As many of you know, I work for an oil company. Yes, the big evil of the world. It’s really not as large as, oh say, BP, Exxon, and Shell, but they are the largest employer in our town. That makes them big enough by my standards. I’ve only worked for them for a couple of years, but since I started for them while there was large concern over the increasing gas prices I have noted a few things for myself. They are as follows:
Guess what?? Those employed by big oil have to pay the same gas prices as everyone else. Shocker! So they don’t really want gas prices to go up either. So they are trying their hardest as well to make the price go back down. They are cutting their general costs like everyday people. Turning off lights, going paperless, recycling, handing out things instead of mailing them, doing more with less. Anyway they can reduce the cost of their operations, they try.
Believe it or not, oil companies actually make less profit off of a gallon of gas today than they did 10 years ago. So, here’s some thinking for you to do. If they are making less money per gallon, but still making record profits who is really to blame??? Uh… that would be you. The consumer who buys more gas everyday to live your life as you do. If you have such a problem with the current energy situation, please feel free to go out there and work on creating or finding a cheaper, more efficient energy source.
This oil spill business with BP has gone on waaaay too long. Human errors happen. Accidents happen. There is not really much more we can do to control them. However, why is our federal government standing in the way of getting it cleaned up instead of doing whatever they can to help? There are products out there specifically for this. They have been going through the government testing for years. They are developed by both the oil companies and smaller, independent businesses. My husband worked on developing just such a product until the government grant funding his research was cancelled by our illustrious (sarcasm) president. The government is aware of the product. The Coast Guard and other branches of the military have tested and approved it for the government and EPA. Yet none of it is being ordered or used to clean this up. The company has offered its use, but has heard no response from the bureaucracy. Many of the other oil companies have offered to help using their own teams and equipment. So, I’m not sure how the continued lack of clean up is the fault of BP.
Yes, there are other sources of energy. However, do solar and wind power produce enough without being unwieldy? Or costing more than they produce? I think we have our answer in that those that use those sources still have to supplement them with the proven sources of energy. And it’s making them worse off than if they used the tried and true sources that have been improved to fit more into society’s demands. Oil companies have done their part by working hard to develop cleaner, more efficiently burning gas and continue to improve on it. The car companies continue to make cars that use the fuel more efficiently as well. It seems to me that most of the companies being demonized but the public media today are working very hard to meet their responsibilities to society in many ways.
If you don’t like those improvements, then it is time for you to start educating yourself on how you can some up with something different and better. When you do, then you can make billions of dollars while you put the oil and car companies out of business. Until you do that though, quit whining about supposed price gouging, your car that only gets 25 mpg, and an oil spill that should have already been cleaned up.
Just my thoughts.
