[Rhodes22-list] Weekend reading, not sailing, some might call it political, just educational

[Rik Sandberg]

Brad,

Who was John Galt, eh.

Rik

Will Rogers often said, "There's nothing quite like money in the bank." He went on to say, "I'm not so concerned about the return on my money as I am about the return of my money."



Brad Haslett wrote:
> Ed,
>
> Here's something else to add to your weekend reading.  Expect more of
> this to follow - capital gets to vote as well. BTW, I read a good
> retort to the UAW's willingness to compromise in 2011 but not in 2009,
> "fine, we'll make you the loan in 2011".
>
> Brad
>
> ------------------------
>
> Oil Companies Voting With Their Feet
>
> By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, December 12, 2008 4:20 PM PT
>
> Energy: Another day, another oil company fleeing the country. No, this
> isn't Ecuador, the banana republic that just defaulted on its debt
> after chasing out investors. It's the United States, and what we're
> seeing is self-defense.
>
> Much political hay has been made in Congress about "unpatriotic"
> corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is
> the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The
> oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets.
> But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the
> U.S.
>
> In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it's no wonder.
> Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler
> and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As a pattern
> emerges, America's global standing diminishes, in part because it's
> based on the willingness of companies to invest. It's an especially
> bad sign when domestic companies flee.
>
> "The U.S. is an important market," Weatherford CEO Bernard J.
> Duroc-Danner told the Houston Chronicle Thursday. But, "it's just a
> market. It's not the primary market."
>
> How does that sound for a loss of global leadership? If that's not
> clear enough, try this: "In the hierarchical pecking order,
> (Houston's) not going to be Rome anymore."
>
> What accounts for this vote of no confidence in the U.S.?
>
> Start with the demonization of oil companies. Executives have been
> hauled before Congressional star chambers, held up to abuse and
> ridicule, and then blamed for high oil prices as if they wanted to
> kill their markets. Rising global demand, nationalizations and
> Congress' failure to open the country to drilling go ignored.
>
> Huge companies such as Exxon Mobil, whose market cap exceeds the GDP
> of most countries, create $100 billion in earnings in quarters when
> oil prices soar. It looks high, but over the years, the industry's
> average returns, at 9%, are less than other industries.
>
> Nevertheless, Exxon's profits are evidence of its success at
> extracting oil from miles below the earth's surface, even underwater,
> and from unbelievably hostile environments, such as the Arctic.
> Instead of being objects of national pride for their productivity and
> efficiency, and subjects of heroic Hollywood movies, their success is
> considered to be dishonest.
>
> Congressional hostility affects oil companies' operations abroad, too:
> Exxon, remember, noted that Congress' animus toward oil profits
> directly encouraged Hugo Chavez's uncompensated expropriations of $1
> billion of Exxon's assets in Venezuela, which drove oil prices higher.
>
> With an expanded Democratic Congress and an incoming Democratic
> president determined to create "patriot corporations," it's no
> surprise to see companies try to get out while they can. Make no
> mistake — it's investment fleeing the country. As this goes, foreign
> capital could flee next.
>
> Congress' abuse sets the political tone for the worst to come.
>
> First, oil companies, like all corporations, endure the second-highest
> taxation in the developed world (39.25% of their income), which
> dampens their competitiveness. The 2007 OECD average is 27.6% and
> falling. Worse still, U.S. firms are taxed on operations around the
> world, unlike the global standard, making a move of headquarters a
> defensive move.
>
> Meanwhile, politicians openly say they want to hike taxes on oil
> firms. President-elect Obama seems to have backed off, but questions
> remain as to whether he can stand up to a rapacious and economically
> ignorant Congress that hasn't.
>
> Second, Big Labor is feeling its oats, swaggering confidently with
> newfound political power. United Steelworkers approved a "national oil
> bargaining policy" for higher wages and beefed up its "strike defense
> fund," both of which point to plans to squeeze oil companies, if not
> launch strikes.
>
> "You have to prepare your membership for 2009," according to USW
> International Vice President Gary Beevers on a union Web site. "The
> oil companies are ready for us; we have to be ready for them." With
> Congress at their back, oil companies are unlikely to lose.
>
> None of this portends well for the U.S. business environment. That's
> why top-performing firms, such as Weatherford, are exiting. Until
> Congress learns to appreciate and value oil firms, this will continue,
> leading to less U.S. investment and influence as more competitive
> climes beckon.
>
> On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 7:35 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
>   
>> I get all sorts of emails, this web site was contained in one:
>>
>> http://www.alipac.us/article3815.html
>>
>> And some so called political rhetoric:  "Let's switch gears here for a
>> second. Apparently Dick Cheney, in a closed door Senate GOP lunch on
>> Wednesday, warned the GOP, quote, that it will be Herbert Hoover time if aid
>> to the industry was rejected for the bailout of the big three. This is
>> exactly the same kind of stuff that they were saying about the bank bailout,
>> but now they're saying it about GM. What do you think about what's going on
>> right now,?' [Glen Beck]
>>
>> Reply to question: "Well, I think there's no end to this bailout. It's
>> bailout without end. We need to find a way to bailout from the bailout and
>> actually, with respect to Dick Cheney, I think he's got it actually wrong
>> here. You know, it's very interesting to me, speaking as a foreigner, but
>> the Americans always talk about the great depression. In other countries,
>> they talk about it as a depression. It started in 1929, the worst was over
>> in three or four years. What prolonged it in the United States was both
>> Herbert Hoover and FDR over in overinterfering in the economy to impede
>> recovery. That's why it's a great depression in the United States and it's
>> just a depression everywhere else." Mark Steyn
>>
>> Ed K
>> addendum:  "Sextant: an entertaining, albeit expensive, device, which,
>> together with a good atlas, is of use in introducing the boatman to many
>> interesting areas on the earth's surface which he and his craft are not
>> within 1,000 nautical miles of." Beard and McKie
>>
>> --
>> View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Weekend-reading%2C-not-sailing%2C-some-might-call-it-political%2C-just-educational-tp20990243p20990243.html
>> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>
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>
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