Carrion Crows
It now costs me over ten dollars a day to commute back and forth to work. This expense has caused me to adjust my lifestyle, from the way I drive to contemplating moving or changing jobs. I'm angry, my savings account is deflating at an alarming rate and I want to kick someone's ass. So...who's it going to be? China? SUV drivers? Shrub? The auto industry? All likely culprits, but as a wise person once said, if you want to find a battle field, follow the carrion crows, and if you want to find out who started the war, follow the money. Last year, the most profitable company in the US was Exxon Mobil and I'm pretty sure the other oil companies did pretty well, too.
Can you blame them? It's their fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits. In business, there are many models that will lead to profit. One is to sell a lot of product for a low price. Another, more profitable way is to sell less product at a higher price. The latter example is helped along if what you are selling is a necessity, the lack of which would bring economies, both personal and public, to a screaming halt. Oil is such a necessity and the oil companies know it so....in the spirit of fiduciary responsibility the oil companies must have a strategy in place to maximize profits during times of upheaval.
While I would be loath to assign an Enron-like manipulation of the markets to the major oil companies, I am quite sure that the maximization of profit is a huge consideration when such seemingly mundane tasks as refinery maintenance and repair are scheduled. Speaking of refineries....the lack thereof is always prominently mentioned in any discussion of the present crisis. Do you for one minute believe that the oil companies actually WANT to build more refineries? Building refineries costs money, and why build something that you are just going to have to find a way to take off line ASAP? What the hell, if anyone calls you on the fact that you are not building new refineries or upgrading old, you can just blame environmental regulation....BONUS, two birds with one stone! Why make more of a commodity that you are already selling for record profits, especially if making more would bring the price down? Especially when you know that those fat profits will someday end.
The people who run the major oil companies have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit, and they are not stupid. Like carrion crows they will feast on the heartache of war and disaster, growing fat for the famine to come.