There have been an abundance of articles lately on the "Follow the Money" In the current case, the money trail is wide, deep and Again and again, "simple The Downrigade prefers to run our economic analyses According to our admittedly And this without figuring in the petroleum consumed As recently as a year ago, analysts laughed at those So where IS the money going? <\/p>\n A lot of it going to foreign national oil companies; Some of that money keeps Hugo Chavez in power by allowing him, Some of that money goes to allow a series of corrupt But most of the money is going, directly and indirectly, Some of this huge windfall is being disguised, hidden, But is the explosion of prices in the oil industry the By neglecting infrastructure and taking advantage of The emerging global economy is a huge money machine, The Expect other players to make their moves soon. We wouldn’t Where is Ross Perot when we need him? Every time we drive by a gas station lately, we hear this giant sucking sound. Every time we read the Business section or check the price of a barrel of oil, we … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/oilmoney.jpg\")
Where is Ross Perot when we need him? Every
\n time we drive by a gas station lately, we hear this giant sucking sound. Every
\n time we read the Business section or check the
\n price of a barrel of oil,<\/a> we hear the giant sucking sound. Especially, every time we open
\n our wallet to pay for a tank of gas, we hear the giant sucking sound.<\/p>\n
\n gripping question in everyone’s mind – "Why
\n Are Gas Prices So High?<\/a>"
\n Wrong question. As the Dowbrigade has been insisting for some time
\n now, the key question to understanding the current radical redirection
\n of the economy is "Where
\n is all that money going<\/a>?" <\/p>\n
\n is the first rule of any investigation of complex professional
\n crime. <\/p>\n
\n well-illuminated. Conventional analyses we have read have concentrated
\n on complex technical explanations of the cause<\/em> of the increases,
\n all featuring some combination of growing demand in China, the effects
\n of Hurricane
\n Katrina,
\n political
\n and mechanical
\n problems in other producing regions and aging transport and refining
\n infrastructure in the US. <\/p>\n
\n market factors" are invoked, as if "Supply" and "Demand" were mythic
\n supernatural entities whose dictates must be obeyed lest divine destruction
\n rain down from the firmament. Macro-economic analysis is good at explaining
\n the mechanisms that functioned to raise the price of oil, but not so
\n strong in illuminating where the
\n money ends
\n up.<\/p>\n
\n from the ultimate micro-economic perspective – our individual, week-to-week
\n financial reality. Direct Deposit to ATM to wallet to the acquisition
\n of goods and services – the true American pastime.<\/p>\n
\n less-than-scientific calculations, we are spending an extra $30
\n a week on gasoline, compared to a couple of months ago. Over a year,
\n that comes to $1,560. If we make the somewhat dubious but still useful
\n assumption that everyone in the country uses as much gas as the Dowbrigade,
\n that comes to $US 486 BILLION EXTRA<\/em> dollars, on top of the record
\n profits they were ALREADY reporting before the latest runup.<\/p>\n
\n by businesses, to generate electricity, by the government, by the petrochemical
\n industries, by the airlines, etc.<\/p>\n
\n who proposed that a $1 tax on a gallon of gas could eliminate the national
\n debt in one Presidential term. Americans would never stand for
\n it, they said. It would throw the economy into a recession, they said.<\/p>\n
\n thinly disguised corporate fronts for the political establishments of
\n oil-rich nations – Aramco<\/a> in
\n Saudi Arabia, Pemex<\/a> in
\n Mexico, Yukos in Russia, now that it’s been absorbed by Putin. <\/p>\n
\n unlike almost every other Latin American government, to actually
\n fund and run programs to improve the lives of the poor people in his
\n country, which gets him re-elected in real elections, like it or not. <\/p>\n
\n and incompetent governments in Ecuador<\/a>, an original member of
\n OPEC, to stay in power, if only for long enough to loot a few million
\n apiece and get out of Dodge. A chunk goes to our good buddies in Saudi
\n Arabia to fund Madrastras and shady Muslim charities which, in a grotesque
\n irony, are being used as conduits to killing Americans.<\/p>\n
\n to the giant oil companies and their strategic allies. These companies
\n already dominated the global economy, even before the current "energy
\n crisis". Fortune
\n Magazine<\/a> reports that last year, 10 of the 12 biggest companies in
\n the world were oil or car companies.<\/p>\n
\n sunk into new exploration and long-term contracts, siphoned into less
\n profitable associated industries or transferred to foreign profit-havens,
\n but much
\n of it cannot
\n be disguised and as a result most of these companies are reporting record
\n profits every quarter now.<\/p>\n
\n simple and accidental result of market factors, or has the situation
\n been somehow manipulated to shoot the price of oil through the roof?
\n Some
\n of the truly
\n paranoid
\n have speculated on the existence of some sort of electromagnetic storm
\n magnet drawing Katrina directly down on the Gulf oil infrastructure,
\n but one
\n needn’t hypothesize some modern Dr. No or Dr. Evil directing the
\n hurricanes from his secret subterranean hideout in order to support
\n a conspiracy.<\/p>\n
\n the geopolitical situation in a variety of countries, the industry could
\n easily have created a situation in which it was inevitable that something <\/em>would
\n cause a shortage of supply, and a corresponding increase in price. Then
\n all they had to do was sit back and wait for nature and market mechanics
\n to do the dirty work.<\/p>\n
\n and the strongest current economic centers of gravity are sure to try
\n to emulate the oil companies" s unprecedented redirection of capital.
\n Of course, it helps to get one of your own elected to the
\n White
\n House.
\n But not necessary: the long-standing "military-industrial complex" has
\n morphed into the "Defense Industries", and by insinuating themselves
\n into halls
\n of
\n power and maneuvering the country into a perpetual state of war, have
\n guaranteed their continuing prosperity well into the new century.<\/p>\n
\n telecommunications industry is busy as we speak figuring out the optimal
\n access and information fee structure for maximizing profits from tomorrow’s
\n always on, all-embracing ubiquitous and unavoidable Internet. In
\n the future a person won’t exist without an internet presence, and they
\n are eagerly
\n anticipating
\n getting
\n a payment
\n every month, from every man, woman and child in the country, and eventually,
\n the world.<\/p>\n
\n be surprised, for example, to see the untraceable emergence of an extremely
\n unpleasant but non-fatal disease, which can only be kept under control
\n by regular administrations of an extremely expensive patented medicine
\n available from only one pharmaceutical company…<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"