Real Kato Blog: Yikes

Madness! From today's headlines.

Damn, there was another plane crash. This time it was in Peru. At least 41 people on board died; there are 57 survivors, and two people are still missing.

In this case, the cause of the crash seems straightforward: a fierce storm made the plane uncontrollable about ten minutes before landing, and the plane went down in a swamp about two miles from the airport.

Pat Robertson is a loony. First he went out and called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on a broadcast of "The 700 Club". Then he denied that he said "assassination", even though his exact words were, "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." I'm sorry, was there something ambiguous about that?

Pat eventually apologized for the statement on his web site, saying it was not right to call for an assassination. But if you look at what he says, it's full of justifications, indicating that he probably still believes in what he had said. He's just sorry he said it out loud. One quote from the so-called apology: "When faced with the threat of a comparable dictator in our own hemisphere, would it not be wiser to wage war against one person rather than finding ourselves down the road locked in another bitter struggle with a whole nation?"

I don't know why people pay any attention to this guy at all. He's a wacko.

Oil prices hit another new record, hitting $68 a barrel, as Tropical Storm Katrina threatens the Gulf of Mexico.

You know, I'm kinda rooting for oil prices to keep shooting up, because it should pressure us to put more investment in alternate energy sources. We really need to start weaning ourselves off of oil now, before it all runs out in the next fifty years.

The thing that sucks is that the profits of oil companies increase as the price of crude oil goes up. I never quite understood that. In a free market, if the cost of a company's raw materials goes up, shouldn't profits go down? I guess the explanation is that the oil producing industry is really a thinly disguised trust. It's easy for an oil company to pass higher costs on to consumers as long as all the other oil companies are cooperating and doing the same thing... and an administration that's firmly in bed with the oil industry is looking the other way.

As much as it sickens me, I recently bought some stock in Exxon Mobil and Chevron, because these guys will practically be printing money for decades to come... especially with all the juicy tax breaks in the latest energy bill from Congress.

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: commentary

Comments

Comment #1 from Nicholas (Guest)
2005 Aug 25 - 2:01 pm : #

I agree about the long term effects of higher oil prices igniting interest in alternative energy.

But, the higher oil prices lead to higher petrochemical derivative prices, which raises raw material costs for my employer, which affects the companies profitability. My bonus is based on the company profitability. So my bonus is going bye-bye. Hey, stuff happens.

Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Aug 25 - 2:36 pm : #

Mmm, that sucks, Nicholas. Sorry about that.

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