CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

NATURAL RESOURCES

A new plan must begin with planetary ownership of all of the earth’s natural resources including oil, gas, water, forests, precious stones, coal, minerals, solar and wind power, and any natural materials found in soil or water. There are no monopolies or cartels controlling the use of the sun, sky and oceans. The earth was not created for a few dynasties, hostile nations and corporations to enjoy immeasurable wealth, while the rest of the world remains silent in this inequitable ownership.

The collected wealth of current holders of the world’s resources is so vast that their descendants could live for centuries in the same extreme luxury that one sees when the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil producing nations take over several floors of the most exclusive hotels in New York, Paris and Beijing. The hundreds of palaces for all members of the royal families and enormous mansions of corporate executives and world leaders are symbols of insatiable greed. Prices rise, profits rise, avarice knows no limits, so that world-wide consumers experience financial hardship or extreme poverty.

There should be no question that wealth is deserved by those who start their own businesses, patent inventions, provide services, work hard, take risks and provide jobs to sustain the global economy.

However, it could not have been a Divine Plan for the taking of natural resources by so few to receive tremendous profits from materials they did not produce themselves, whether it is oil, diamonds, coal, or any substances that are part of the natural world. It is time to place profits from natural resources in a planetary bank to fund a global rebirth of whole new methods and procedures to assure a “good life” of peace and prosperity for all.

This plan clearly is not a welfare or socialist form of living or welfare for those who can work. It is to provide basic needs for the poor, and equitable education to level the playing fields so that everyone who has the ability and stamina can meet their goals.

This is not the taking of production of food and livestock that owners of farmland, or those who are in the process of developing and creating products such as ethanol and alternative fuel, through their own efforts. It is not a natural resource if the owner of land plants the seed and harvests the crop that produces the product, just as the manufacture of automobiles, clothing and other goods emanate from physical and mental labor.

Those most likely to oppose planetary ownership, would repeatedly invoke the “c” word (communism) to place fear in the hearts of the gullible. Public ownership of natural resources is already a reality. We pay water bills directly to cities and villages because they initiate, supervise building and maintenance of treatment plants and pipelines with tax revenue. Communism has not resulted.

Of course an outcry would emanate from global corporations if the people prevail in the right to own natural resources. These organizations have already earned profits far beyond what stockholders ever imagined. Exxon-Mobile reported a staggering $36 billion profit in 2005, and is far ahead of that in the first quarter of 2006. Their CEO Lee Raymond, received a $400 million retirement package as the prices of oil increases everyday.

June 18, 2006, a CBS program on PBS disclosed that the government leased public property for private companies to produce oil and gas for a 12 percent royalty. No payment has been received.

In 1995 when oil was $20 per barrel, deep water drilling was booming. The Clinton administration allowed companies to drill on public property for oil and natural gas. Their profits went up 400 percent in five years. Total royalties should have been $34 billion, but “loopholes” helped them to avoid making payment. At that time someone forgot (writer’s italics) to include the royalty term in the renewed leases which cost taxpayers $10 billion.

George W. Bush said in his campaign that oil companies did not need tax breaks. In 2004, he gave a company rights to drill in shallow water, but no royalties have been paid. Then on May 11, 2006, he and Congress awarded the industry a huge $7 billion permanent tax break.

Representative George Miller (D California) said "it was the train robbery of all time." The House recently passed a bill to renegotiate the royalty to "get a better deal" and have passed it on to the Senate, but was not yet on the agenda at this writing.

A government employee has been trying for seven years to collect royalties on behalf of U.S. taxpayers. He states there are currently problems with audits of oil companies’ records, but the government has actually reduced the number of audits by half. He clearly states that cheating and lying are occurring, but he has been pressured into curtailing his investigation.*

The Kerr-McGee Corporation in their current suit against the government says they should not have to pay any royalties. This would be a loss to taxpayers of some $60 billion. If they win, other oil companies will sue and their record-breaking profits will be astounding.

How much and for how long should planetary citizens accept the inequity of ownership of our natural resources by a relatively few families or corporations?

It will be interesting to see if petroleum corporations will obtain the support of the current Bush administration to gain control of the ethanol or any alternative fuel industry in the United States. Will the people remain silent?

There has been little or no thought of the public good in all of the years since discovery of the planet’s natural resources. There are Rhodes scholars awarded by the early wealth of Britain’s Cecil Rhodes, owner of diamond mines in Africa. Unless a new plan is conceived, there is no chance that conditions in the world will change from poverty and war, to equal opportunity and peace.

With the discovery of oil fields, national governments are turning their new-found wealth into political power. In South America Bolivia’s new president Evo Morales, called out the troops on May Day, 2006 and nationalized the country’s gas industry.*

Venezuela’s President Chavez increased government control of oil production which is 80 percent of its revenue. The opposition party did not participate in the election. They fear his contacts with Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro and that he wants to create a modern socialistic society. He intends to use the revenue for political purposes, that is to influence other South American countries towards socialism. This threatens the stability of the western hemisphere and the potential for future war. IT DOES NOT HELP THE PEOPLE NOW.

Russia provides nearly half of Europe’s natural gas and a third of its oil.* U.S News & World Report writes, “when the new Gazprom pipeline under the Baltic Sea is ready, Europe will depend on Russia for up to 80 percent of its gas, giving it enormous leverage over the Continent.” The conclusion can only be that Russia will be reborn as a super-power.

The U.S. is behind a $4 billion, 1,000-mile pipeline for Caspian Sea oil in Azerbaijian which borders on Iran. The president of Azerbaijan since 2003, succeeded his father in what is thought to have been a questionable election. Its poor human rights methods are overlooked because of their strategic location.

Iraq has already told the United States that to be a viable nation they would need to share in the profits of their oil production. On June 14, 2006, President Bush said oil in Iraq “belonged to the Iraqi people.” Now we should demand that he declare the same for Americans that the oil produced in the U.S. and off-shores be owned by the American people. The oil field recently found five miles below the surface of the Mexican gulf could be the most lucrative of all oil fields. One tremendous advantage would be not having to purchase any more oil from the middle-east. The disadvantage is that instead of reducing fossil fuel consumption, it will undoubtedly increase, especially if supply results in reduced prices of gasoline.

There have been no reports as to what has happened to the profits during the many years of Saddam Hussein’s regime. A short time after the invasion, $6 million dollars in cash was found in one of his palaces. Are we to believe that was his entire estate, or is it more likely the rest is in numbered accounts in Swiss and other global banks?

Nigeria owns its oil production but only a few enjoy the profits while the rest of the population suffers poverty. In the background, rebel agitation threatens production which could cause an increase in the already record-breaking price of crude oil. The U.S. receives 1 million barrels daily and China is courting Nigeria as a source for its increasing consumption.

The developments of new regimes whether or not they arise from democratic elections, does not assure equitable distribution of profits from natural resources within their own countries. Therefore, it is even more urgent to change control of natural resources into a planetary and continental system.

In the U.S and Canada new frontiers are opening to remove oil from sand and shale, heretofore thought to be too costly a process. A coal mining family enterprise first received a $100 million energy grant, and $47 million in state tax credits, and almost a year ago received $490 million federal loan guaranties to develop the process of liquid fuel from coal, equivalent to about 10 percent of current U.S. oil production. A fair repayment of expenditures incurred by the owners for this development, subtracting the government handout, would be the responsibility of the new planetary system of ownership.

Meanwhile government alliances change, oil prices rise, politicians blame each other and the turmoil becomes more disturbing. It is mandatory that the system change in order to prevent the violence that will certainly come as nations exhaust patience to diplomatically prevent war.

Corporate owners of natural resources will use whatever tactics and amounts of money necessary to prevent planetary ownership. Even with the promise of fair and reasonable compensation this will be the biggest obstacle for planetary change. However, it is all the more reason that an equitable share be realized, and time for multi-national corporations to stop running governments.

We should keep in mind that consumption of oil is increasing due to heavier vehicles on the road; that eventually supply will diminish and the cost of available oil will be so high that only the wealthy will be able to afford it. What will 200 million vehicles owners in the U.S. use for fuel?

Early in his administration, Congress supported George Bush's decision to give a seven percent tax break to those who purchased SUVs. This was without regard to warnings of global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions. Auto manufacturers apparently are convinced that bigger and heavier vehicles are more marketable than the 200,000 new hybrid models they produced in 2005. They are not producing enough new mechanisms to adapt current autos to accept alternate fuel.

China’s five percent ownership of automobiles has increased to 25 percent in three years. Buick has become the major manufacturer of autos in China. Do American and other foreign auto-makers believe that China will continue to depend on them as ownership increases? They have the capability to immediately establish factories to produce any product they know will add to their remarkable economy.

Even if the supply of petroleum decreases, revenues will remain the same as prices rise. In the meantime, consumption must be greatly reduced until new fuel and methods of transportation replace current vehicles. As more nations use oil revenue for political purposes, their power will increase the potential for war in the near future.
An entirely new system of mass transportation must be undertaken. Banning automobiles from the business centers of major cities throughout the world can work. In some places such as New York City and Chicago, taxis are the mode of travel. Chicagoans and visitors are riding free trollies to all sections of the city. High parking fees, new bicycle paths and improved mass transit in the downtown area encourage less use of autos. The best effects are reductions in dependency on oil, in pollution and as important, healthy exercise for desk-bound workers.

The emphasis here on the oil industry is due to the extreme impact of rising prices and violence associated with the need for oil. This is not to diminish the immense value of other natural resources; water, wind and solar power, coal, copper, steel, precious metals, nonmetallic minerals such as sulfur, quartz, mica, asbestos, calcium phosphate, fertilizer minerals, as well as strategic materials of uranium, rubber, timber.

The end of corporate, individual and national ownership of natural resources is absolutely necessary to bring equitability to the world economy. These resources will become the property of the entire planet, with the share of ownership equal to its percentage of the world’s population. For example, Asia with 21.4 percent of the world population would receive 21.4 percent of the profit from natural resources. Periodically, based on the planetary census, this distribution of ownership would be reviewed and adjusted accordingly.

In administering a new system of ownership of natural resources, each tier of new planetary and continental panels could be established by experienced production personnel. They would be responsible for training managers who would replace them as needed. They would be required to submit resumes of their experience, undergo investigation of their backgrounds and commitment to planetary ownership, and adhere to guidelines set down by these panels.

Another panel of continental citizens holding college degrees in each enterprise would become overseers, which would rotate from time to time, so that no person or department could gain power over another. If the people hired do not perform in accordance with the terms of their contract which would be made public, they would be discharged and the next qualified persons would take their places. Proven misconduct would be punishable according to revised judicial and criminal justice systems.

All of the planning sessions would be seen on global television, so that all planetary citizens will be informed of all of the activity. There would be no closed sessions of any decision-making meetings.

Salaries and payments made to all planetary and continental panel personnel, corporations and other suppliers will be deposited in planetary bank accounts, and would be made public in certified annual financial reports by professional accountants and economists.

The system of new ownership of natural resources would be reflected in a new way of life. Global citizens would have peace of mind instead of the daily worries of being able to afford necessities. Bad behavior resulting from hardship in making a living would certainly change when stress is removed. There would be more focused on creative projects, on being good students and parents, as well as simply being better neighbors. In other words, if there is nothing to be angry about, there would be no reason for crime and violence. The most important goal would be no corruption.

At the end of the fiscal year, if there are deficit expenditures, each continent would levy taxes on gross income from whatever source derived, starting on a scale above average income to replace the deficit, (no loopholes or special interest deductions). There would be no filing of tax returns. Planetary banks would be authorized to automatically deduct payment from personal accounts if needed. Surpluses in the planetary budget would be retained for a planetary referendum as to how these funds could be spent or credited to the people.

Each person would have the right to retain their private business operations and personal holdings, except for inordinate amounts of real estate that might be needed for agriculture, schools and public facilities. The planetary bank would purchase the property for resale subject to flawless public domain laws.

There is no question that it is time for natural resources to belong to the people. Revenues would supply basic needs so that poverty on the planet would be erased. Individuals would decide their own futures.