Sunday, July 5, 2020
SHELL: LATEST OIL COMPANY TO DO A BELLY FLOP
By Brian Kahn, Gizmodo.
July 3, 2020
https://popularresistance.org/shell-latest-oil-company-to-do-a-belly-flop/
We’re halfway through 2020, and I think we can all safely say it’s been a pretty terrible year. There’s been so much terrible stuff in the past two months alone, I can’t even remember the bad stuff that happened in January. But I’m sure it sucked.
So I’ll take minor bits of good news where I can get it. And the latest is Shell writing down $22 billion on its balance sheets, making it the latest oil company to acknowledge that things are probably not going back to the way they were.
The company announced it expected the dip in value to be driven by both its oil and gas sides of the business on Tuesday. The problem, for Shell and other fossil fuel companies big and small, is that the pandemic has cratered demand. The price of oil dipped into negative territory for a hot second in April, and the fallout has continued. Shell follows in the footsteps of BP, which did the whole write down thing in mid-June to the tune of $17.5 billion. The Shell announcement came the same week Chesapeake Energy, the company that led the fracking boom in the U.S., declared bankruptcy after years of riding high on debt.
While the coronavirus has certainly spurred the industry’s free fall, there are signs this may be the start of a permanent decline. Even before the pandemic, the fracking industry was looking at some bills coming due that it was in all likelihood going to be unable to pay. And Big Oil stocks that have traditionally led the stock market had lost ground. That was underscored this week when Tesla’s stock price surpassed Exxon’s. Symbolic? Sure. But these are signs in the real world oil ain’t coming back.
In May, Shell foreshadowed what was to come when its C-suite level executives told investors the coronavirus has caused “major demand destruction that we don’t even know will come back.” When the pandemic recedes, the climate crisis still looms large (hell, it’s looming large even as the pandemic rages). Digging up more oil and gas is simply not an option in the coming decade, and the world—and the oil industry—is increasingly waking up to that.
Watching the oil industry’s rapid decline is a marvel to behold after decades of climate activist pressure did almost nothing to budge it. While it’s good news in the sense that it edges the world closer to keeping the climate habitable, it’s bad news for oil and gas workers. Shell and BP are among oil companies trying to become “energy” companies. What exactly the shape of an energy company looks like remains to be seen, though it’s worth noting oil companies’ climate plans are of questionable repute at best. The one thing that is clear: People will lose their jobs.
Shell has been offering voluntary buyouts. BP also announced it was laying off 10,000 workers. While the company was nice enough to give them laptops, that a laptop is not a job, nor is it a long-term solution. Letting capitalism do its thing is a surefire way to screw workers (see: coal, cars, history). Governments need to stop trying to bring oil back by funding a dirty recovery and come up with a plan to help fossil fuel workers transition to the economy-to-be. Shell is only the latest oil company to flail, but it certainly won’t be the last.
60+ Groups Demand Senate Pass Sanders Amendment to Slash 'Out of Control' Pentagon Budget by $74 Billion
"The current moment should force us to confront the reality that, for too long, we have invested in the wrong priorities, the wrong tools, and the wrong solutions."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/30/60-groups-demand-senate-pass-sanders-amendment-slash-out-control-pentagon-budget-74
More than 60 progressive advocacy groups representing millions of members across the U.S. are pressuring senators to pass an amendment led by Sen. Bernie Sanders that would cut the proposed Pentagon budget by 10% and redirect the $74 billion in savings toward funding healthcare, education, jobs, and housing in impoverished and neglected communities.
"Our militarism budget is out of control," a coalition of 61 advocacy groups wrote in a letter (pdf) to senators on Monday. "In 2019, the United States spent more money on our military than the next nine countries combined. The Department of Defense's budget eclipses that of federal courts, education, the State Department, local economic development, public health, and environmental protection combined, yet the Pentagon is incapable of passing a basic audit."
Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) have introduced a companion amendment in the House. Lee has also introduced a resolution proposing up to $350 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget by closing U.S. military bases overseas, ending funding for ongoing wars, and slashing private service contracting.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) currently under consideration in the Senate calls for a $740.5 billion military budget for fiscal year 2021. Last week, Sanders and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) unveiled an amendment that would reduce the proposed outlay by 10% and use the savings to "create a federal grant program to fund healthcare, housing, childcare, and educational opportunities for cities and towns experiencing a poverty rate of 25% or more."
The coalition of progressive advocacy groups—which includes Public Citizen, RootsAction, CodePink, and Win Without War—wrote Monday that "common-sense steps" like "eliminating redundant and unusable weapons systems, ending wars, ceasing reliance on expensive contractors, and rejecting new nuclear weapons development" would "allow us to properly focus our investments on our most urgent and pressing human needs."
"The jarring recent images of police with weapons of war in our streets is a stark reminder of how militarism and white supremacy drive misplaced spending priorities both at home and abroad," the groups wrote. "Meanwhile, all over the country, millions have lost their jobs and access to healthcare as the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on. The current moment should force us to confront the reality that, for too long, we have invested in the wrong priorities, the wrong tools, and the wrong solutions."
In a virtual "Putting People Over Pentagon" town hall Monday night, some of the organizations behind the letter joined progressive lawmakers to discuss the urgent need to reduce America's bloated military budget and invest in key domestic priorities.
"This 10% cut is eminently doable and reasonable," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during the event. "But it's not going to be easy... As progressives, it is our job to redefine and reimagine what it is to be strong. Strong means an end to endless wars and a return to robust diplomacy and international coalition building."
Read the full letter:
The undersigned organizations, representing our millions of members across the country, write to you in strong support of the proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 that would reallocate 10 percent of the bloated Pentagon budget toward severely underfunded human needs priorities—many of which are more critical than ever as our country continues to confront the Covid-19 pandemic. We urge you to co-sponsor Amendment 1788 introduced by Senators Sanders and Markey, and vote in support should it reach the Senate floor.
Our militarism budget is out of control. In 2019, the United States spent more money on our military than the next nine countries combined. The Department of Defense's budget eclipses that of federal courts, education, the State Department, local economic development, public health, and environmental protection combined, yet the Pentagon is incapable of passing a basic audit.
Multiple analyses have determined that U.S. and collective security would not suffer, and in fact would improve by, cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the runaway Pentagon budget through common-sense steps, like eliminating redundant and unusable weapons systems, ending wars, ceasing reliance on expensive contractors, and rejecting new nuclear weapons development. These overdue steps would instead allow us to properly focus our investments on our most urgent and pressing human needs. Polling demonstrates that this is a popular idea, and most American voters want to see money redirected from the Pentagon to invest in human security.
The jarring recent images of police with weapons of war in our streets is a stark reminder of how militarism and white supremacy drive misplaced spending priorities both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, all over the country, millions have lost their jobs and access to healthcare as the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on. The current moment should force us to confront the reality that, for too long, we have invested in the wrong priorities, the wrong tools, and the wrong solutions.
As a point of comparison: last year, the Centers for Disease Control budget was $7 billion, just 7 percent of the national policing budget, and less than 1 percent of the Pentagon budget. Those three figures alone tell a tragic story about what and who this country prioritizes and values.
We should no longer tolerate unchecked spending on systems that fuel violence and corporate greed at the expense of the basic needs of our people. This amendment is a crucial step toward a federal budget that actually aligns with our values. We strongly urge you to support it.
Big Pharma Trade Group Blasted as 'Morally Bankrupt' for Suing to Block Minnesota Insulin Affordability Law
The law is named for Alec Smith, an uninsured 26-year-old who died in 2017 after rationing his insulin.
by
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/A Big Pharma trade group is under fire for filing a federal lawsuit late Tuesday against Minnesota's Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act mere hours before it took effect.
State Sen. Matt Little, a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), decried the move as "morally bankrupt" and "devoid of humanity." In a Tuesday night tweet, Little also vowed: "I will spend my entire life fighting these soulless companies. No one should get sick or die from an inability to afford life-sustaining insulin."
The law in question is named for an uninsured 26-year-old diabetic who died in 2017 of complications from rationing his insulin because he couldn't afford the medicine and related supplies after aging off his mother's health insurance. After state lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the measure, DFL Gov. Tim Walz signed it into law this April.
As MPR News explains:
Under the law, people with diabetes who can't afford the essential medicine will be able to get 30-day supplies with no more than a $35 copay. A separate income-based program is established for those with needs that extend beyond that.
Drug makers are required to participate. If they don't, they would face a series of escalating fines.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). The drug industry group claims the measure is unconstitutional, arguing in the complaint (pdf) that "a state cannot simply commandeer private property to achieve its public policy goals."
An PhRMA spokesperson told Brian Bakst of MPR News that "we are not seeking an emergency ruling to block the law from going into effect, but we think the law is unconstitutional and that the court should strike it down after it hears our challenge."
The advocacy group Public Citizen noted the tragic death of the law's namesake and denounced PhRMA's suit as "beyond unconscionable."
Nicole Smith-Holt, Alec Smith's mother, also took to Twitter to condemn PhRMA's lawsuit and accuse drug companies of violating human rights.
Smith-Holt was not the only outraged parent of a diabetic. Saint Paul-based healthcare advocate Lija Greenseid wrote in a series of tweets that she felt "so deflated" and "duped by lawmakers," calling out GOP state senators who she said "assured advocates that they had worked with the manufacturers to develop their plan."
GOP state Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka expressed disappointment with the suit in a written statement reported by MPR News. "Senate Republicans remain committed to providing emergency insulin for those in crisis no matter what happens with this poorly timed lawsuit," Gazelka said.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison (DFL) tweeted Wednesday morning in response to PhRMA's "attack" on the law that "we look forward to defending the people of Minnesota in court against this morally repugnant behavior."
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