How Republicans mislead the suckers, leading to lost jobs, lost income, wrecked investments, shrunken 401(k)s, and pollution and poisoned water for a fringe benefit

The results first, from the New York Times:

Earnings are down for companies that have made record profits in recent years, leading them to decommission nearly two-thirds of their rigs and sharply cut investments in exploration and production. More than 200,000 oil workers have lost their jobs, and manufacturing of drilling and production equipment has fallen sharply.  

The cause is the plunging price of a barrel of oil, which has been cut roughly in half since June 2014…..

In the United States, Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana are facing economic challenges. 

Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell recently announced cuts to their payrolls to save cash, and they are in far better shape than many smaller independent oil and gas producers that are slashing dividends and selling assets as they report net losses. Other companies have slashed their dividends.

And now for some chanting from those wonderful folks who brought you unemployment, economic collapse, pollution damage, and flaming water from your kitchen faucet. And remember, this clip was created years before the current economic collapse, at a time when the concern was limited to the Chevron spill in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana: