In yesterday’s Albuquerque Journal, leftist State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino and a small group of people received attention for efforts attempting to convince the University of New Mexico’s board of regents to cease investing in the oil and gas industries.
As with so many actions of the left, the action is largely symbolic. It really doesn’t matter whether UNM’s endowment is invested in oil and gas or not, but it would feel good to some on the left who see oil and gas as evil rather than as the basis for our civilization. Or, on second thought, some of these left-wingers hate our civilization and perhaps see destruction of oil and gas as the fastest way to undermine it. I don’t know.
Regardless, it is also true that the oil and gas industries contribute approximately $104 million annually to the UNM budget. I don’t see why the university should accept this money if it is unwilling associate itself with “evil.” So, rather than allocating oil and gas funds to UNM (if the regents choose to divest), perhaps that $104 million can be returned to average New Mexicans instead?
By my calculation, every man woman and child in the state would get $50 annually from the oil and gas industry with the amount fluctuating based on price and the amount of oil and gas extracted in a given year. If other universities chose to divest, we’d get a great deal more back from the industry. Plus, taxpayers in our state would have a direct understanding of the positive impact of the oil and gas industries in New Mexico rather than only glimpsing those dollars as they flow into the bureaucratic maw.
Paul, this is a joke, right? Probably not, inasmuch as one must follow the Lew Wallace thesis* when dealing with anything New Mexican. Don’t these looney liberals know UNM gets a big chunk-o-change $$$, from the ~$21 Billion “permanent fund”…itself from oil & gas royalties?
*also refer to the ‘Limbaugh Theorem’ as why hypocrisy doesn’t motivate the voter
I am unaware of the Limbaugh Theorem on voter motivation and hypocrisy.
Please enlighten me.
TIA
eaj
BTW, there is the Junker Theorem:
If a Socialist doesn’t want it you can’t have it and if a Socialist does want it you’re going to pay for it.
Do you folks still believe that Oil and Gas is a good form of revenue?
#LegalizeIt
It’s not a matter of whether it is a good form of revenue or not, it has really been the ONLY form of revenue available in a slow-growth/sluggish economy. Yes, legalize pot, but we ultimately need to grow the private sector and reduce the size of New Mexico government.