ustxtxb_obs_1984_01_13_50_00022-00000_000.pdf

Printers Stationers Mailers Typesetters High Speed Web Offset Publication Press Counseling Designing Copy Writing Editing Trade Computer Sales and Services Complete Computer Data Processing Services %FUTURA PRESS AUSTIN TEXAS IFILATILPIRM 512/442-7836 1714 South Congress P.O. Box 3485 Austin, Texas 78764 ON REAGAN THE MAN AND HIS PRESIDENCY By RONNIE DINNER Send us $20 and we will send you an autographed copy of Ronnie Dugger’s acclaimed book on Ronald Reagan. \(Postage included; Texas residents Name Address City State Zip The Texas Observer 600 West 7th Austin, Texas 78701 Life Insurance and Annuities . Statile Martin Elfant, CLU 4223 Richmond, Suite 213, Houston, TX 77027 the legendary RAW DEAL Steaks, Chops, Chicken open lunch and evenings 605 Sabine, Austin No Reservations Personal Service Quality Insurance ALICE ANDERSON AGENCY INSURANCE & REAL ESTATE 808A E. 46th, Austin, Texas 459-6577 arbiter, even in times of acute national and international emergency. Reagan’s policy response to such an emergency is not a domestic economic safety net but, rather, one based on military intervention in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. It is a continuation of the Carter Doctrine of “keep the oil flowing by any means necessary,” if that is militarily possible or even desirable. It has been recognized by a number of government agencies that it will be the lack of a realistic price for oil that will imperil this nation in a Persian Gulf cutoff and not a lack of supply. Federal anti-trust policy has become a virtual non-policy as enforcement is purposefully minimized and the merger movement is left unabated, much less scrutinized, by federal regulators. Mergers and take-overs have helped the multinational oil companies diversify their holdings and reduce their risks, as the independent oil producer continues to take the lead and the risk in exploring for and finding new sources of oil and gas. It is the independent producer, not the Seven Sisters, who is ready and willing to re-invest oil profits into oil exploration. And it is the independent oil producer, not the oil majors, who will provide consumers with a stable future source of oil. In fact, a serious flaw in OIL FOLLIES is the overall lack of distinction within what is a very large industry. Sherrill, it would appear, equates the oil industry with the Seven Sisters, the multinational companies that dominate the oil industry worldwide. That is an oversimplification, one that tends towards mystification rather than a sober reading of reality. It is not the industry per se that gave birth to the politics of darkness, but more specifically, the daughters of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust and the Presidents and politicians, Democrat and Republican, over the last seventy years, who are to blame. At this time of debate in Congress over control, decontrol, or recontrol of natural gas prices, the Sherrill book will primarily appeal to Northern consumers as it condemns an entire industry instead of the multinational consortium. The unfortunate rhetoric in OIL FOLLIES that accompanies the excellent documentation, informative quotes, and history of company collusion on the highest detracts from the nature of the work. Still, Sherrill accomplishes his goal in providing evidence of prolonged collusion among the oil majors in their attempts to manipulate and remake public policy and public pronouncements .. . their own image. It is a classic critique of economic domination. 22 JANUARY 13, 1984