oil « The Feehery Theory

Posts Tagged ‘oil’

Oil. More or Less?

July 9th, 2008 by John Feehery

My dad used to work in the oil business. Oil put me through college, so I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the business.

With gas prices being what they are right now, the oil industry is under a great deal of scrutiny.

They are making about the same percentage of profits as they always have, but because prices are so high, they are making more money.

Democrats in Congress love to bash the oil companies. But that message hasn’t really worked politically because it has done nothing to bring down prices.

The Democrats tried to turn their attention to the oil speculators, but they discovered that many of these so-called “speculators” are pension funds owned by everyday Americans. Dry hole.

And now, they are coming to the grim conclusion that they might have to change their long-held position and support more domestic oil exploration here in America.

Against this backdrop comes good news about the oil industry’s efforts to get more oil production from Iraq.

The Politics of Oil Prices

June 9th, 2008 by John Feehery

Last October, John Dingell of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a proposal to increase taxes by fifty cents a gallon of gasoline and jet fuel.

He did it to protest environmentalist efforts to put the entire burden of conservation on the backs of the auto industry, but his efforts were applauded by many Democrats who believed that gasoline was too inexpensive.

An important part of liberal theology is that American behavior must change if we are going to be able to protect the planet. That means that American consumers should take more public transportation, buy smaller cars, fly less, and generally consume a lot less energy.

Today, we have a situation that must make the liberals very happy indeed. GM announced that they are not going to be making as many SUV’s as they used to. Public transportation is bursting at the seams, unable to keep up with demand. The airlines are cutting way back on the number of flights they take.

Welcome to liberal Nirvana.

Who knew it could feel this bad?

John Feehery is President of Communications and Director of Government Affairs for Quinn Gillespie and Associates, Washington, D.C.'s top public affairs firm.