Time for the people to take control of oil

Oil companies are gouging America while the people in the Gulf suffer. Should we pay more and more to line the pockets of these greedy monopolies, or should our money go to help rescue our sisters and brothers in the South?

Politicians, news commentators and the corporate elite tell us Katrina interrupted the supply of gasoline. They say that gives the oil monopolies some kind of license to almost double gasoline prices. They are making money hand over fist while the poor people of New Orleans are dying in the streets. It´s time for some fundamental changes.

A couple months ago the Supreme Court ruled that a Connecticut town had the right to seize private property and hand it off to private developers if that promoted the “public good.’ Well, why can´t the people take over the oil companies and turn them into non-profit public utilities for the “public good’?

Outlandish? Not really. The oil is a public property leased by the energy companies. The land and water that it sits under is mostly publicly owned.

The war in Iraq is not a war for oil—it is a war for oil profits. Converting these companies into non-profit public utilities means that our children and Iraqi children can stop spilling their blood in this insane venture masterminded by Bush and his corporate friends.

If the people owned the oil industry, then we could set stable prices. We could compose responsible plans to restore the Gulf marshlands that can help protect cities like New Orleans from these terrible storms. We could press forward with less ecologically destructive sources of energy. And in times of crisis like this, we could devote our energy resources first to preserve and protect the lives of our people rather than to amass huge fortunes for a few billionaires.

—Chris Fry
Long Island, N.Y.