Oil and gas producers fire back at Democratic presidential candidates.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

1 hour ago, Enthalpic said:

Not really, the pension plan** fund is doing very well.  So well the government cut payments into the fund because it was getting too bloated.

My union also had such a huge war chest of growing money that they could threaten strikes, and keep paying the picketers for years if needed!  I had to go on strike once (I voted against but lost), it sucked but they paid me $100/day cash to stand in front of the building for 4 hours per day.  Thankfully it ended really fast, maybe three days.

**Note, I am not talking about the normal Canada Pension Plan which will go broke eventually due to so many old people leaving the workforce and so few new worker bees.  My financial advisor says I will get paid out no problem but children will have their eligible retirement age increased again soon so they have to contribute longer and collect less.

It's already gone from 60 to 65 I think...

Confiscation that occurred in the past "bloated" the fund that pays you. It's confiscation nevertheless and depending on underlying producers (such as Bentall Kennedy) who manage those funds it may or may not stay solvent. However, unlike "working folk" you'll get your checks regardless and poor fools working for Cenovus might see the value of their 401k equivalent drop like a rock, with no golden parachute. But yeah, evil according to you. 

Hopefully you've read Rob's post above and are starting to see the light. Hopefully

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

Good rebuttals, but two points;"superannuation" and union dues are not free - you get less take home cash and our taxes are already higher.

Secondly, some of your complaints are unique to the USA, in Alberta when oil was booming civil servants made way less than the private sector.  You exchange earning potential for security and stability.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Well, I got an engineering degree back in ‘84 (Petroleum Engineering). We were in yet another slump and jobs were hard to find. Ended up going to Brazil to work on the offshore drilling rigs. Worked on the rigs offshore Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

Decided to get out of the oilfield and worked at a tire shop while getting a Master’s in Environmental Policy & Management (😖). Got a phone call from an old boss and went consulting as a Night Companyman offshore Congo.

At this point I have ‘burned out’ 5 US passports (each with additional leaves), travelled all over the planet doing what I like to do, met more characters than you could shake a stick at. I had a blast!

Financially I did pretty good (people pay you well to drill wells in ‘hardship’ locations...). But this slump since 2015 is wearing on me badly. Forced retirement sucks.

I wish that I had a pension, but as a consultant, you don’t. This ‘living for longer’ thing makes a retirement budget problematic.

Although I am not a financial guy, my lifestyle was geared more to adventure than accumulating ‘stuff’, so I banked a bit. My financially astute friends helped me set up managed accounts and so forth so Angie and I SHOULD be able to enjoy our golden years (keep in mind that I would go back to work in a heartbeat).

Am I ‘insanely rich’? Not even close (I don’t even own a car, Yaris or otherwise!). Am I comfortable and ‘secure’ - I think so (see the longevity comment).

What I will say is that I was lucky enough to make some money while having one heck of an adventure. At the end of the day, that is priceless!

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

The Democratic Socialist anti - oil & gas agenda will eventually get some backlash from voters, if their rhetoric keeps getting increasingly shrill.

No power in anti-oil agenda

Many, if not all, of the candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination have objections to the oil and gas industry, and one organization thinks they ought to be careful about what they say and do.

"If their agenda actually came to fruition, the American voter would turn against them so quickly they'd be out of power for a long time," says Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance. "Their rhetoric against us has been, I would say, disheartening."

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has stated on more than one occasion that he is in favor of taking fossil fuel companies to criminal court.

"To be called criminals for providing a legal product that enables pretty much every facet of modern society is not comfortable, but it's been out there a long time, and we just thought it was time to answer back," Sgamma says.

That "answer" came last week in an open letter to 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidates. It was printed in The New York Times.

"We purposely in our ad chose a picture of a little boy reading by a lantern, probably a solar-powered lantern, but he is doing his homework, and it's clear that he doesn't have enough light," explains Sgamma. "Once that solar-powered battery runs out for the night, he better have his homework done."

This child in the photo is just one of many young people in the world today.

"There are people that like that little boy trying to better their lives, trying to get an education, and if they don't have access to that reliable electricity, well, then maybe they don't have opportunities we have in the West," the Alliance president poses. "We want the entire world to benefit from the lifestyle that we enjoy in the West."

Speaking of the West, Sgamma points out that oil and gas production is a big provider of jobs in five states that are part of "Super Tuesday."

"These are not only the direct jobs in the industry, but the GDP and wealth that we create on behalf of the American people means their energy prices are low, that there are jobs because we're providing a productive product, and we're not sending $350 billion a year overseas importing an energy from Saudi Arabia and Russia," Sgamma continues. "If candidates want to say they don't want any oil and natural gas and they want to put the American producer out of work, well, the American citizen isn't going to put up with not being able to drive to work and school, with not having reliable 24/7 electricity. So what would we do? We would just import that energy from overseas."

Meanwhile, Sgamma credits oil and gas production for providing more than just energy.

"It keeps medicine in the medicine cabinet and sustains people," she says. "We wouldn't have the information technology without oil and natural gas, because everything from the computer chip to the plastics in your smartphone or in your computer are made with petroleum products."

 

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... Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has stated on more than one occasion that he is in favor of taking fossil fuel companies to criminal court.

"To be called criminals for providing a legal product that enables pretty much every facet of modern society is not comfortable, but it's been out there a long time, and we just thought it was time to answer back," Sgamma says. ...

[specinho + 467]

On 2/26/2020 at 8:23 PM, Enthalpic said:

LOL Bill Gates is a humanitarian who is going to give away most of his fortune.  He understands he doesn't deserve so much money.

Why haven't I received my allocation? A return flight of 500 bucks or less, a small reception with a letter of award would have completed it..............

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by specinho