Bill O'Reilly, the Foolhardy Fearless Factor Fellow
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
We all have our areas of ignorance, but Fearless Factor Bill O’Reilly loves to flout his.
O’Reilly on April 19, 2006: You are being gouged by the American oil companies. Gas supplies, gas supplies are at an eight-year high. Gas prices have doubled since 2004. Even if you don’t know anything about economics, this one’s pretty obvious. “Talking Points” has been saying for more than a year, U.S. oil companies are exploiting uncertainty in the world by raising prices they don’t have to raise. The companies are making record profits while American workers are getting hurt.
“For more than a year.” Sounds like a Johnny one-note. How many investigations looking for conspiracy have come up empty? I haven’t kept track but it’s more than three or four.
Read what’s next: Can you believe this? This Fatuous Factor Foul-up is threatening us with the French Revolution!
Does ExxonMobil remember the French revolution? There is a limit to what the public will accept even in a capitalistic society. When regular folks get hurt to pay some fat cat $400 million, the line has been crossed.
He resents the $400 million some “fat cat” received for steering a multi-billion dollar corporation—one of the largest in the world. That’s his opinion and he is entitled to it. There may also be those of us who believe that whatever Fatuous Fearless Factor O’Reilly is paid is likely too much. One wonders just how long he would last in the business world, trying to run anything.
Swearing off ExxonMobil may make O’Reilly feel good, but the difference between ExxonMobil and the other large international oil companies is only a matter of degree. Chevron first ate up Gulf, then Texaco. Together with Exxon and Mobil these five companies account for the U. S. five of the original International Seven Sisters. (Read “our Nation’s Peril” on this website.) The other two are Royal Dutch Shell, and British Petroleum, the latter now known as “BP” after having eaten up Amoco then Arco.
The Foolhardy Fearless Factor Fellow then promises never to buy another gallon of ExxonMobil gas. Where then does he turn? Ignorantly to one of the other giants already named? Quite possible.
BUT—Anyone as ignorant of the facts of oil and gas as he is could well be virtuously driving regularly into a Seven-Eleven, which sells, guess what? Citgo, the wholly-owned oil company of Nicaragua and Hugo Chavez. Yup, the very same Chavez who was throwing rocks at America from the U. N. podium recently. See http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO.jsp.
Hope not.
Now for some statistics:
Light crude, November 06 Delivery month on the Nymex descended from a high of $80.40/bbl on July 14 of this year to a close of $61.45/bbl on September 15—a decline of 23%.
But Unleaded Gasoline, October 06 Delivery Month on the NyMEX descended from a high of $2.205/gal on 8-2-06 to $1.5001/gal on 9-25-06, a decline of 32%.
Wow! That is close to a one-third decline!!
The market must have been frightened by O’Reilly’s French Revolution.
Perhaps the market mistook all those drilling derricks for guillotines.
I’m sure this has nothing to do with the story about the rooster who thought the sun rose because he crowed every morning beforehand.
In view of O’reilly’s immature behavior, perhaps he should be forgiven for not remembering that in 1988 the price of crude oil on the NyMex descended to below $13.00 per barrel.
Probably it happened before he was born.
The Fatuous Factor Fellow indeed.
