Text 1837, 78 rader
Skriven 2006-06-05 16:03:00 av Robert E Starr JR (2283.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Atheists: America's m
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* * * This message was from Josh Hill to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
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@MSGID: <bsr8829b6ntq20gnmcumk7rd51rj8au2mo@4ax.com>
@REPLY: <kurtullman-768D19.07550501062006@news.west.earthlink.net>
On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 20:49:01 +0000 (UTC), Paul Harper <paul@harper.net>
wrote:

>On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 19:41:55 +0000 (UTC), "Dennis \(Icarus\)"
><ala_dir_diver@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Paul Harper" <paul@harper.net> wrote in message
>>news:c5au7215jvi9j0eei10nboadkejqd72uht@4ax.com...
>>> On Thu, 1 Jun 2006 17:47:43 +0000 (UTC), "Carl" <cengman7@hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>><snip>
>>>
>>> The days when it is acceptable for energy companies to make billions
>>> of <insert currency name here> profit every year while doing little or
>>> nothing about the problems they cause have to be limited now.
>>>
>>> I would even go so far as to say nationalise them (or in the case of
>>> us here in the UK, re-nationalise). Take them into genuine public
>>> ownership, take the grasping shareholders out of the equation and do
>>> the job properly. Make all energy companies, by law, non-profitmaking.
>>
>>How would you have genuine public ownership without nationalizing them?
>>And without profits, where would the money come from to do further research
>>& exploration?
>
>That was put in for those rather dim people who confuse share
>ownership with public ownership. As you say, the two are not the same
>thing.
>
>As to the research and exploration - think how much *more* money would
>be available if the shareholders didn't have to be paid off. It
>actually works better.
>
>Public ownership and non-profit does not equate to "free". It means
>every penny made goes *back* into the business, not into the grasping
>hands of the speculators and gamblers who play the stock market.

However:

- What with dividends being miniscule or non-existent, very little
money from companies actually goes to the stock market, and since the
increase in value of a stock has nothing to do with the company, very
little comes from it: in fact, broker's commissions alone amount to
more than the money that actually flows from investors into corporate
coffers. The occasional offering and employee option aside, Wall
Street is just a betting parlor.

- Judging by what I've been reading, the record of state-owned oil
companies isn't very good: private enterprise has historically been
much better at finding new oil resources. This is apparently one of
the reasons oil prices are currently so high -- it seems that when
countries, particularly corrupt third world countries, nationalize
their energy sources, they tend to focus on maximizing return rather
than using the best technology to find and develop new deposits.
Having seen government agencies in action -- only a few days ago the
Bush Administration declared that New York State had no icons of
national interest or national monuments! -- it doesn't surprise me
that even after accounting for obscene corporate compensation private
enterprise can be more efficient in an area like this one.

-- 
Josh

"I'm not going to play like I've been a person who's spent hours involved with
foreign policy.
I am who I am." - George W. Bush
                                                                               
                      
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