Executives response
''Time to re-read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Or at least hold it up to a liberal's face, like you would hold up a cross to the devil. They go screaming into the night when you mention this book.''
Because of the max torture without physical
damage
-- Modified on 5/22/2008 10:53:28 PM
Well, you do have to suffer thru 1200+ pages, plus the periodic philosophical rantings of Ayn Rand, and the "who is John Galt" line a few times. Maybe I'll just hold up a Cliff Note version in front of a liberal.
One of the most dangerous places in America is standing between Schumer and a TV camera while he is getting face time. Maybe the people of New York deserve him, but the rest of us certainly don't.
I admit I used the power of wikapedia .Looks like an interesting book maybe I shall read it someday
Rand said at the Ford Hall Forum
homosexuality is "immoral" and "disgusting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#Homosexuality
-- Modified on 5/23/2008 12:34:39 AM
Here is what I do not understand, among other things.
The D's run Gore, he loses (please don't start) they go further left w/Kerry, he loses, (don't, please)so they go further left w/Obama and lifelong Dem party hacks in MA say BO will lose 40 states. So, the R's seeing the D's go left and get the repeatedly beat down, and they see Congress has lower approval ratings than Bush, and the R's themselves are preparing for a bloodbath in November, so in response to all this they go left? WTF? If a pragmatic candidate with conservative principles ran without pandering, he'd clean up. Yes, the Left has gone furthwer left than ever, but happily they are still a minority.
Another thing I don't get is why do people worry about unions, union endorsements, etc. I'm a former union member and I never cared who endorsed who. Plus, only 7% of voters hold a union card. Of course, if you include public employee unions that grows to 11%, but still.
your model is wrong, ie, you don't understand. That would be obvious to most people. Since it doesn't seem obvious to you, it sounds as though you might have some fundamental mental problems.
For example, your idea of "a pragmatic candidate with conservative principles". You don't seem to regard that as an oxymoron.
IMHO, this is anybody's race. I believe the Democrats are in disarray and impossible to manage, much as Will Rogers noted in the 30s - it's the nature of the party's demographics.
OTOH, the GOP doesn't - much as you don't - seem to understand how people could be pissed off, and that's pretty much because they talk so loud to themselves that they drown out everything else - and while that works well if you're a bull and nothing else in the field is a rattlesnake or weighs over 20 lbs, it's not a very flexible plan.
People pursue that plan because chest-beating makes them feel good. They figure if they threaten, beat up or shout down the geek who asks, "but what if __________?" that the question he asks is resolved. If they knew how to use a brain, they'd ignore the geek and answer the question, not for the geek, but so they could be reasonably assured that snakes wouldn't kill their bull as dead as anything else.
Repubs since Nixon's southern strategy have gone to the brainless constituency who are scared of thinking about problems. Sure Dems have their own issues, but they are not the ones who fucked things up - we should only be so lucky as to get Clinton back in the WH - I'd cheerfully send Hillary to Darfur to solve their problems, and put a Las Vegas dance troupe in the west wing of the White House, and sell the tapes, and we could cut taxes to next to nothing, and Billy would balance our budget.
Then all we would need is for me to be SecDef, and we wouldn't find ourselves in unwinnable wars. The only wars would be on late night TV between Hillary & the Sudanese, with me as referee. You'd have to get your entertainment on Billy's tapes, what a bitch!!!!!!! For those of you who get bored, you can kill yourselves at the racetrack.
Proven fact is that speculators add ~$50-60/per barrel. Being that said, you can drill, pump more, the prices will be high as long as there is lots and lots of money to be mad from speculation.
Value of dollar doesn't help.
As far as the CEO pay go, CEO compensation here is ~ 200% - 300% of average worker compensation compared to 10% to 20% in Japan, Europe and UK. The question is, does the CEO's here that much more value to stock holders and employees. My guess is No.
Never been a Right Wing fanatic or Left Wing Liberal but an Independent all along.
Wouldn't vote for Obama because of INEXPERIENCE, NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS and WRITES FICTION AND CALLS IT A BIOGRAPHY.
Besides always have liked McCain.
He is indeed, the lowest form of life. If he had any self respect he would promptly extinguish himself.
you'd be mainlining antabuse.
now that's over the top...i'm telling the mods...you're gonna git it...lol
-- Modified on 5/23/2008 10:23:43 PM
and ignorant about what is going on in the world. They wish to "blame the big oil" because they know if they do nothing the American public will boot their asses out of their cush job in W DC. What they fail to realize is that just holding a hearing is too little, too late.
We should have ALREADY built more refining capactity, and initiated oil-shale to oil a couple of decades ago... ANWR??? should have already been tapped. and now? well, unless we move a WARP speed, there won't be enough energy to support these efforts....
We should have already begun wind farming, photoelectric conversion - and hey, here is a novel thought... instead of convering CORN kernals into ethanol... why have the geniouses at our lauded ACADEMIC ELITE universities focused on where better than 95% of the energy is stored in the corn plant.... the stalk! figure out how to convert the cellulose (economically) into simple sugars that can be used in fermentation - sure beats the hell outta using food for runnin a car.
We got shit for MOC (members of Congress).
Why not allow Ethanol import. Brazil will be happy to export and they also have the most advanced ethanol production in the world. A country that meets 95% of their energy needs with Ethanol (sugar cane based). They are working on making diesel from Sugar Cane.
Sugar cane is way more efficient than corn. Corn lobby did great job of keeping Ethanol import out and getting subsidy for corn based Ethanol which is very inefficient compared sugar cane.
Ocean waves is the real answer for turning turbines to produce electricity.
See link
-- Modified on 5/23/2008 8:01:09 AM
where sugarcane USE to be a cash and profitable crop... Now we use Fructose syrup - from CORN... which according to some diabetes research is really really really really really not so good for ya!
As to Brazil, yea they are self sufficient - but at what cost... Guess? The Rain Forest. To maintain their independance they have to keep cuttin... right now their government is DESPARATE to discover what they can of a dwindling resource (how do I know, briefly I was a part of that effort). They cannot export enought EtOH to do the job. as to sugarcane, again, fully 95% of the energy stored is in the form of cellulose... or in sugarcane lingo - bagasse. Use to be you would drive from Morgan City LA to GRETNA through little towns like Houma and Raceland... and see bagasse piled up... but now... well, sugarcane has been displaced... we simply cannot grow enough corn to supply all the little kernals... we gotta use the cellulose... it really is that simple.
but hey... as you say, the Corn Lobby - played the simple minded MOCs for all they were worth...
IDIOTS...
your Congressional Rep. He started the 2008 Congressional witch hunts by targeting MLB on steroids, and then followed with CEO Compensation. Unfortunately there will be more targeted witch hunts, though more for show then substance.
Kerrakles - agree that CEO compensation is totally ridiculous, but it's the responsibility of the Board and shareholders to rein in the compensation, not government. Altho I tend to look at CEO compensation when evaluating a stock purchase, I do own XOM, CVX, COP and others.
If I could suggest just one recommendation for this country, I would clone Suze Orman (OK, she is a little over the top) and put her in each high school and teach a financial literacy class. Now would I do her if she was a provider? Probably, but then she would tell me I am doing it wrong.
of taxpayer dollars going into these investigations.... that is what we have law enforcement, FBI, and a raft of others for... NOT frickin congress - few if any of them are qualified in any way to do any investigation of any sort, be it criminal or scientific.
As to Financial literacy... I've a 14 yr old kid... and I find it totally silly that he is in 2nd year algebra / geometry -and will take calculus prior to graduation from HS -BUT - and here is the rub... he does not understand the difference between simple and compound interest.
he also does not know how to endorse a check or what the numbers on a check represent... let alone how a credit card works.... this - IMHO should be taught in 7th and 8th grade... as should some basics about communicable diseases, vaccination and a few other basics essential to a healthy life.
I agree, CEO compensation is an issue for the Board, and shareholders.... not congress.... sheese and what is THEIR Compensation!??? orginally when the founding fathers were looking at a government - they wanted "part-timers" as legislatures... not the current lot of "professional politicians"
This is exactly how we get the likes of Ted Kennedy, GW Bush, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon.... NONE of these folks really ever worked. EVER!
kick the bums outta MY FRICKIN government - it belongs to us... we paid for it, and by law - we own it.... after all - it do say "WE, THE PEOPLE!"
Scuse me.. the little vein is starting to throb....
The board is filled cronies of CEO.
There you have it.
I could not help but laugh when one Congresswoman, I didn't catch her name, but she was from CA, was threatening the oil execs, wagging her finger at them and stated they shouldn't be surprised when Congress "socializes" them. Then she stopped, realizing the massive blunder she just commited (Hugo Chavez anyone?) and then tried to continue.
And Congress wonders why they are viewed as such idiots. When are they planning to haul hedge fund managers before Congress and demand to know how they dare rake in tens of millions of dollars by hedging oil futures? (The REAL source of spiraling oil prices).
Christ, how pathetic that the King of Saudi Arabia can get it right, while our own Congress is apparently too stupid to tie their own shoes.
Don't believe it was a Congresswoman, as this was a Senate hearing. It might have been Barbara Boxer or Diane Feinstein, both Senators from Calif. Must have been Boxer. How she gets re-elected time and time again is beyond me. But here in California, there is no valid Republican Party.
Hedging oil futures is part of the problem, but not the entire problem. There is a supply and demand issue, plus a low dollar (oil is priced in dollars), and subsidized gas in many of the growing emerging markets. The latter is an issue, and until those governments discontinue subsidizing, demand will continue to grow.
-- Modified on 5/24/2008 3:52:50 PM
My mistake. It was Maxine "I'm an idiot" Waters. Below is her beyond stupid response. I wanted to blame it on her advanced age and possibly dementia, but she has been an idiot for her 30+ plus years in Congress. She is competing w/Henry Waxman, who paraded Major League Baseball, and CEO's from the Financial Industry in front of Congress on Steroids and CEO compensation.
I used to be against term limits. The rationale was that we have term limits by the use of the ballot box. Just don't re-elect idiots, but considering how stupid our electorate is, we need to flush them out of the system. And no that doesn't mean you run for office in another position. Do you time and go back to the private sector. Would they really know who to compete in the private sector?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUaY3LhJ-IQ
Yup, that was the clip I saw. I just about laughed my ass off and couldn't help but wonder who the hell pulled the lever for that woman.