"Reality: What’s the harm in a little exaggeration? Well, if you actually employ less than 10% of the workers you claim, then Houston, we have a problem. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2009 the industry directly employed only 800,000 in the US, comparable to the number of clerks who work in sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores — and much less than 1% of total American jobs. Studies have consistently shown that emerging, labor-intensive energy sources like solar and wind create far more jobs per dollar than mature industries like drilling and mining, which increasingly rely on machinery to cut labor costs."
"Reality: How stupid do oil lobbyists really think we are? Despite cheery ad campaigns with solar panels and sunflowers, the industry’s achievement in green energy clearly doesn’t extend far beyond the field of marketing. It’s true that the industry spent $98 billion on “renewable, alternative and advanced emerging energy technologies” from 2000 to 2005. But 0nly about 1% of that went into clean energy including solar, wind and geothermal, while a whopping $86 billion went into “refining heavier sources of petroleum, including tar and oil sands and oil shale, and on turning waste and residue hydrocarbons into usable products” — more or less the opposite of clean energy — according to a Senate report."
What about all the employees who are INDIRECTLY employed by the oil industry? Why aren't you counting those people? You're talking about direct employees, as in employees directly on the payrolls of companies like Shell and Exxon. You aren't even taking into consideration the vast amount of various companies and industries that contract through these big, bad oil companies. You're also not talking about the companies who use crude to produce every day household products, and even a huge chunk of pharmaceuticals. What's the harm in a little exaggeration, you say? What's the harm in adding a tiny little word like 'directly', in order to attempt to debunk a claim made by the opposing side? That's the problem with small minded leftists. They tend to look at things at the most very basic level. They don't look at the big picture. Many, many industries and smaller companies are reciprocal, at the least, to the oil industry. I am not a DIRECT employee to any big oil company, I'm not on their payrolls, DIRECTLY, but they darn sure pay my bills and pay for my children's education. That's the beauty of the versatility of the oil industry, and the very important part that propaganda like this tends to leave out. There is no industry that has it's hand directly in America's wallet like the oil industry does. You can thank the oil industry, even though we are not DIRECTLY employed, for the fact that our family will never use a cent of government assistance, for our tax dollars and for the fact that our children will not be drains on society.
Obama is wanting to yank 100% of funding to the entire petroleum industry. Take a walk around your house, and come back with a list of the items in your house that are made with crude oil/petroleum. Crude oil that's not even produced in the U.S.. The companies that manufacture those items for sale to consumers are reliant on the refineries that provide the refined crude to manufacture those products. That laptop you more than likely typed this nonsense on, that Ibuprofen you took to clear the headache it gave you, and the sandwich and glass of milk you ingested to wash it down are perfect examples of how the oil industry affects your own personal life and wallet. How many of those sporting goods stores, book stores and hobby stores rely on the oil industry, from shipment of products to the manufacturing of the products? Remember, many products that those stores sell are made out of crude oil, in some form or fashion, not to mention their parking lots are made of asphalt, and, well.....you know where that is going. Shit rolls downhill, my friend. Like it or not, nearly every aspect of our lives relies on crude oil in one way or another, from the rubber your tree hugging bicycle tires are made out of, to the toilet paper you use to wipe your butt (It's got to get transported to the store, in order to make contact with your butt, remember, and is packaged in..wait for it...plastic, made from crude oil).
So many people tend to forget that the oil industry is not just about energy. While the research and development of cleaner forms of energy are great, alternative sources do not have and cannot recreate the chemical properties that make up crude oil and make it so versatile. Personally, I have a huge problem with Obama taking MY tax dollars and investing them in companies that are now bankrupt (Solyndra, anybody?), while attempting to strip 100% of funding from successful companies who are working hard to develop alternative energy sources, independently, through donations to major universities and various programs. Funny how you mention, in your last 'myth', how much money oil companies have put towards developing and researching greener energy sources, however you don't mention the comparison to how much Obama has spent *cough* wasted *cough* on investing in failures, or even in general. Once again, you're talking about DIRECT contribution of the oil companies, and you're leaving out their INDIRECT contributions to research and development. How many oil companies own stock in domestic renewable energy sources? How much money is donated by big oil companies to even humanitarian causes, compared to Mr. Obama? Check out Mr. T. Boone Pickens, and his sole contributions to not only humanitarian causes, but also to renewable energy resources. Then, drive through the Texas Panhandle, and set your sites on the impressive wind farms. If that's not truly investing in renewable energy, I just don't know what is. Funny how Mr. T. Boone Pickens, a lowly, dirty, big oil company owner has solely made billions of dollars worth of contributions to universities, cancer research, renewable energy sources, at risk children, residential schools, hurricane Katrina relief, and was one of THE biggest charitable givers of 2005-2006. Not to mention, that evil, greedy rich man even jumped his happy butt in a bulldozer to go along with his donation to the Jubilee Park. That, my friend, is just the work of ONE little, old, adorable man. When was the last time Mr. Obama got his hands dirty to help the American people? You're intentionally leaving out the fact that alternative energy sources are serious potential sources of revenue for the oil industry, as well, and we all can agree that they will line their pockets through any avenue they can, however their contributions to society somehow seem to balance out their 'greed.' Potential revenue, in itself, is motivation for oil companies to invest in the exploration of greener sources. At the same time, however, one can not discredit the worldwide, high, rising demand of crude oil production.
In conclusion, it makes absolutely no sense to only include direct employees of the oil industry in this little propaganda piece. Also, in conclusion, if Americans believe that big oil companies are capable of 'buying' our government, they should bet their booties that they are capable of everything you listed will not happen, once they aren't getting what they want, and have received for the past, what, hundred years. Instead of trying to impress America by making it seem like he's 'sticking it' to the oil corporations, which seems to be all the rage among the '99%' supporters, Obama should be working WITH this industry for the future of America. America needs to wake up and see through his smoke and mirror campaign tactics. Americans need to realize that Obama is relying on their ignorance of the oil industry, in order to be reelected.
