Re: E-85

FMD -
It appears you don't really understand how the financial markets work. As for the huge dividends you are talking about for the oil companies, a few numbers - Chevron pays 2.85% of the current stock price in dividends, Exxon 1.7%, ConocoPhillips 2.03%. I get better returns than that at my credit union.

Do you have a retirement plan - pension fund, 401k, 403b - at your work, or an IRA? If so, part of your retirement is from the oil companies. These days, the largest holders of stocks in oil companies and other stock corporations generally are in fact the pension funds and 401k and 403b funds. Another thing you overlook - the exploration in OPEC countries (and Russia and the other former Soviet countries) is in fact done largely by the big oil companies you are condemning under contract or in partnership with those countries. Some of the countries, like Venezuela, take over the operations (ConocoPhillips just abandoned their Venezuelan operations). I assume, by the way, that you know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government, and that a number of the "independent" gas stations are actually owned by companies based in the countries in the Middle East (here in California, this includes "World" and "USA" stations).

Why is there not more spent on exploration and refineries? In large part, it is because of environmental restrictions, legitimately legislated because of pressure on our legislators by people like me wanting to preserve places like ANWAR and the coast of California, partly because the available oil is getting much harder and more expensive to get at (no more drilling down 20 feet to get a gusher - it's now 20,000 feet, and that's not an exaggeration), and mainly because the rate (not absolute amount, the *rate*) of new discoveries has been diminishing worldwide (US peaked in the mid-1970s, and the Mid-East appears to have reached or passed its peak just after 2000). Oil (and coal and natural gas) are limited resources and are, as you surely know, non-renewable. The world is running out. Hey, that's good! It means the input of CO2 into the atmosphere will decrease and people will *have* to develop alternative energy sources.

Since Chumango made a disclosure - I am retired and living on pensions and Social Security. My pension from the State of Mississippi is funded by the state pension fund's holdings in oil companies, among other companies, as are the other pension funds that pay my spouse and me. I have some mutual funds in my IRA and 401k, all of which hold oil stocks. See, I read the prospectuses (prospecti?) to see what they hold. Which is why I am shifting the funds I can control to socially conscious mutual funds (some of which return close to 10% per year, better than the oil companies pay in dividends.

As Chumango said, you should check your facts.