The oil and gas industry is described by Rachel Maddow as the most consequential, the most lucrative, the most powerful, yet the least governed industry in the history of mankind. In her book, Rachel goes behind the scenes to uncover the heinous acts employed by big oil companies to exert their influence on politics and people. All this of course, for the sake of profits. As an industry that can produce "both power and triumphant great gobs of cash",  big oil invites "gangsterism, extortion, thuggery and the sorts of folks who enjoy these hobbies." As Rachel Maddow asserts, it is important for us to understand the motivations behind the actions of the oil and gas industry, today.

One topic which I particularly enjoyed in this book was that on the Russian-owned oil company Rosneft and its role in the theft of Yukos. It prompted me to think about how we so often assign blame to the big oil companies, even though we are somewhat complicit in this unfortunate turn of events. With American firms including J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley choosing to look the other way, working with Rosneft for the launch of their initial public offering, I cannot help but ponder on how far we would go in our relentless pursuit of profits in our capitalistic society.

Rachel Maddow also goes at length to explain the Resource Curse, where many countries that discover oil ends up poorer and in worse shape. These countries are often characterized by poor governance and rampant corruption, and the discovery of so-called "black gold" causes these countries to eventually become among the "most economically troubled, the most authoritarian, and the most conflict-ridden" countries in the world. Yet this phenomenon does not apply just to less developed countries. On the contrary, even developed countries like the United States suffer from this curse as they are held captive to the demands of big oil companies such as ExxonMobil, as we shall read about in this book.

It would be rather interesting to explore the similarities between the oil and gas industry and the tech industry. Already, we can draw parallels in the way these industries perceive government regulation as prohibitive, and that only the industries themselves have the technological knowledge to set boundaries and expectations on how they should behave. Yet as we shall see from the example of Chesapeake Energy, there are flaws to this argument.

As a parting thought, the author believes there is still hope in our approach to the oil and gas industry in the form of Democracy. On that note, here's a related article you might find interesting: Democracy contains the seeds of its own recovery.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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