John Stossel: ‘These oil companies are heroes.’
Last night, CNN’s Larry King Live stacked its show with oil, coal, and nuclear apologists. One of the show’s guests — prominent libertarian pundit John Stossel — said of Big Oil: “I think these oil companies are heroes.” Watch it:
The Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson reveals CNN’s pro-energy industry bias.
UpdateLast month, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said on the House floor, "We ought to be saying the energy companies are our friends."
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Am I the only one who wishes Stossel never got his stuttering problem fixed?
July 1st, 2008 at 10:38 pmStossel is a wingnut who is irrelevant.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:42 pmHow out of whack are one’s values and how twisted does one have to be to make a statement like that?
July 1st, 2008 at 10:43 pmdidn’t know he had one…
.
“heroes”… “our friends”…
why? why do they think that?
July 1st, 2008 at 10:43 pmThat wrestler shoulda hit him harder…
Musta knocked something loose.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:47 pmForgot about him getting smacked upside the head, if only more wingnuts could have that happen to them.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:50 pmI could be wrong, but aren’t franchise gas station owners still responsible for paying for just about everything? Including new pumps? Financed by the oil company, I’m sure.
Anyway, it’s not like the oil companies are “bringing in all this oil” and still making the same profit they did before. Obviously, most likely through their shell companies that process their own oil, they are still making a lot more money in profits than they were before. That does not sound very heroic to me.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:52 pmThey certainly are heroes… to their majority shareholders, and the politicians they buy each election cycle.
To the rest of us, they are simply the reason to be careful about dropping the soap in the shower.
PEACE
July 1st, 2008 at 10:59 pmIt’s the constant promotion of the energy industry views by CNN that is the real story here, not the appearance of late-70’s generic ponr-star doppelganger Stossel.
But whilst I’m here.. Stossel is an utter wanker. There! i said it! And I’m GLAD I tell you. GLAD!!! Bwahahahahaaaaa!
July 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pmWhat a frickin nimrod. This is guy is relevant why?
July 1st, 2008 at 11:08 pmYes, in the UK gas twice is high, but they don’t have to pay for health care, they have superior public transportation, and their vehicles are nearly 3-times as fuel efficient.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pmNationalise the oil companies now! This is a national emergency. The economy is going down the tubes. Plus, the speculators that are driving up the prices should be shut down.
When we/Israel attack Iran, watch the prices of gasoline go up to at least $8 a gallon.
If Brazil can use 100% ethenol from sugar cane, we can do it also.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:17 pmIf the Oil Companies are heroes, then being a hero sure pays a lot better than it used to.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:22 pmReminds me of the book titled: Toxic Sludge Is Good For You.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:43 pmCan someone tell Stossel that oil companies do it for the money, and that the risk of getting that oil out from under the ground “across an ocean”, is already factored in the price we pay at the pump?
Thank you.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:45 pmGee, I wonder if he would invite me over to beat him up, steal everything he owns and then be his friend?
July 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pmYes, my friends, step right up and empty your wallets right into this sack, thank you, thank you! And the ring, ma’am, yes, thank you very very much.
With frieds like the oil companies, we don’t frikkin need enemies.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 amI don’t think that word means what Stossel thinks it does. Maybe he is getting it confused with traitor.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 am.
What a moronic shill Stoshill has become.
Stossel degrades the meaning of HERO…
For goodness sakes. Oilmen have been doing this type of work for DECADES and just NOW THEIR HEROS?
“GIVE ME A BREAK…!”
.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 amIf only the left would let us have lower gas prices…
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 amI saw this last night … I was LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY.
That Stossel is such a clown, it’s hard to consider anything he says seriously.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 amWe know we are being played by big oil and a corrupt Bush/Cheney administration, but the sad part is most of America is ADD and cannot bother to look past People Magazine or American Idol, so they will be ignorant right up to the point where it is too late, we see it coming, they don’t and won’t, those (like our idiot trolls) are willingfuly ignorant, and will follow their leader off the nearest cliff. But it is our fate for not paying attention when the signs were so evident so many years ago…it will take drastic actions to reverse this process, the snow ball is gathering speed.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 amdrick23, if the left won’t let us have lowered gas prices, how come gas prices didn’t plummet when the Republicans had the majority in both houses of Congress?
nice talking point…it sounds nice…but
If only the right would have let us have lower gas prices…
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 amI can pull off the same bullshit too…
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 amIf only the right would have let us have lower gas prices…
Except for gap-toothed goat-humpers like P, they’re heavily invested in oil stocks…
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 amJohn Stossel: ‘These oil companies are heroes.’
And Jeff Dahmer was just a frustrated chef…
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 amJohn Stossel: Mario wants his mustache back…
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:20 amWHO WANT’S TO NATIONialize the oil industry?
~Prytania
Is that you Stossel?
If so, have your hero friends at the oil companies pay for your remedial English classes at the community college nearest you…
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:46 amSomewhere in Cheney’s secret “Energy Plan” he wrote, ” . . . and then we get Stossel to call us heroes after we raise gas toward $5.00 per gallon.”
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 amslickdick: I saw where Wall-E ticket sales were in the millions. What? The citizens still have too much disposal income. Let’s raised oil and gas prices. Movies shouldn’t earn that much money.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 amI guess if I had someone coming around every week to drop a huge wad of cash in my lap, I’d call them my hero and friend too.
But the sad truth is,the gigantic rape of America by the energy industry (and their willing partners in the government and auto industry)cannot be disquised by putting a little lipgloss on the pig.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 amManufacturers, engineers, doctors and educators are heroes. Oil exec are not. What a laugh.
You and I could go out and drill for oil just as easily as anyone else.
Oil provides elite living for stupid people.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:06 amStossel should do another story about Professional Wrestling.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 amThe problem you folks have with Stossel is he is right.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 amOf course…
Thank you, Exxon for the damage the Valdez did and paying only $2bil, after the SCOTUS discounted the bill. Of course you paid form the company’s petty cash fund.
Thank you, all oil companies for the sacrifice of allowing us to subsidize you via tax cuts brought about by your powerful lobby groups.
Thank you for having that secret meeting with Bush and Cheney in late 2000 to tell them to go to war with Iraq, destabilize the world oil markets and wreak economic havoc on us.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 amThe key to this whole crisis is the Air Car which runs on compressed air which in itself is a stored energy that can move pistons inside an engine.
They are going to introduce them to the market in Europe and Mexico has already pre-ordered 2000 of them to run their taxi fleet. They get 180 miles per fill, drive up to 90 miles per hr, cost $3 to fill depending on local electricity rates and best of all, their very affordable….it’s just a matter of producing these things in mass for the consumer.
We could solve this oil crisis over night, we just need leadership! We need someone who will make alternative energy their NUMBER ONE priority. This will solve ALL our problems from the economy to CO2 emissions.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 amPrytania Says:
A show of hands here; WHO WANT’S TO NATIONialize the oil industry?
You mean like Norway?
Avoiding the Oil Curse
What Norway can teach Iraq.
The 4.5 million citizens of chilly, oil-rich Norway may be sitting on the biggest gusher of them all. The largely unknown Petroleum Fund of Norway was worth 940.7 billion Norwegian kroner on June 30—about $147 billion—and is growing rapidly.
Here’s how it works. Cash flow from the government’s petroleum activities—the state owns 81 percent of the aptly named Statoil—is funneled into the fund. Last year, the total came to 91.9 billion kroner (about $14 billion). The fund then hires external managers to invest, generally using low-cost indexing strategies. It’s conservatively managed—more bonds than stocks, and investments divided equally between Europe and the rest of the world.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 amtrollsbwild Says:
Thank you, all oil companies for the sacrifice of allowing us to subsidize you via tax cuts brought about by your powerful lobby groups.
Where’s Tracy to tell us how he is against corporate welfare, and to explain to us how beneficial the oil companies are to his portfolio?
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 amshoeless Says
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 am
So why haven’t we invaded Norway? I don’t think they have nuclear weapons, do they?
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 amThey don’t have brown people either.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:09 amIt sounds like he is PANDERING to BIG OIL for the REICH WING Jonny McBush term……
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 ami personally dont think the oil companies should be taxed for windfall profits. its OUR fault we buy stupid cars and develop stupidly so that we need lots of gas to get anywhere. But oil companies are among the most evil corporations there are. just look how they walk hand in hand with the worlds worst dictators, including many of our country’s enemies.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 amDid John Stossel just call Hugo Chavez a hero?
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 amoil companies are among the most evil corporations there are. just look how they walk hand in hand with the worlds worst dictators, including many of our country’s enemies.
Amen to that:
http://oddculture.com/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2007/ 11/ bush_saudi1.jpg
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 amMIchael O’Hanlon was on Marketplace on NPR/APM a day or too ago when he echoed the line that the oil companies were brave and ought to be thanked for going in (”in many ways admirable”).
How despicable.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/30/iraq/
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pmpbg Says:
Did John Stossel just call Hugo Chavez a hero?
No, he wasn’t talking about state owned oil companies, like Citgo, which use their profits to build schools, hospitals, ect.
He was talking about private multi-national oil companies which receive corporate welfare steal natural resources, and economically rape the people of the countries in which they operate.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:54 pmI watched the first part of this interview with that CEO from Chevron. A caller asked why the price of gas was so high in California. His reply was” well California has there own Gas supply and are self sufficient with regards to oil and gas. Also, Calif has the highest tax on gas in the country”. Now this looks ok at face value, but just before the caller asked that question, he just got done saying that we have to be self sufficient as a nation to bring down the cost of gas.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 amHe outright contradicted himself, and it went right over Kings head. no surprise there. As for Stossel, fuggem. He’s a tool.
Apparently we have to play amongst ourselvels whilst the TP crew takes deserved break. That’s cool. So I’m stepping-up with this ( but there’s a joke at the end!):
While the Nation Barbecues Burgers, the US Economy is Getting Burned to a Crisp.
North Sea Brent Crude oil hit a record $146 per barrel on July 3rd before dropping to $144.48 which still priced it 11 cents above the traditional benchmark of the international oil trade, US Light Sweet Crude, apparently for the first time ever (that is, since 1973).
On the same day the European Central Bank raised its main interest rate from 4 to 4.25% which appeared to prompt the dollar to drop to a new low in comparison to the euro.
The BBC quotes Tokyo-based fund manager Tetsu Emori as saying: “The current market is being driven by the weaker dollar and with the equity markets a disaster, investment money is looking for a more profitable market.”
In other words commodities investors are steering away from US oil product and US currency at the same time.
Another 62,000 jobs were lost from “non-farm payroll” to reach a total of 438,000 in 6 months, the majority apparently in construction, financial services and manufacturing.
The monthly average over the last 5 months (excluding this month’s figures) is 75,000 so the job-loss rate for June is below that recent average.
However with Bush’s emergency tax rebate having had no appreciable effect thus far and with oil and gas prices still rising and driving increases in essential consumer products as well as wholesale production and distribution overhead there would appear to be little or no prospect of consumer spending slowing its downward tend or of employers halting cost–cutting measures for at least the rest of the year.
Now I have absolutely no official qualifications for my observations and opinions on matters economic and financial to be taken seriously by anyone but I think I’ve picked up a few basic concepts in the last few years to at least present reasoned arguments to support a current opinion that is ( and has been for a while) fairly contrary to usual ‘experts’ the media trots out ad-nauseum.
If nothing else if my “consumer confidence” is low, aren;t there a bunch of other people who share my views, valid or not? And as consumer confidence is widely touted as an economic indicator isn;t a lack of confidence pretty damnded important? And if the ‘experts’ fail to convicne consumers that they should have more confidence, their arguments are failing. Why? Am I and my fellow pessimists simply stupidm or ignorant or a bit of both? It could be. Or it could be that consumer confidence depends not upon the assurances of experts who no so much more than the average Joe or Jane, but from the evidence or the simple experiences that the majority shares–like finding that it’s much harder to afford even the neccessities when their prices increase by 50% whilst one’s wages drop by 10%.
Supposedly consumer spending and “small business: are the abiding strength of the American economy. Well when the consumers can’t afford to spend and the small businesses can;t afford to employ as many people and complain about it, why don’t the ‘experts’ who laud the average American’s fundamental impact on the overall economy then listen to the average American?
I’m reminded of an old joke about British Empire attitudes:
In a generic colonial outpost made of mud and straw, decorated with a smattering of Victorian conveniences and bric-a-brac to lend an air of civilization a British Army officer is just settling down to enjoy a large Scotch whilst he mutters to himself about the heat and the flies and the dirt and whatnot.
Drums and a general commotion erupt from outside and then a Private bursts in to the officers hut in a state of agitation.
“Sir,” he exclaims breathlessly, “the natives are revolting!”
Responds the officer: “You can say that again! I can’t stand them either”.
Same thing really.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pmwwew: I personally don’t think the oil companies should be taxed for windfall profits. It’s OUR fault we buy stupid cars and develop stupidly so that we need lots of gas to get anywhere.
Indeed.
Now, if I win the lottery, that’s a ‘windfall profit’ for me, but I have to pay half of that profit back in taxes. Is that ‘fair’?
Considering that I’d still be much better-off through no effort and if another individual won instead of me and they’d be subject to the same taxation, well sure, that’s ‘fair’.
But I didn’t manipulate the lottery system to make my windfall profit. Oil companies HAVE manipulated the system (Government—tax and energy policies) to maximize their profit. That’s a lot of work and work produces income and income is subject to taxes—so how come their tax burden hasn’t increased the way my tax-burden increases when I earn more money and why when I make a windfall profit am I taxed at a much higher rate for that particular windfall profit when oil companies aren’t? Is that ‘fair’?
I agree the ‘average’ American consumer may be in a poor position to now complain about choosing “stupid cars”.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:56 pmBut it is policy-makers, ‘experts’ and ‘industry leaders’ who have made great efforts to limit consumer choice and have repressed, manipulated and even falsified relevant information that would otherwise have enabled the general public to make better choices when it comes to cars—or practically anything else for that matter. Responsible government mandated CAFE standards (which are now 30 years old) which Big–Auto fought then and is fighting now (with the exact same arguments and with Big-Oil’s blessing of course). “Buy American”, ‘huge SUV’s protect your most precious cargo—your kids’ were heavily promoted campaigns re-iterated by politicians and reflected in policies regardless of facts (such as SUV’s roll-over easily and have weak roofs and carry more momentum and therefore are far less safe than a compact car in those respects).
Even so US automakers have lost significant market share and are doing so now especially, so there appear to be an increasing number of stupid American’s who aren’t so stupid anymore. The trouble is that stupid consumers can, or simply have-to, change their purchasing habits faster than Big Auto can respond—because Big Auto has long thought they could maintain there market share not through honest competition by through political manipulation. No longer.