Nick Anderson

The Houston Chronicle's editorial cartoonist




Categories: General
Nick Anderson

36 Responses

  1. Jeff says:

    I can’t help but notice that neither party is willing to cut the tax on a gallon of gas.

    “When gasoline reaches the pump, another major factor comes into play ? federal, state and local taxes, which average about 20 percent or more of the pump price. The federal tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, while state taxes vary from 14 cents in Wyoming to more than 44 cents per gallon in New York.”

  2. Bill says:

    both parties are full of idiots

  3. El Sid says:


    what are you talking about 2 parties (dem/rep) in that vehicle? That’s a republican dressed inside a horse suit trying to look like a democrat donkey to besmerch them. Anyone can see that! You guys don’t play fair!

  4. It’s amusing that the Bush administration, which allowed oil companies to set this country’s energy policy in closed-door sessions, is now shocked — shocked, I tell you! — that they might be price-gouging.

  5. David R says:

    I don’t think the taxes should be cut!

    Why should our state budgets that those

    taxes support be disrupted to offset the

    blatant and shameless gouging and greed by the

    oil industry. These f*ers are nothing but

    lying, manipulating thieves.

    Oh and Bush is going to “investigate” his

    buddies. YEAH…….

    Keep throwing those cookies to your 32% zombie

    groupies you moron!

  6. Stan says:

    Both medicine and oil will have to be nationalized – precious commodities that can no longer be driven by the greedy.

    When the public see’s a fat cat that was forced into taking a 400 mil bonus, they know capitalism has blown a gasket!

  7. Jeff says:

    El Cid,

    Are you sure Nick didn’t re-run a cartoon from the Jimmy Carter days?

    Same “crisis”, same politics, but the 2 parties are taking opposite positions on an issue they both know they have no control over.

  8. Jeff says:

    David R,

    Ask your boss if he thinks a 9% profit margin is greed & gouging.

    In the mean time, since we know ANY significant change in energy policy will take 10 years to have an effect, I will keep waiting for the effects of Clinton’s energy policy to kick in.

  9. JB says:

    With few exceptions, free-world oil companies do not own mineral rights. They contract with mineral owners, like me or government-owners, to explore for and produce oil and gas and they pay me for my minerals on a share basis. World oil and gas markets determine the value of my minerals just as regional real estate markets determine the value of my surface interests. However, world oil markets are dominated by corrupt polticians in the Developing World and the Third World where the vast majority of oil and gas resources are found. The US government and the State of Texas are mineral owners which are making a lot of money at this time. It is disappointing that readers of the Houston (World Oil Capital) Chronical seem so completely ignorant of the oil and gas business as to think that private companies, large as they are, have much effect on oil prices. As to US gasoline prices; there is currently a squeeze resulting from the wierd patchwork of environmental regs specifying about 18 gasoling blends for small regions of the USA. There is also a refining capacity squeeze because no new refineries have been built in the USA in 30 years and labor union politics that prevent the ocean tanker transportation of gasoline between US ports. Both squeezes are the result of “green” and labor union political activists who are mostly just Euro-Socialists/Marxists in disguise.

  10. thomas says:


    Care to substantiate “since we know ANY significant change in energy policy will take 10 years to have an effect”? Or is this another Andrew Sullivan talking point you stole?

  11. thomas says:


    The current cost of gas has nothing to do with the price of crude huh? Just environmental regulations? Interesting take Senator Inhofe, but of course completely incorrect. Regarding refineries; you state no new refineries have been built in the US in 30 years. Difficult bit of information that 23 have CLOSED since 1995. Decrease supply, price goes up, sounds like a sound business plan to me. If anyone complains the gas companies can simply say the environmental laws are to blame, and sure enough they do and sure enough they find enough talking heads to repeat the official line.

  12. El Sid says:

    Hey guys,

    tell the wife and the kids, SOS, different time and different administration. All of us are expected to tow the line as good little subservient little sheep and guess who is your sheperd? As long as these greedy SOB’s control the house and senate with their dole payments to them, what chance does the typical Joe Blow have?

    400 million bucks for that retired tired “the man.” Hey they could have built a new refinery with that amount. Hey, guess what, I know an operator at the Exxon refinery in Baytown. He told me that Exxon pays $10 a barrel of crude from Pemex in Mexico because Exxon has CatCrackers (catylictic reactors) at that plant to process that heavy crude (high in sulphur content.) What, $75 a barrel, no $10 a barrel. Now is anyone out there seething in anger this very second? Exxon just love those moneychangers setting the “price”, huh?

    Anyone care for this blog’s rebuttul? (sorry for all my SIC’s)

  13. Jeff says:

    El Cid, Thats not high sulfer your friend smells like when you are sitting next to him at the ice house, it’s bull***t.

  14. El Sid says:


    do not address me as El Cid (12th century Castilian (city/state)east of Aragon from the Iberian Peninsula in combat with the Moors (a city in Mexico named Matamoros, translated means ” kill the Moors”) (moslem tribe of the fatimad, the name of mohammed’s sister)at the southern tip called Granada. It is El Sid as in El Sidney. That El Cid fought for the Castilians or the moslems, whomever had enough gold or silver to sway his selective endeavors. Does that resonate familiar soundings of who is in power at the White Barn? Come on Jeff, join the team, get with the program, break out that US flag and salute to it right now! Stay with Western edifying “Tom Terrific” thoughts! What would Theodore Cleaver “The Beaver” say about you, not to mention Teddy Roosevelt?

  15. El Sid says:

    Commenting on our esteemed, highly regarded, respected blogger Jeff,


    Now, now, settle down Jeff, that info from that operator that works at Exxon came straight from his mouth not mine, with Phd’s professors and student seniors in attendance at a college of higher learning, yes Jeff, a college, not at a beer joint, as us native Texans call an ice house. Jeff, there is help for intellectual disassociation de-sensitizing personality disordered abnornal psychosomatic pathological no sense of reality people like you. And it is obvious that you have hypertension also. And Jeff, I am disappointed that you did not commend my sharing of history to our fellow bloggers. Seek professional help, or, better yet, get on The Dr. Phil show. Should I write that letter for you? What say you, my dear friend?

  16. Jeff says:

    Well, well, now it looks as though the El Cids are upset.

    To the first El Cid: No need for me to break out the flag, I have one on my house, one on my car, and one tattooed on my arm.

    To the second, Dr. El Cid: Had you given me the opportunity I would have most definitely commended at least one of you on the history lesson, what took you so long though? And I sincerely do appreciate the free diagnosis and referral to Dr. Phil but I don’t think it will be necessary. But just so I am clear, if a chemical plant operator says something in the company of PhD’s, professors, and student seniors at a college of higher learning, does it make the statement true?

  17. David Salvati says:

    What a bunch of whiners! Everyday I see thousands of gas guzzlers on the highway with one person per hog. This cartoon is hilarious no matter what your political persuasion is.

  18. Tom Payette says:


    A wonderful illustration of the grandstanding as you put it. Now..everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon. Since the congress insists in interfering with the market system they seem to know little about, they now run for cover and blames everybody else when it backfires. When will they learn?

    Keep up the great work!!


  19. > No need for me to break out the flag,

    > I have one on my house, one on my car

    Too bad you’ve never bothered to learn the principles for which the flag stands.

  20. JB says:

    thomas; The crack spread is very high becuase of demand pressure due to the blend mix. So, gasoline is higher than would be expected with crude at the current price. 23 refineries closed because of the same Green-political reasons that no new ones have been built. Also, union militancy was a key factor in turning the “Golden Triangle” into a ghost town.

  21. JB says:

    El Sid: The Maya-WTI spread runs around $16 per barrell, so Maya crude will price in the fifties. As you might guess, a lot less product can be refined out of heavy crudes. There is also the problem of getting rid of uncounted tons of petroleum coke which often costs money, depending on the world price vs. transportation costs. It is not catalytic cracking units that are the key to refining heavy crude stocks, it is cokers. Coker drums are the very large vertical tank-looking things with superstructures, often in groups of 2 or 4, that are black and usually stand out prominantly in even very large refineries becaue the coker drums are huge.

  22. Jeff says:

    El Cid,

    After considerable thought, I owe you an apology and I have to say your operator friend may be right. I never considered that the crude oil being purchased from Mexico could be illegal Mexican crude oil so $10 a barrel versus $75 sounds about right.

  23. thomas says:


    You are wrong. 70% of the cost of gas is the price of crude.


    “23 refineries closed because of the same Green-political reasons that no new ones have been built.” You are wrong again.

    Curious, did you believe GM when they said putting a seat belt in every car would put them out of business?

  24. El Sid says:

    Yes Jeff

    “El Cid,


    And Exxon is selling gasoline at $75 a barrel prices when it is only paying $10 a barrel prices? Lets see, $10 a barrel should translate into 50 or 60 cents a gallon at the pump? Nah, they need the money, right? For that Lee Raymond’s retirement.

  25. Jeff says:


    With repect to the report you linked’ the most important 3 sentences in that entire report are:


    West coast refiners have unique challenges due to the multiple blends of gasoline mandated by environmental regs on the left coast. As the Senator knows, his theory doesn’t make sense if applied to the refining business as a whole. One has to assume he placed this little disclaimer in there because he knows his report is garbage.

  26. Jeff says:

    El Cid,

    I was being facetious.

  27. thomas says:

    oh jeffery,

    23 refineries nationwide were shuttered in the last ten years. “amount of capacity that has been taken offline is significant enough to affect national markets.” do you think every city has it’s own refinery and every company is local? are you thick or willfully obtuse?

  28. Jeff says:

    Doubting Thomas,

    The unintended consequences of the tree hugging Democrats environmental regs, and their fearless leader Bill Clintons approval of the oil companies in the 90′s to merge together forced the closings of many small refiners. The prohibition of these remaining companies to build new and improved refineries lies squarely on the backs of the Democrats. Do you really think these companies wouldn’t love to churn out some more gas and oil products to sell? These companies don’t make their money on the 9% profit margin, they make it on the volume of products they sell.

    Let them drill, let them refine, and watch the prices go down.

  29. Jeff says:

    Just imagine if Al Gore was President:




  30. > Just imagine if Al Gore was President

    Thousands of Americans and Iraqis would be alive.

    New Orleans wouldn’t have been left to drown.

    America wouldn’t be an international laughingstock.

    You’re right; it’s a pleasant dream.

    Er…that *is* what you meant, isn’t it?

  31. Jeff says:

    Should we help Israel when Iran tries to wipe them from the face of the Earth there Salzberg?

    I mean I know you don’t think the Iraqi’s are worth fighting for, how about the Jews?

  32. If Bush’s motivation had really been to relieve Iraqi suffering, that would be a completely different matter, but no sane, intelligent person believes that it was.

    Your little religious slurs really reveal a lot about you.

  33. Jeff the Gentile says:



    Is being a Gentile or a Jew a bad thing?

  34. No, but using either as a pejorative is.

  35. Jeff says:

    But I wasn’t.

  36. > But I wasn’t.

    …Which comment merely shows that you think we’re stupid.

    We’re not.