So let's just say this stuff is true.

Everyone wants to blame the big evil oil & gas, (or any other corporation), for every woe there is in this country. Let's do a bit of economics 101 shall we?

America is quite a fickle bunch of folks. We all want cheap gas, low prices on everything, high pay for easy work, all while saving the environment. Just look at Wal-Mart. Now I would not shop there because I cannot stand the feel of the place, nor do I like their practices. But a vast majority of every day people flood these stores daily. Why is it so cheap? Well, several reasons, from warehousing to squeezing vendors, but the biggest reason is cheap, Chinese crap. Every screams "buy American", but they are not willing to pay for it.

Case and point: A Rasmussen poll conducted in 2012 ask people "would you be willing to pay $1.50 more for a sweater from Wal-Mart that is made in the US?" 89% said no. But that is what it would take to pull it off. You see, the American worker wants $15.00 to $20.00 per hour for factory work. Add the 35% corporate tax rate off of every single good produced, (highest in the world), and that $1.50 becomes required to even make it possible. Our emissions requirements add to the cost as well. I pay extra for US made, but I am a single male with little debt. And this does not even include unions. Wonder why Detroit is ruined, (and Chicago is next)? Unions, pure and simple. Paying some mo-mo $43.00 to push a button in a auto plant really pisses me off.

Now take fuel prices. Remember a year ago when gas was $4.00+ per gallon average? Then we saw gas drop below $2.00 this year and everyone was dancing in the streets? That had nothing to do with Obama,that was energy companies drilling on private land, and suddenly foreign oil was not the top dog. Why is it creeping back up? Because foreign oil sank their price to $35.00 per barrel. So why don't we follow suit to keep it low? Because the oil worker has to make $35.00 to $50.00 per hour, and those emission standard, and some poor endangered pond algae we have to protect. It is not worth it. These companies will lose too much money.

Now, the most common response is "THESE CORPORATIONS MAKE BILLIONS, THEY NEED TO TAKE A LOSS TO HELP THE COMMON MAN!!!". When I was young and idealistic, (as most everyone is when we are young, I felt the same way about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. But we have to remember that Exxon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Apple, etc., are owned by stockholders, (I actually have a hippy friend who thinks Bill Gates owns Microsoft.) So let's say the oil companies take one "on the chin" for the common man and the stock price drops. This starts a selling frenzy, and pretty soon the company is laying people off, moving plants to Mexico, and the list goes on and on. I bet if you owned 100 shares of Apple and they took this kind of loss, you would be on their doorstep with a pitchfork and torch.

Most people who do grasp this simple concept have never worked for a corporation, owned anything of real value, or have no desire to advance themsleves. They just want to watch cable TV and have a nice smart phone with a great data plan, and have stuff given to them. I work for a major corporation and own a food truck business. So I can actually talk about this subject. I have a stake in this game.

Not to mention I am from NE Minnesota in the Superior National Forest, so I am all about protecting our resources. I believe we need to be very careful with fracking, but in the frenzy of the gas boom where everyone, (including the common worker), were busting at the seams to get started, made this difficult. What we don't need is an alarmist young hipster filmmaker, who is now being exposed by some of the same people who originally backed him, to create false hysteria. I am glad he brought attention to it, but now he is like Michael Moore and in it for fame and $$$.