She also explains fracking how and why fracking generates “earthquake swarms” and how the growth of fracking has put pressure on those in the energy industry to get on top of the curve. taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas drilling are now almost literally insane,” and she gives numerous examples of why this is so.) How many houses and yachts do you buy? (Spoiler alert: as many as you can.) What concern do you have for the many people who are left to deal with your industry’s toxic waste poisoning the air, land, and water, and damage from the massive numbers of earthquakes you have generated? (Spoiler alert: none.) What choices do you make, for example, when your net worth is $162 billion or more? How much is necessary to make sure politicians vote your way? (No matter how much you spend, it’s peanuts in relation to the financial benefits of tax write-offs. Maddow includes fascinating portraits of the people who run the energy businesses, and how they spend their vast fortunes.

In fact, as Maddow points out, the oil companies share a number of undemocratic values with Putin in any event, including a deep hatred for government regulation impacting their own operations, and a dedication to enlarging personal profits at the expense of wreaking “geopolitical and environmental havoc both at home and the world over.”

Western companies – in particular, ExxonMobil – have been more than willing to ignore Russia’s strong-arm and even murderous tactics in exchange for the opportunity to get in on the lucrative development of its untapped resources. But his control of the industry is based on “graft, financial manipulation, and violence as needed,” rather than expertise, so he needs technology from the West to achieve his aims. Putin has chosen to gamble the future of Russia entirely on the success of its oil and gas production. She carefully weaves together connections between oil executives in the U.S. The information in her book is meticulously researched and documented. Rachel Maddow, known from her news show on MSNBC, is more than a media pundit: she received her undergraduate degree in public policy from Stanford and a doctorate in political science from Oxford University. It demonstrates how this industry fuels politics around the world, and has played a surprising role in attempts by Vladimir Putin to sow discord in the West and control Washington. This is a non-fiction account of insatiable greed on the part of a particular segment of self-serving, uncaring people drunk on money and power, who work directly in, or benefit indirectly from, the oil and gas industry.

Blowout by rachel maddow