OT: Completely OT: Inflation

[Laura Brody]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 15:59:55 -0400, John Esak <john at valar.com> wrote:

>> 	Big oil has our government in its pocket (now more than
>> ever). There is little chance that substantial government
>> grants will be available to fund research into new energy
>> sources. Private investors in the US are not usually known
>> to fund research that could take 10-20 years to get to market
>> (and a profit).
>
> There is much I agree with you on here... but not the Bush stuff.

	We agree to disagree on that. Next.

> Also, I think you are wrong about the big oil companies...it behooves *them* to be the ones working on developing newsources of energy... and from what I've read, they areinvesting billions into this already. They are not big oil
> because they are stupid...

	I stand by my statement that the government will not be
handing out energy research grants. It makes perfect sense
for Big Oil to develop the next major energy source
themselves so that they can continue to be in the position
to be the provider of the new energy and therefor continue
to profit long after oil drilling is a distant memory. They
KNOW that oil will not be around forever. Some predict that
it will run out in 50 years or less. A few say as little
as 20 years. No one knows for sure since there is an
unknow quantity (and quality) still in the ground. To
maximize their profits, they would not take a competing
energy source to market until oil availability was
nearing the end.

	Now for some history.... Remember when every major
city had a trolly system? Do you know why they are all
gone (with the exception of Boston)?

The clues are:

Standard Oil, Goodyear and Ford.

	The answer is that these companies had everything to
gain with the demise of the trolly and the birth of the
automobile. It didn't matter that affordable, efficient
mass transit systems were sacrificed in the process.

	Just to be clear, I am a capitalist and I like making
money. I just think that you shouldn't make screwing people
over a part of doing business.

-- 
Laura Brody, Publisher of the filePro Developer's Journal
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