RUSH: The CEO of Shell Oil was on CBS This Morning. His name is Marvin Odum, and he was talking to Charlie Rose. And, look, I like Charlie Rose. I know Charlie Rose. I’ve been on Charlie Rose’s show. But Charlie is in the same clique with Elena Kagan. When it comes to Obamacare, it’s just a boatload of money that we’re giving to the states to give to poor people for their health care. What’s the problem. When it comes to gasoline prices, it’s oil companies gouging people, everybody knows that. The oil companies are greedy and we need to really come down hard on them. We need Obama to punish the oil companies and we need it to happen now and we needed it to happen 15 years ago.
That’s the template. Oil companies, because they exist, are evil. Oil companies exist for one reason, to screw customers. This is how the media thinks. This is the cloistered, closed world in which they live. No concept of market forces. No concept of free markets. No concept of all the things involved that determine the price of oil, the price of gasoline. So Charlie Rose says to the CEO of Shell Oil, “Let’s take a snapshot of where the oil situation is today, Marvin, and how it will affect the prices at the pump. What is the supply-demand situation? If in fact oil is going up per barrel, price per barrel, what’s the direct relationship between that and the price at the pump, and can anything be done about that in the present environment?”
ODUM: So you’ve identified the relationship, and it is direct. The price of oil goes directly into the price of gas. It’s the number one factor that determines the price that people pay every day at the pump. So back to the price of oil worldwide, it is a global system, so we have to think about supply and demand on a global basis. The way that we can address that is to cut back and produce as many resources as we can in this country, and the economic benefits of that are more jobs in this country, better trade balance in this country, more secure supply of oil, and that’s the biggest impact that we can have.
RUSH: Okay. So the CEO of Shell Oil has just told Charlie Rose, member in good standing of the cloistered, closed-minded left, a nice guy, don’t misunderstand, he just doesn’t know what he thinks he knows. (paraphrasing) “Charlie, supply and demand worldwide, and the more we drill here, the more supply there’s gonna be, the more jobs we’re gonna have, and the lower the price will be, if we just drill here, Charlie. Develop our own resources, Charlie.” Let’s see what happens. Charlie says, “Well, obviously this bill the president wanted to sponsor didn’t pass in the Senate, but wouldn’t it be an act of good-faith by the oil companies to say we don’t really need these subsidies now? Let’s get together with the administration and Congress, come up with an energy policy for the benefit of Americans and for energy independence on the part of the US.”
So the CEO of Shell just said, “Charlie, you understand that you’ve identified the direct relationship: supply and demand, oil, more supply, lower price. Good. So we need more of our own, Charlie.” Charlie takes that and says, “Okay, cool, now why don’t you guys get together with Obama, give him what he wants, and pay higher taxes, then?” So what this guy, what the Shell Oil CEO said to Charlie didn’t even permeate the skull. He got his answer, but it didn’t compute, ’cause all Charlie’s focused on here is giving Obama what he wants, and that is end the subsidies, and they’re not even subsidies. They’re incentives to produce.
And many other companies have them. Just like you have your mortgage interest deduction to incentivize you to buy a house, the oil industry and other industries, drugs, you name it, they all have various tax breaks. They’re gonna call this a subsidy when it isn’t ’cause it’s a dirty word. Subsidy means the government is paying Big Oil. That’s not what’s happening, but they want you to think so. So all Charlie cares about is somehow making news by getting this guy cornered and agreeing that Obama’s right, and Big Oil needs to sacrifice. They have enough. They have enough profit. They’re making enough. Shouldn’t they willingly give up these subsidies or tax breaks to help Obama and help the American people. And here’s what Marvin Odum said.
ODUM: Let me give you a different twist on that story, Charlie, which is if we really want more dollars flowing into the federal government to help with the deficit and so forth, and if we want more income taxes flowing in, the way to do that is to produce more energy in this country. And so the question that Congress and the President ought to be asking themselves is, how do we incentivize more production. Because you get the royalty payments off of that. You get all those jobs and all that income tax that comes with it.
RUSH: Okay, so second standard operating procedure, this is just commonsense economics. Charlie, what we really need to do is increase our production of oil. It will create jobs, which creates taxpayers, which creates tax revenue, which creates oil. So if we go drill for more oil and go produce more, it’ll take jobs to do that, those people will pay taxes, that creates even more revenue flowing to Washington, that will help reduce the deficit, blah, blah, blah, create jobs, and help us with our independence. Now, not one word about what Charlie really wants to hear, which is, but Obama needs to get rid of the subsidies, ’cause he wants to be reelected. And we want him reelected, and why aren’t you agreeing, why aren’t you agreeing that we need to get the oil companies together with Obama and have them willingly agree to get rid of these subsidies to help the American people?
None of what the Shell CEO has said has gotten past the skull. Charlie’s skull is a giant protective boundary. Nothing gets in there. All that gets in there is what’s already in there. Preconceived notions. The templates, the narratives. So Charlie wants Big Oil to sit down and have dialogue approximate Obama. The only dialogue Obama wants is get out of the way and pay your taxes, get rid of the subsidies. So Charlie then says, “Well, nevertheless, Marvin, a dollar’s a dollar, so tell me, how much subsidies contributed to your bottom line at Shell Oil?”
ODUM: We don’t see these as subsidies. It’s important to understand these are the same deductions, manufacturing cost type deductions that are taken across all industries, not just the oil and gas industry.
RUSH: So Marvin Odum has taken Charlie Rose to school. The only problem is Charlie wasn’t in class. He would flunk the test. Charlie didn’t hear a word the Shell CEO said. The Shell CEO just told Charlie what needs to happen to improve the overall economy and how to do it. Go out and get more oil, hire people to help us do it, they pay taxes, more revenue to Washington, more jobs, and more oil here means less that we need from the king of Saudi Arabia. Charlie goes (imitating Rose), “Duh, I’m talking to you about your subsidies that are unfair.” Oh, about the subsidies, Charlie, they’re really not subsidies, they’re just cost deductions, like every other business has. We’re allowed to deduct certain costs of doing business. “Well, don’t you think you should get rid of those, don’t you think you should help Obama? What is it? Is it amazing? Is it stupefying? Is it incredible? It’s blockheadedness. But there you have it. That’s exactly what passes for media today.