_USATODAY.com - Canada drips with oil, but it's tough to get at_ (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2004-09-07-oil-sands_x.htm) The two most important paragraphs and facts that should be headlines on all news outlets : * "...Geologists joke that drawing a barrel of oil from the Saudi desert is as easy as poking a straw in the ground. The Saudis pump oil at a cost to them of $2 to $3 a barrel and comfortably make money even if global futures prices crash to $10 a barrel. ..." * "Not so in the molasses-like sands of Alberta. Here, costs range from $8.50 to $12 a barrel, and getting that barrel requires substantial manpower, technology and energy. After adding capital costs, shipping and depreciation, sands producers need per-barrel global prices above the $18-to-$23 level. "
So when do we see windfall profits taxes and DOJ effort and States' Attorney Generals - pursuing price gauging cases? Little guys are dragged into court increasingly and often without legal representation yet oil and war profiteers are reveling in their green gusher of gains... with no fear of retribution or justice. We are threatening to start yet another war -- yet - we can't carry a "big stick" when negotiating with our so called allies, in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates - or the boards of Exxon-Mobile or BP? When do our leaders do something ? After, independent truckers fold and are replaced by multinationals driven by Mexicans buying diesel at half the US rate? After, more of the middle class wealth is shifted to the rich and corporate upper class - the bread and butter political fund raising crowd BTW...? Little guys face loan shark credit card rates; pawn shops and title loan franchises are filling our TIF tax sheltered built shopping strips; medicine and food are astronomical and now being hoarded; local govts are finding new fines, fees, re-assessments, re-inspections and ordinance and ticket scams to generate funds to protect their jobs, at the expense of the middle class - yet we hear nothing about investigations or real relief or job retraining or consumer protection ... Where are our leaders on either side of the aisle from local to the Executive in DC ?? Congress remains silent and comfortably in the hands of millionaires sheltered from this turmoil and the middle class has no spokesman nor any ombudsman and no legal recourse against a laissez faire system and neglectful bureaucracy. Where is the accountability, where is the representation? Peace, Hugs, and Purrs, Carolyn Rose Goyda Missouri, USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
