Keith Shirey's Analysis Is Superficial
By Clint Martz
6/9/06


Keith Shirey, owner of this web site, dabbles in politics in a kind of dilettantish way.  His anger at the evils of this world are evident, but like most liberals, he does not offer a fundamental analysis of social, political, and economic problems, and, consequently, cannot offer real solutions to real problems.

The staggering increase in gasoline prices is taking an enormous toll on working families in the US, whose paychecks are already being eaten up by a host of other rising costs, from health care, to education, to housing and food. 

What Shirey does not get is that Underlying this crisis is the fundamental contradiction between the development of the productive forces and the social relations of the capitalist profit system, which finds its starkest expression in the maintenance of a petroleum-based economy that every day becomes more incompatible with human needs and life itself.

While the oil companies and their apologists in Washington have blamed world crude oil prices and environmental regulations for the price hikes, the chief cause is profiteering by oil companies, which are posting record windfalls. Over the last decade, there has been a wave of mergers and consolidations in the oil industry, allowing a handful of monopolies to tighten their grip on supplies, manipulate production levels and drive up prices. The present crisis is the result not of some natural working out of the laws of the market, but rather of definite decisions made by corporate executives who have immense personal interest in the matter.

Shirey has it right in one respect:  In the 1990s, oil producers complained of too much refining capacity, not too little, and an "oversupply" of oil that was driving down profit margins. The industry responded by shutting down 25 refineries in the US since 1995 and cutting capacity by 830,000 barrels a day. In addition, competitors conspired to control the amount of oil and gas on the market, eliminate independent producers and consolidate control of supply and pricing in the hands of the oil monopolies.

The rising gas prices have prompted politicians (Democrats and Republicans alike) to call for investigations into price gouging and, in some cases, even to seek legislation to impose a "windfall profit tax" on the oil companies. Not a thing will come out of this posturing, which is strictly for public consumption.

Under conditions in which the living standards of hundreds of millions of working people in the United States are being driven down by the soaring price of fuel, immediate action must be taken to bring the cost of fuel under control.

At the same time, the larger task of developing alternative energy sources and confronting the mounting threat posed by global warming cannot be postponed.

Neither a short-term answer to the present crisis over gas prices, nor the longer-term solution to replacing an unsustainable petroleum-based economy is possible outside of a direct assault on the capitalist profit system and the powerful social, financial and political interests that are behind the policies of Big Oil.

People like Keith Shirey, whine and complain about corporate greed but are timid when it comes to advocating actual solutions.  What is needed is a policy that places social needs before profit interests. What we need is an immediate capping of gas prices for individual consumers and small to medium-sized businesses at $1.50 per gallon.

The exploitation of this crisis in the interests of corporate profits and the private accumulation of wealth must be halted. The actions of Big Oil must be approached objectively for what they are: criminal, anti-social behavior. Criminal investigations must be initiated into the practices of the giant oil companies, including the auditing of the personal accounts of all leading executives. The massive profits recorded by the oil companies during the past year as well as the obscene multimillion-dollar compensation packages paid out to executives must be expropriated and placed in a publicly controlled fund.

These short-term measures must be combined with a fundamental change in the financial structure and organization of the energy industry. The American people and, in fact, the people of the world are being held hostage to the profit interests of vast energy conglomerates that threaten the globe with declining living standards, environmental destruction and war. It is necessary to break this stranglehold by nationalizing the energy conglomerates, that is, converting ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, etc., into publicly owned and democratically controlled utilities.

This would begin to make available the financial resources that are needed for launching an internationally coordinated, multitrillion-dollar effort to develop alternative energy sources and confront the danger posed to the environment and mankind's future.

In opposition to the deliberate "fixing" of the market to enrich the wealthy elite, the exploration, development and use of energy supplies must be guided by a rational international plan that is publicly debated and democratically approved by the working class. This plan must meet the needs of the world's people for low-cost, environmentally safe and renewable energy.

In their efforts to secure vast profits, the energy monopolies and the auto industry have long conspired to prevent the development of reliable public transportation, and, in the past have dismantled existing transit systems. A rational plan for energy use must include the pouring of billions of dollars into urban mass transit and light-rail systems, as well as developing fuel-efficient vehicles.

These ideas are not utopian but absolutely necessary for the future of humanity. They require, however, that working people assert that their rights to a decent standard of living, secure jobs, a clean environment and a future free from war take precedence over the profits and property rights of the America's ruling elite. To achieve this, the working class must build its own political instrument a mass socialist party to end the monopoly of the two big business parties and the outmoded and bankrupt capitalist system they defend. This is the perspective of the Socialist Equality Party and our candidates who are running in the 2006 elections.

These are real solutions to real problems.  Anything else is like putting a band aid on cancer.  People like Shirey have medicine cabinets full of them. Socialists offer real medicine.