Lobbyists and special interest groups are a major part of politics. Lobbyists are people with tons of money that donate to a politician’s campaign. In turn, when these politicians are elected to office, they owe these lobbyists and special interest groups favors. In reality, it is not the politicians who decide the laws and the regulations. It is not the politicians who run the country. If we pay attention to the man behind the curtain, we will realize that most, not all people (some are honest, though a very small percentage) who hold public office, including seats as high up as the President, are really just puppets for lobbyists from oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, and big banks. We have seen in the past how tobacco lobbyists, knowing their product was harmful, paid off politicians to keep the laws and regulations against the tobacco industry to a minimum. American oil companies, who have some of the strongest lobbying in the country, have been doing this for at least a century now. They have made it so that their dominance of the oil market is completely legal and accepted.
The last President, George W. Bush, came from a wealthy family that made their money from oil. He has deep roots and a strong sense of loyalty to the big oil companies. He was certainly in the pocket of these companies. That is one reason why we ended up in Iraq. The oil fields that were taken over in Iraq were sold to oil companies like Shell and Exxon, vastly increasing their supply. This increased these companies’ net worth and has allowed them to post record profits, but more about that later.
While I am not a Barrack Obama defender and I did not want him in office in ’08, I will admit he has tried to stay true to his word. In the last four years, we have increased our use of wind and solar energy by eight times, cutting our demand and dependency on oil. One of the key principles in economics is supply and demand. We learn that when a product has less demand, the price should decrease, so what Obama said was true, at least in theory: If we can cut the demand for oil, gas prices should go down. Also, I just said that the “Big 5” have a greater supply of oil than ever before. Going back to supply and demand, if supply of a product increases, price should decrease. Supply and demand is the staple of economics, so why is it not working out right in this case? One word… GREED!
The hand that guides the market is far from invisible. It is large corporations that control the supply of products and services, create demand that is sometimes real, but sometimes false, and control major market prices. In the case of oil, it is the “Big 5” that controls all of these and dictates them to the market. I have already shown an example when I talked about how when demand decreases, prices should also decrease on the market. With gas prices, as demand has gotten lower the prices have risen. Why, you ask?
First, let’s start with fear. Owners of large oil companies see that we are inventing new technology that is making us less dependent on oil. This creates fear, because stock holders will see that too, and eventually pull out. They cannot afford a loss in profit or a loss in revenue from stocks, so to keep profits up with less demand, they either need to find cheaper ways of production or raise prices. They chose to raise prices.
Next, let’s talk about the history here. There have been numerous inventions and innovations over the past century, most even patented, which would have long since decreased our dependency on fossil fuel. Most of these inventions, until recently, were suppressed by oil and automotive companies. They even bought patents for some of these technologies from the creators and still hold them. They have never released these ideas though, because even though they would benefit everybody else, they would be less profitable than keeping us hooked on oil. Chevron has had possession of a new battery that could have changed things long before they actually started allowing production of vehicles that use them. The NiMH, which is used in hybrid vehicles and is much better than any other battery in any car, has been around since the’80s. Chevron has had the patent since 2001, but they have been accused of “squelching” the battery because it would cause competition with gasoline sales. This can’t be true, right? Well, you ever hear of Nikola Tesla? I know this sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, but if you know me you know that’s not my style. I offer you the chance to check some of these out for yourself and then tell me what you think.
One major factor is that the owners of the “Big 5” oil companies are all lobbyists with “investments” in the Republican Party. Why would they lower gas prices when a democrat is in office when they know full well that high gas prices will hurt his chances of reelection? This way, they can not only increase profits, but at the same time they can try to push Obama out of office and get somebody in who will support their policies and increase our dependence on their product. They claimed more subsidies (money or tax breaks given to corporations by the government; i.e. government assistance; see: Welfare) during the Bush era than ever before, and hope to see that happen again if Romney is elected. Now tell me one thing: Do companies that are pulling in record profits really need government assistance? I swear I just heard everybody reading this collectively yell “NO!!!”
I am not trying to defend Barrack Obama here. He made promises that were far too big for him to keep with the mess we were already in. He should be held accountable for his failed campaign promises. I’m not telling you to vote for Obama as I see just as many faults with him as I do with Mitt Romney (just as many, but Romney’s faults are much bigger issues). Maybe he is partly to blame for some of the problems Americans face today. But one thing I cannot blame on Barrack Obama is the cost of gas.