[Rhodes22-list] Politics: Stan, this Bud's for you, boatbuilder man!

[brad haslett]

WARNING - LONG WINDED POLITICAL DIATRIBE AHEAD! - HIT
DELETE NOW AND HAVE A NICE DAY

OK, Stan, let me start with the standard disclaimer;
"I strongly disagree with everything you said because
of blah, blah, blah!"  We obviously think from
opposite ends of the political spectrum and I won't
waste your time or mine debating the points of your
argument.  However, I do want to take up the issue of
your obtuse reference to Enron, energy policy, and its
relevance.

First, some background information.  I've always been
interested in oil & gas because I burn so much of it
as part of my occupation, but more importantly, I was
raised in the middle of the Illinois Basin oil field. 
Its only been in the last few years that I met the
Securities and Exchange (SEC) rules to participate in
private investments of oil & gas wells.  Last December
I formed an Illinois corporation, Lambda Energy, in
anticipation of closing a deal on some marginal oil
well leases.  It was as much a social project as an
investment since my brother is going to work as the
lease pumper.  Unfortunately, oil was at $30 per
barrel when we started and the seller found a way out
of the deal as the price kept rising.  Now I am CEO of
an energy company that has zero income and about $3000
in assets consisting of technical books, oil and gas
legal forms, and a subscription to Oil and Gas
Investor.  I did invest in a gas well that is
currently being drilled in Texas and you can follow
the progress at www.northstarenergyinc.com under the
Landers well #1 link.  We'll know in a few weeks if
the partners are heros or goats. You can also get in
on the riches at www.energynet.com by bidding on
active wells and royalty leases.  There are no
bargains there I promise you.  I claim to be no expert
but this past year I've spent hundreds of hours
(thousands if you ask my wife) studying the industry
when I should have just gone sailing.  So here we go.

Enron.  I fully expected you to throw in Haliburton
and Big Oil as well, most of your ilk (and I mean that
in a kind but not necessairly adoring way) do.   Enron
was a collection of some very unsexy businesses,
pipelines and such, until some very creative, greedy,
and crooked leaders got control of it.  It was a Ponzi
scheme and like all such operations it eventually
failed.  Most of their misdeeds took place during the
Clinton era.  Notice, I didn't say nor do I intend to
imply that somehow Clinton is responsible.  The
Clinton years co-incided with the DotCom boom and a
lot of silly business deals took place.  That Enron
finally collapsed while Bush was in office is
co-incidental as well.  Since then, President Bush has
signed into law measures that will make it tougher for
other corporations to commit the same fraud.  I feel
sorry for the minor employees who were honest workers
and pity those foolish enough to invest their 401K
money in thier own companies stock.  To the
stockholders, too bad!  Don't invest in something you
don't understand, as Warren Buffet would say.  And to
Californians who got screwed on their electric bills -
you deserve it!  California under Grey Davis
"deregulated" electric rates when in fact what they
really did is add more layers of regulations to the
marketplace.  Enron stepped into the breach and
exploited  the government's and the electorate's
ignorance.  There is a nuclear reactor within eyesight
of the top of the Capitol in Sacramento that got shut
down while under construction because of the NIMBY's
(not in my backyard).  So to you in California, pay
the market price like the rest of us and enjoy it. 
Using a sentence with Bush and Enron, Bush and
Haliburton, Bush and Big Oil is cheap and easy and
works well with the economic illiterate.  For you
Stan, we know damn well you are not economic
illiterate,  you use it for effect.  Shame, shame,
shame.

Big Oil, and little oil, and oil related services,
(Haliburton) and just about anything else related to
oil is doing well right now because of the per barrel
price.  If you had  bought oil stocks at $25 per
barrel,  the inflation adjusted long-term price, or
better yet at $9 just a few years ago, you would have
done well.  In my humble opinion, everything is
overpriced right now and there are no bargains
anywhere, unless, you think oil will continue upward. 
Then keep buying. Fact of the matter is, if any of us
KNEW what oil would be selling for a year from now,
we'd be out nailing down the specs on our 100 foot
sailboat and not reading this nonsense. Energy stocks
over the long haul haven't outperformed any other
segment of the market, but for the masses, Exxon-Mobil
and their kind will always be the big heartless entity
trying to keep the little guy down.

Now to the "meat" of the matter.  We do have an
incredibly serious energy problem on our hands in this
country and no administration, not Nixon, Ford,
Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, or W has done
anything meaningfull about it. To a man they have
kissed-up to the Saudi's because voters like cheap
oil.   If you suscribe to the "peak-oil theory",
(Hubbert's Peak), as I do, the whole world will see
peak oil production in the next decade or so and no
amount of ass kissing will help us. From there the
only direction for price is up (and we're even more
beholden to the Saudis).  Even if production stayed
steady (and the Saudi's aren't lying about their
reserves) increased demand from China and India will
compete with the US to run up the price.  If anything
happens to interrupt the supply in the short term
we're economically toast, China too!  In the long run,
we're all toast until we come up with a substitute. 
Both Bush and Kerry talk about funding research for
alternatives but in reality, good alternatives don't
need subsidized and bad alternatives are a waste of
money. The Bush energy bill (the one that got voted
down)  threw a little money at a whole lot of things
(I actually read the thing) but Kerry's plan is to
double or triple the funding on the same bad ideas. 
Both candidates and parties, but especially Tom
Dashle, tout ethanol which is a total waste.  Ethanol
is energy neutral but it makes corn farmers in South
Dakota, and Harken's Iowans happy, and not even Bush,
who knows a little about energy, is going to take a
hit on that issue.  Detroit can build cars right now
that get 80+ per gallon but no one will buy them. 
When oil gets to $100 per barrel, and it will, Detroit
will build them and folks will line up to buy them. 
Jimmy Carter created the Department of Energy, which
for the longest time had a budget bigger than all the
Big Oil companies profits COMBINED.  The DOE has yet
to produce a single barrel or watt of energy, the
marketplace does that.

When Dick Cheny and energy executives meet, it's in
private because it needs to be in private. Its a
defense issue. In fact, we should just close down DOE
and shift its functions to the Department of Defense
where it exists in reality anyway.  At the risk of
sounding like an alarmist, which I am, we're in for
some rough sledding with or without energy
independence.  If we can wean ourselves off the Middle
East, and its technologically possible, we  still have
to deal with the worlds fastest growing religion with
a  reclining source of income which begets more
unrest, and so on.  Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!
 In the meantime, the next president needs to have a
really stern talk with the commoners, something better
than Jimmy in a sweater telling us to turn our
thermostats down,  and tell us just how deep in shit
we really are.  Don't hold your breath regardless of
who gets in office.

It really torques me off when the Democrats play the
Republican-Big Oil bugaboo association when neither
side has effectively told the truth and plays to the
blissfully ignorant masses.  There are plenty of
things to be really fearfull of related to energy and
more than enough guilt for everyone to share.  If you
really want to make a significant contribution to the
energy situation, call your Congressman, Senator and
the President,  and tell them you want some more
nuclear reactors and you don't even care if one is in
your backyard.  That's the inevitable outcome so we
may a well be pro-active and start building.  Of
course we'll have to kiss and makeup with the French
since we've forgotten how to build them.

Anyone who thinks the Big Oil companies are getting
filthy rich should buy some of their stock.  Its a
free country and readily available.

Enough for today!

Brad Haslett


		
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