Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling!

map · #1 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 05:42 AM

To bad it's in ****IN Brazil!

Did mention Soros owns 5 billion shares in this company that Obama is handing two billion of our tax dollars to!!

http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/forum...ad.php?p=34099

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

The Bush Administration's five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.

This is progress, however slow. But it still doesn't allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won't allow at home.

Dan40 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-19-2009, 09:01 AM

Well it wouldn't be for personal PROFIT. He hates that!

427sharpe · #3 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 11:57 AM

I guess Soros needs a few (billion) bucks to prop up MoveOn.org, which he personally finances.

Excaliber · #4 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 09:27 PM

Sigh, the spin just never stops around here...

It's not taxpayer money and it's not a loan to Brazil.

It's a line of credit that will be extended to AMERICAN contractors bidding on the project against China, among others. Brazil PREFERS to have American companies oversee and manage the project. Now that they (American contractors) have the needed credit, they can bid! This is a smart move for the "Export-Import bank" and for the American economy, better us than China! China has also offered a loan or loan gaurentee considerably more than the US has offered.

427sharpe · #5 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 10:11 PM

And spin goes both ways...
*Soros upped his interests in Petrobras substantially literally days before the ExIm signed off on the loan. Seems like a wee bit of insider trading, maybe? Certainly would be under Bush!
*The loan (or loan guarantees) comes from the US Government via the ExIm Bank. The government gets it's money from one source...the taxpaying US citizen.
*The same administration that decries drilling HERE provides financing elsewhere, so that the foreign nation can enrich themselves by selling product to us. Of course that discounts the investigations of fraud and duplicity against Petrobras at home, or the idea that a change in intentions may make all of our investment nil at the stroke of a pen (nationalization, anyone?) And somehow that makes more sense than paying American workers (who contribute tax income) to explore, develop, and sell products on American soil (Corporate tax income) that will actually lessen our foreign dependence rather than increase it?

Excaliber · #6 (**permalink**) 08-20-2009, 10:36 PM

Brazil is gonna drill, the US cannot stop them, will not stop them. Now we can get a piece of the action, or let the Chinese run the show. Which would you prefer?

China is certainly becoming problematic on the world oil reserves scene, they are very aggessive at locking up contracts and supplies all over the world. There hasn't been much talk about this subject, but it's been bothering me for some time. I see it as a potential security issue if China is allowed to continue unchecked. Perhaps this is the very reason we ARE getting involved? I wouldn't know, I missed this mornings National Security Briefing...

If Soros has violated any SEC laws there should be an investigtion. At this point it doesn't appear that he did anything illegal and there is no investigation being launched. Perhaps that will change with time, until then, "rumor has it" is about all you got.

The Export-Import bank receives no appropriations from Congress and does not rely on tax payer dollars. Some agencies actually pull their own weight, what a concept!

Bartruff1 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-21-2009, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Brazil is gonna drill, the US cannot stop them, will not stop them. Now we can get a piece of the action, or let the Chinese run the show. Which would you prefer?

China is certainly becoming problematic on the world oil reserves scene, they are very aggessive at locking up contracts and supplies all over the world. There hasn't been much talk about this subject, but it's been bothering me for some time. I see it as a potential security issue if China is allowed to continue unchecked. Perhaps this is the very reason we ARE getting involved? I wouldn't know, I missed this mornings National Security Briefing...

If Soros has violated any SEC laws there should be an investigtion. At this point it doesn't appear that he did anything illegal and there is no investigation being launched. Perhaps that will change with time, until then, "rumor has it" is about all you got.

The Export-Import bank receives no appropriations from Congress and does not rely on tax payer dollars. Some agencies actually pull their own weight, what a concept!

I am afraid you are wasting your time Ex...these people get up every morning of every day and shovel dirt on Obama hoping to bury him and the truth is irrelevant to them. And their default defense is always " Well the libs did it to Bush......"

427sharpe · #8 (**permalink**) 08-21-2009, 10:59 AM

You guys really need to set the kool aid down and find a pill for the paranoia! I, for one, am not trying to 'bury' anybody. I want BO to succeed because there is too much riding on this guy for all of us. It is unfortunate that he seems to fall into the mold of all of our politicians (note I did not say 'leaders'); which is that of a polished, practiced, and convincing liar. We, as a nation, need to wake up and realize that we cannot afford any more of this idiocy no matter what we choose to call it every 4 years. And Excalibur...when huge $ and influence interact in politics I wont hold my breath for an investigation; and 'all I got' is the fact that Soros bought as described...sorry.