Why should I be concerned about the War in Iran? We don’t have troops on the ground. Even if we did, people who serve in the military know that they are in the business of death and that they can die more easily than if they became accountants. I now know about the danger of shipping oil through the Strait of Hormuz with Iran’s mines, lethal drones and fast torpedo boats. Twenty percent of the world’s oil goes through there. Didn’t our President think it all out before he started this war?
I know the price of a gallon of gas is up over thirty percent, but I can handle it. I’ll drive less, maybe carpool. But it’s not just gas for the car. My air conditioning electric bill and thereafter my heating bill is going to soar if the problem isn’t solved soon. That vacation I was planning is in danger because the price of an airline ticket is rising fast and high. Also, it costs more to transport everything, so prices are going up including fertilizer used to create our food and our groceries. We are facing inflation.
What about ending the war with Iran? What about building additional pipelines to avoid the Strait of Hormuz? What about encouraging negotiations by shutting down Iran’s economy with blockades, tariffs, and sanctions? What about closing their airports, damaging their roads and rail system?
Is it true that America produces more oil than it uses? If so, then why are we affected by the international price of oil? They explain it, or try to, by saying that the oil that we produce is “sweet” and for some reason we primarily process heavy crude oil in our refineries which we have to import. Canada supplies over sixty percent of the oil we use. If we need them why does our president insult and antagonize them? Then Mexico supplies another six to ten percent. Saudi Arabia and Brazil supply about five percent each. We certainly can now get Venezuelan oil. Exxon Mobil controls Guyana oil which we also import and could use more. So, what’s the big deal? The oil that we need is available without the Strait of Hormuz. We should be oil independent. We export our oil to over one hundred and seventy countries including Holland, Mexico and even China. We don’t ship it through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, Qatar, The United Arab Republic and Saudi Arabia use that body of water. Increased costs of oil purchased by us should be more than offset by the increased prices that we receive from our sales. So, what is the real problem?
In 2024 then candidate Trump called the executives of the American oil industry to Mar-a Lago for a meeting at which time he is said to have advised them that they were to make a contribution to his election campaign of $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars). That’s over double what he received from Elon Musk. Evidently this was accomplished through various means including super political action committees. Now President Trump seems to have returned the investment in many ways including eliminating the credit for the purchase of electric vehicles, reducing or even eliminating environmental regulations on cars, including miles per gallon requirements, allowing drilling on public lands and waters with a waiver or reduction of royalties, allowing soft coal to be used in power plants and calling it “clean coal”, not enforcing requirements to restore strip mined land, allowing lung disease and pollution related to the industry, keeping out unions, reducing taxes, and allowing increased drilling cost deductions and increasing depletion allowances. These benefits alone come to over one trillion dollars, by comparison the National Deficit for 2026 is projected to be 1.4 trillion dollars, meaning we could almost eliminate the deficit with the benefits big oil receives. The oil people made out great so far.
Then there are the international benefits to the oil and gas and coal industry. They have no trouble with our government which protects them in Guyana, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, and other countries.
This assistance from the government is nothing new. In 1922 there was the Teapot Dome scandal which involved the secret leasing of government land to private corporations without bidding, for the bribe of $400,000 (four hundred thousand dollars), which nowadays would come to about $6,000,000 (six million dollars) paid to the Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. He went to jail. The oil companies involved were Mammoth Oil and Pan American Petroleum. Some of the companies that ultimately absorbed them are Exxon Mobil and BP.
The oil, gas and coal industries have over 1,500 lobbyists working for them full time. They obtain government benefits that more than justify their expense or they would not be there.
Our President Donald Trump had our government pay $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) to a French company, TotalEnergies, to reimburse them and induce them to abandon two offshore wind farms, off the coast of New York and North Carolina with the provision that they invest these funds in the United States oil and gas industry. Our Department of Interior closed down those clean energy windfarms and said that the windfarms were unreliable and expensive while natural gas projects would supply secure energy for hardworking Americans. That’s a bunch of baloney! The Trump government is working for the best interests of the oil, gas and coal industry, not you. While the arctic sea ice melts away and soft coal smoke pollutes the air and the strip mines refuse to restore the land, the Trump Administration continues to deny global warming and accepts no environmental responsibility.
The war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz is causing a world shortage of oil coming from the U.A.R., Saudi Arabia and Iran which has caused the world price of a barrel of oil to increase substantially. Canada doesn’t use the Strait of Hormuz. Nevertheless, we now pay more for Canadian oil. The Canadians are pleased to ride the increase in world prices and make more money from us. The increase in the prices paid by the one hundred and seventy (170) countries that buy our American oil goes to the huge oil and gas companies and not to the American people. Thus, the oil companies such as Exxon Mobil make huge war profits and our government allows them to keep the money while you and I pay for their war profits at the pump. Why doesn’t Congress do something about it? Because they receive benefits from those 1,500 lobbyists including donations to their political campaigns. Donald Trump received $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) from the oil industry. The oil industry received back benefits of one trillion dollars from the Trump Administration. In 2025 Exxon Mobil distributed well over $37,000,000,000 t (thirty-seven billion dollars) to its shareholders. That’s really your money. You paid for it because your political representatives allowed it.
What’s happening with all that illegal Trump tariff money that we are all ultimately paying? It seems to be sitting in the hands of the Trump Whitehouse. What about using it to offset the fifteen percent tax on a gallon of gas?
The real culprit is not the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. It’s war profiteering, government corruption and greed.