The Oil Drum

We in the United States live in a country with a strong tradition of private ownership of companies. In recent days, we have seen changes that border on nationalization:

• The support given to JP Morgan Chase in its purchase of Bear Stearns

• The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

• The take-over of AIG, providing a $85 billion loan in exchange for 80% of the company

• Extension of FDIC guarantees to money market accounts

• The Fed's purchase of commercial paper, to support that market

• Most recently--the Fed's decision to start lending directly to corporations

How much more of this can we expect to see in the days ahead? What indirect impacts will this have on American businesses? Where does all of this end?

The purpose of this post is to offer readers a chance to talk about where they see this issue going. Below the fold, I offer a few thoughts on what areas arguably need federal support, and a few implications if the country moves toward more nationalization of companies.

Canada must nationalize its oil and gas industry: Quebec accounting professor

Lauzon has been calling for the nationalization of Canada's oil and gas industry over the last several years.

He told a news conference the analysis has shown that major oil companies continue to eliminate their competition by either buying or merging them and most of the profits go to the shareholders rather than investing and building refineries.

"Currently Canada, self-sufficient in oil and gas as the third-largest producer of natural gas and the sixth-largest for oil, has prices imposed on it due to events that happen in Iran, Iraq or Saudi Arabia," he said.

"Among oil-producing countries, Canada is going the wrong way. It's the only western country to privatize this essential resource, largely to foreign interests," Lauzon said.

Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) of Calgary was created as a government-owned company during the Trudeau era in response to an oil shortage during the mid-1970s due to a crackdown on supplies by the OPEC oil cartel.

However, subsequent Liberal and Conservative governments have since divested their ownership in Petro-Canada, which remains a major integrated oil company with exploration, production, refining, distribution and retail operations.

* With a Note on Bolivia

"We should be closing the year with a production ... of 3.4 million barrels per day," Vierma told reporters. "The average production for this month has been almost 3.3 million barrels per day."

The US Department of Energy and Wall Street analysts say Venezuela's total oil production is only around 2.6 million bpd.

It's time to check in with Venezuela and some other events in South America as Hugo's Bolivarian Revolution goes forward. Apparently, he strives to be Fidel Castro only with oil and without the beard.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

There's lot to report on--oil shenanigans in Venezuela, nationalization of the oil & gas industry in Bolivia, Hugo's deals with China and the escalating conflict between Hugo and the United States.