I& #39;m still marveling at the fact that the president of the US is trying to create a cartel to support oil prices, in effect taxing U.S. consumers to support the oil industry 1/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/mexico-reaches-oil-output-cuts-agreement-with-opec-and-trump?srnd=premium&sref=qzusa8bC">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...

If you look at it more closely, it& #39;s even worse than it appears on casual observation. Why? Because oil&gas extraction is extremely capital-intensive, so almost none of the benefits flow to workers. 2/

A little table: fixed assets in 2018 from BEA https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=10&step=2,
employment">https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iT... from BLS https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cesbtab1.htm,
implied">https://www.bls.gov/webapps/l... capital per worker in thousands of dollars. 3/

If I& #39;m reading this right, oil&gas 40X (!) as capital-intensive as overall private sector. Also included hospitals, bc Rs trying to block additional funding despite Covid 4/ https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/491717-pelosi-schumer-want-aid-to-states-hospitals-in-gop-small-business-bill">https://thehill.com/homenews/...

Aside from desperate need for medical care, hospitals are a huge source of employment, while oil & gas isn& #39;t. So Rs willing to subsidize capital but not help workers. Are you surprised? 5/