Energy

(This entry was initially posted Monday, October 13. It was reposted with its current time stamp after the Okie Funk site experienced some technical difficulties.)

You, who are on the road
Must have a code
That you can live by.
And so, become yourself
Because the past
Is just a goodbye.—“Teach Your Children,” Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Surely it is easy for folks to read the recent financial demise of Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake Energy Corporation as a good old-fashioned morality tale they could teach their children.

The morality tale could go something like this:

Sailing high the last few years, McClendon, the chief executive of Chesapeake, became the moral equivalent of a nineteenth-century railroad baron, pushing his political agenda and corporate ideology while reportedly amassing a huge fortune.

Meanwhile, caught up in his own greed and hubris, he bet his money on a gambling scheme related to the stock market. His hubris blinded him to risk and reality. He had plenty of money by any measurement, but he needed more and more. He believed he was right, not the lessons of history, not those who pushed for more government regulations of Wall Street.

Now, according to news reports, McClendon has sold “substantially all” of his stocks and his company is facing operating cuts because of a decline in natural gas prices and the financial crisis on Wall Street.

Another GOP ideologue, another unabashed champion of the ultra-rich, has fallen because greed and hubris still have consequences.

So, kids, be conservative with your money and be nice to those who don’t have as much as you.

Well, that’s one way to put it.

But I think the seemingly overnight financial demise of McClendon and the free fall of Chesapeake Energy, a major natural gas company in Oklahoma, can be attributed primarily to irrational and illogical business decisions across the spectrum of American big business these days. These decisions can be directly related to the Orwellian era in which we live, an era defined by President George Bush’s and the GOP’s support of an unregulated free market.

It also tells us powerfully on a local level: Don’t listen to McClendon or others in what I half-jokingly call the Okie Oligarchy—Clayton Bennett, Tom Ward, Christy Gaylord Everest, etc.—about important business or political issues. They have been self-absorbed and dreadfully wrong about important issues for a long time now.

On a national level, McClendon’s financial demise and Chesapeake’s current challenges are a fitting symbol of the destructive business practices waged against this country by the market fundamentalists, led by their cheerleader Bush and now supported by one of his surrogates, U.S. Sen. John McCain.

This is what happened in simple terms: As natural gas prices increased, McClendon bought shares in the company he co-founded on margin, which means he borrowed the money. As long as Chesapeake stock remained high, McClendon was fine. But when stocks plummeted recently because of the financial crisis and when natural gas prices decreased because of the ensuing lack of demand, he was forced to raise money to cover his daring bets. In the end, he had to sell “substantially all” of his 33.4 million in stocks to meet the margin call, according to news reports. This, say the reports, represented much of his estimated $2.1 to $3 billion personal stash.

But before anyone sheds any tears for poor Aubrey, keep in mind his Chesapeake compensation was valued at $25.5 million last year. He’s still apparently drawing a paycheck that most of us cannot even begin to fathom. Let me put it in a more understandable way: He can still easily afford to go see the doctor, unlike a growing number of Oklahomans, even those with health insurance.

Even as he played his daring shell game, McClendon tried to shove his narrow, soulless ideology down our throats. In 2004, he and his former business partner, Tom Ward, donated $250,000 to a political action committee to help elect Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, another GOP ideologue. Both McClendon and Ward donated $1.1 million to Gary Bauer’s Americans United To Preserve Marriage, a group that agitates against gay marriages. Records show McClendon donated $250,000 to Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, a group that disseminated outrageous lies about presidential candidate John Kerry during the 2004 elections.

In addition, both former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and former U.S. Sen. Don Nickles, two ultra-conservative politicians, currently serve on the Chesapeake Board of Directors. Keating, mimicking McClendon’s style of dirty politics, recently attacked presidential contender Barack Obama with comments some say were racist and ugly. Burns Hargis, a former Republican candidate for governor and the president of Oklahoma State University, serves on the board as well. When is he going to go ballistic against Obama?

Recently, McClendon was one of 16 prominent Oklahoma executives who urged Congress to pass Bush’s financial bailout plan, which has failed so far to provide any relief to the rich fat cats who supported it. Obviously, McClendon had to be thinking on some level about his own investments, his own company. What about the others? The list included Larry Nichols, the CEO of Devon Energy Corporation, and, of course, Bennett, who is the chairman of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team.

McClendon was wrong about his business. He was wrong about the incompetent Bush. He was wrong about politics in general. He was wrong about the stock market. He was wrong about taxes. As others, including myself, spoke out repeatedly beginning years ago against the reckless tax policies and business ideology of the Bush administration, McClendon ignored the obvious and gambled his fortune away. Fine. It’s his money, right?

But has McClendon made poor business decisions that parallel his personal financial decisions? Has he hurt his employees, many of whom are hardworking, decent Oklahomans, by risking their financial security, too? How will McClendon’s business actions ultimately impact the economy in Oklahoma?

Will those legislators who recently voted to cut the taxes of Oklahoma’s richest citizens like McClendon finally see that, no, revenues are not going to grow under the archaic “trickle-down” theory the local corporate moguls used as a scam to increase their wealth?

Is Oklahoma about ready to face another energy company bust like it did in the early 1980s that brought about the failure of Penn Square Bank?

These are important questions that important people need to be asking. But don’t count on the corporate media here for anything more than a cursory discussion about these questions.

Some financial pundits are predicting Americans will soon be paying $7 a gallon for gasoline, and, rest assured, when it happens the corporate media here will spin this on one level as great news for Oklahoma because local energy companies will benefit with massive profits.

Sure, you might see the obligatory times-are-tough stories. But, really, who cares that you cannot afford to drive to work anymore? What is good for energy companies is good for Oklahoma, the mantra goes at The Oklahoman and Tulsa World. It has become a deeply entrenched Okie mythology that Oklahoma’s quality of life and the happiness of its people is dependent on the success of a handful of energy companies here and throughout the world.

When gasoline prices go up, well, then Okies should be dancing in the streets, right? After all, these wonderful energy companies contribute much to the state’s tax base and provide great jobs. Why, you are simply un-American and un-Oklahoman if you do not love those wonderful energy companies who make life so great here.

The only problem here is the mythology is not the least bit true. This is what energy company worship has wrought in this state: Oklahomans have relatively low average incomes when compared to other states. It does not provide adequate funding for education because its tax base is traditionally low and shrinking because of recent tax cuts that reward wealthy people. Its deteriorating roads and bridges are some of the worst in the nation. The state has high rates of hungry families, poverty and uninsured people. It ranks close to the lowest in the nation in most categories dealing with health issues.

Meanwhile, some local energy executives use their wealth to support ultra-right wing politicians and initiatives that help promote the oil-company mythology. This keeps the state’s political leadership mired in a corporate-worship mindset that hurts ordinary Oklahomans and rewards only the relatively few millionaires in the Okie oligarchy.

So what happens to a state that has been built on the sanctity of energy companies and planned on the ubiquity of the automobile when gasoline prices hit $7 a gallon?

During the last belch of The Oil Age, expect Oklahoma, in particular, to face incredible fallout. The state’s sprawling cities and neighborhoods were planned on cheap gasoline, for example, even though the idea of diminishing supplies of oil has been discussed for decades. Who will lose out as people here move closer together in centralized locations? More importantly, who will want to move here knowing they might have to drive 300 miles or more each week? As the economy sours even more because of rising costs, local energy companies will have even more leverage here to call the political shots.

The solutions are obvious, but nothing will happen here until we face a full-blown crisis because of the current political influence of energy companies. Here are some obvious solutions to rising gasoline prices: The state should become more sustainable. Oklahoma City and Tulsa should centralize their neighborhoods and important institutions. Local governments should provide new funding for mass transit. The government here should encourage the use of alternative energy sources through tax incentives.

The first thing that must happen, however, is for Oklahomans to stop electing politicians who support the agenda of oil companies over the needs of struggling families. A vote for politicians such as U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, who support the interests of energy companies over regular families, is an act of self-loathing. It should be known as a form of family abuse.

The financial success of energy companies has been an integral initiative of the failed neoconservative experiment, and these companies have reaped record profits. Now it is shaping up to be a year of great political change in this country. It would be a shame if Oklahoma once again got left behind, but it seems inevitable at this point.

Once the last bit of oil and natural gas is sucked from the soil here, the energy companies will leave and never come back. They are a blip on the state’s and country’s history. They have prevented the state from prospering by using political manipulation to protect their narrow interests, and that is what the historical record will show.

Carlin and Russert

When NBC’s big-shot infotainer Tim Russert recently died, he received the equivalent of a state funeral and the corporate media lauded him for days as a great “journalist.” Imperial President George Bush even attended Russert’s wake to obviously thank him posthumously for his unequivocal support of the Iraq invasion and ensuing occupation.

When comedian George Carlin died a couple of weeks later, the media offered up obligatory obituaries.

This is yet another example of how the mainstream media distorts reality and significance. Carlin and his comedy, which always offered brilliant critiques of our culture, will be remembered as an essential part of the American milieu in the last half of the twentieth century. Russert, who hosted Meet The Press, will be forgotten in a few years or so. If Russert is remembered at all, it will be as a sidenote, as one of those millionaire celebrity infotainers who served as a toady for the most corrupt presidential regime in the country’s history.

Here are excerpts from some recent Okie Funk posts:

Oklahoma City is hard hit by rising gasoline prices. The metropolitan area encompasses a large geographical area. Many vital institutions, such as major hospitals and medical offices, can be miles away from residential areas and rural communities. For example, the Oklahoma Heart Hospital in north Oklahoma City is approximately 30 miles and more away from Norman neighborhoods.

Local officials need to continue planning to improve and increase mass transit. Undoubtedly, there will come a time when mass transit and energy conservation will become emergency issues. Is Oklahoma City ready? Is the state ready?
March 3, 2008

Coburn, a Republican, recently put a “hold” on legislation known as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The bill, authored by U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York), prohibits employers from discriminating against anyone for their genetic predisposition. Recent advances in DNA research have made such a law crucial. This is a pressing contemporary issue.

The bill is nonpartisan and has overwhelming support. It passed the House on a 420-3 vote and passed on two Senate votes by 95-0 and 98-0 margins. The Bush White House has issued statements of support for the bill.
February 27, 2008

Let us all hope the civil rights lawsuit filed this week against the Oklahoma Department of Human Services will open up a real dialogue here about how to solve the state’s massive socioeconomic problems.

Children’s Rights, a child advocacy group based in New York, has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order reforms to the state’s child welfare system because, as a spokesperson for the group puts it, “Oklahoma has long maintained one of the most dangerous and badly mismanaged child welfare systems in the nation, and thousands of children have suffered under nightmarish conditions for years as a result.”
February 15, 2008

The hunger issue in Oklahoma is a serious one, and it takes a heavy toll on individual lives. It also, unfortunately, echoes the state’s Dustbowl history. During the 1930s, there was massive hunger and poverty in the state and many Oklahomans migrated to California and other states. Oklahoma should show the nation it takes the hunger issue seriously in 2008.

Everyone should donate what food and money they can to local food banks to help alleviate the problem. But growing hunger and poverty in this country demands more action by the federal government. We need permanent solutions. Food banks alone are not the answer. People need decent jobs and health care.
January 31, 2008