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Page added on December 11, 2014
Has US oil production peaked? An EIA report argues both sides
Want to dazzle party guests this holiday season with a data-backed argument that the US oil boom may have peaked? Well, the US Energy Information Administration has a report you should probably read.
Want to shut up that obnoxious blowhard who keeps using EIA data to support his argument that the glory days of US oil may have gone by? Want some government data of your own to defend your claim that we have yet to see the peak of US oil production?
I have good news: You can use the same report.
Last week, the EIA released its annual estimate of recoverable US crude oil and lease condensate in the US, which is based on engineering and geologic data and factors current economic and operating conditions heavily into its assessments. In short: if potential oil plays make no economic sense for an operator, they are not seen by EIA as recoverable reserves.
In fact, growth in reserves hinges on price and the EIA said in this report it already expects US reserves to drop slightly in 2014 due to falling crude prices.
Taking this into account, these estimates may serve as the best metric for where US crude production is headed.
But like abstract art, the anticipated production conclusion you draw from this report depends on your interpretation.
On one hand, the report may show US operators are beginning to scale back production plans and that the ongoing American oil boom may be slowing. Recoverable US crude oil and lease condensate is growing, but at the lowest rates in five years. While proved crude and condensate reserves have increased more than five-fold in North Dakota since 2009 and continue to grow at an average rate of 53% per year, once-explosive growth in Texas appears to have slowed while reserves have begun to fall in federal Gulf of Mexico waters and have dipped dramatically in Alaska.
On the other hand, EIA’s data also shows that crude reserves are accelerating quickly, although still at relatively modest levels, in Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma. In addition, total discoveries, a category which includes new fields, new reservoirs in previously discovered fields and additional drilling and exploration in existing reservoirs, have jumped from 3.7 billion barrels in 2011 to 5.5 billion barrels in 2013.
Overall, proved crude and condensate reserves climbed to about 36.5 billion in 2013, a 9.3% increase from 2012 when reserves stood at 33.4 billion. But that 9.3% was the lowest rate of growth since 2009. Growth, from reserves of more than 22.3 billion barrels in 2009, had previously grown by an average of 14.4%.
This growth was largely fueled by North Dakota’s crude and condensate reserves, which stood at nearly 5.7 billion barrels at the end of 2013, up from nearly 3.8 billion a year earlier and about 1.1 billion in 2009.
However, reserves in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico fell to 4.95 billion barrels at the end of 2013, down about 6 million barrels from a year earlier. Alaska saw an even more dramatic fall, with reserves at less than 2.9 billion at the end of last year, down 14% from 2012’s estimated reserves of 3.4 billion and down 19% from 2009’s estimate of 3.6 billion barrels.
And while crude and condensate reserves in Texas have more than doubled, from nearly 5.5 billion barrels in 2009 to more than 12 billion barrels last year, the growth rate has slowed to 8%, down from the previous average of 27%.
Taking these numbers from the big picture perspective, one could argue that if it were not for the North Dakota oil boom, the likely narrative would be that America’s oil renaissance has likely peaked, but this ignores dramatic, albeit more minor, growth in other parts of the US.
According to the data, relatively smaller oil booms are taking place in states like New Mexico, where reserves hit nearly 1.3 billion barrels in 2013, a 64% increase since 2009; Colorado, which had nearly 1.2 billion barrels in 2013, a more than three-fold increase over the same time period; and Oklahoma, which saw its reserves jump to nearly 1.5 billion barrels in 2013, an 83% jump from 2009.
Of course, you could also argue that these more “frontier” projects may be more vulnerable to low crude prices or possibly looming drilling cuts.
Argue amongst yourselves.
32 Comments on "Has US oil production peaked? An EIA report argues both sides"
rockman on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 11:41 am
“Taking this into account, these estimates may serve as the best metric for where US crude production is headed.”
Unfortunately reserves are not a very good surrogate for future production rates. They also don’t make a clear distinction between undrilled reserves and producing reserves. The undeveloped reserve number is very dependent upon the assume price of oil. A huge volume of proved undeveloped reserves can disappear in a matter of months if anticipated oil prices decrease significantly…as we’ve just seen.
Pubcos are required to adjust their estimate of proved undeveloped reserves they own…but not right now. But soon the SEC will require those adjustments. And companies aren’t allowed to use their own guess for those future oil prices.
shortonoil on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 12:24 pm
A significant chunk of the reserves bookmarked by the EIA are shale reserves. With oil at close to $100/barrel over most of the last three years shale producers still managed to pile up $800 billion in debt. Our projections put oil prices at $76/barrel in 2015:
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/depletion2_022.htm
With oil prices presently well under $100 does the EIA expect the financial system to just happily hand over another few $trillion to keep these guys going. It would be nice if the EIA stated which of their many Ouija boards they were using when they do their estimates. This outpaces any bludgeoning of common sense they have ever accomplished.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 12:48 pm
Just exactly what is the EIA?
“The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA programs cover data on coal, petroleum, natural gas, electric, renewable and nuclear energy. EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.”
And yet, really smart people continue to disagree with my often stated point that the U.S. Federal government is both complicit in and an active directing partner in the vast amount of energy/financial-related propaganda that we are daily bombarded with as we have been since 2008 (at least).
I find it impossible to believe that the guys and gals who work at the EIA are stupid and/or ill-informed enough to believe the crap that they publish.
It is much more logical to believe that the EIA puts out these reports to provide a base upon which all the many propaganda lies and spins can be launched from, the purpose of which is of course to keep the masses in the dark about how dire our financial and energy situation is IN ORDER to a) prevent mass panic/fear and to b) keep confidence in “the system” from disintegrating.
Because, when fear/panic set and confidence in the system evaporate, that is exactly when all hell will break loose.
Why am I the only one who sees the blatantly obvious truth?
shallowsand on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 1:38 pm
You aren’t the only one NW.
tahoe1780 on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:05 pm
http://www.compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/2009/11/23/the-iea-flap-2/
shortonoil on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:18 pm
Because, when fear/panic set and confidence in the system evaporate, that is exactly when all hell will break loose.
So what you are saying is the government really knows what is coming, and they don’t have a clue as to what to do about it. They also just sent $200,000 survival kits to all the major banks in the county???
1 point for you!
I’m saying that the government employees that I run into are dumber than a box of rocks.
1 point for me!
I think General Custer ran into a similar problem????
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:19 pm
tahoe1780 — Thanks for that link. Here’s a quote from it:
“Just a few years ago the IEA predicted that world oil production would reach 120 million barrels per day (mbpd) by 2030. (For perspective, the high in 2008 was about 87 mpbd, which is about a 1000 barrels a second. Do the math.) “The 120[mbpd] figure [projected for 2030] always was nonsense but even today’s number [of 105 mbpd by 2030] is much higher than can be justified and the IEA knows this,” said one of the officials; “but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further” [emphasis added]. In other words, we are now facing the limits to growth, the IEA knows this, but the truth would spread panic.
Kjell Aleklett, a professor of physics at Uppsala University who was recently in Denver at the ASPO-USA conference, confirmed that he had known about this for several years himself: “I am not surprised that some within the International Energy Agency have leaked this news. Rather, it is astonishing that this has not become known earlier.”
And yet, over on Ron Patterson’s blog, I brought this subject up and the unanimous response from those joining in the discussion was that no, the government is not directing or initiating or participating in the massive propaganda, it is just a bunch of misinformed journalists and ad-hoc players in the industry that are cooking up the propaganda on their own. I gave up.
The reason why this is such an important “issue”, in my opinion, is because knowing how much effort the government and industry is putting into covering a problem up is a pretty good indication of just how bad that problem is. And based on the massive daily non-stop propaganda coming our way, I guess we can safely assume that the energy and financial problems we face are both EPIC and IMMINENT.
penury on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:20 pm
NWR You are not alone, however if a person disagrees with the PTB narrative it is increasingly difficult to find a venue to post your thoughts.
Pveroi on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:27 pm
NW: of course you’re not alone. It’s obvious to anyone who visits their websites or reads their reports.
Or you’re wrong. And the people who work there are morons.
Or it’s somewhere in between where the people who work there are not rewarded for good work; or pressured by peers etc to provide a certain narrative.
But is there any part if the govt that isn’t operating on faith in BAU at this point?
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:31 pm
And what the hell, here’s another link from that article posted by tahoe1780:
“It is hard to know what is worse: that our government is too stupid to realize that we have a problem, or that our government does know this and is actively suppressing discussion.”
And THAT I think hits the source of all the denial on the head.
Yes, even among those of us who have managed to cut through all the BS and who have managed to face the hard cold realities of the very grim future that is creeping up on us, it is still exceedingly difficult for many of us to acknowledge or to admit that yes, in fact, our government is lying to us specifically to keep us in the dark.
But like I said over on Ron’s blog, the government would be irresponsible for NOT resorting to these propaganda and lies to keep the herd calm, because the alternative (which is going to happen anyway soon enough) is chaos and mayhem on an unimaginable scale.
We all know a bottleneck is coming. We all know that planet earth has been pushed to the limit, squeezed like a lemon for every last drop of sustenance. We know there will at some point be a mass die off. That’s the reality that we all have to face. And it appears to me — as unpleasant as it may be — the US government strategy is to keep us all calm and unaware until that day that we all drop straight off the cliff. They’re stretching BAU out as far as they can to give as many of us who can perceive what is going on a chance to prepare. But the vast majority of people will be totally unprepared and in very bad shape when one day we wake up to find out that TS has already HTF.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:49 pm
shortonoil — I hear what you’re saying. But they can’t all be stoopid. And outside of the EIA, there are obviously many oil industry and financial CEOs who know the EIA report(s) is/are bogus, but yet they say nothing. It makes a lot of sense to just admit that yeah, they KNOW, but they’re keeping us in the dark on purpose, in fact they are going to extreme lengths and doing everything within their power to keep us in the dark. That point of view is what jives with the reality we all see, I believe.
Davy on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:52 pm
N/R, like short said some government employees are dumb as a box of rocks so the smart part of the government is not going to have them in on those intimate details of life or death of society. I am sure at the intelligence and military levels they know what happening. I imagine they know things few people know.
Plantagenet on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 2:52 pm
Hoo-RAY! People are finally figuring out that the US government is spreading propaganda and lies. And who runs the US government and who is responsible for appointing the people who run the EIA and review and spin and then sign off on every EIA statement? Why, President obama, of course—the same guy who used the bully pulpit of the presidency to tell the American people not to worry about energy because we will achieve energy independence, and we have a 100 year supply of natural gas, etc. etc.
shortonoil on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:03 pm
“NWR You are not alone, however if a person disagrees with the PTB narrative it is increasingly difficult to find a venue to post your thoughts.”
North West, we have spent YEARS putting together the Etp model. More than 10,000 man hours went into its development. We have tested it against every data set we could find. We sent out dozens of copies all over the world to what we thought were qualified people to critic it. An we are “almost”, and I mean almost, 100% certain that it is correct.
And Yes, the wheels are going to start seriously coming off real soon! Absolutely no doubt about it!!! Does the government know?? They have a good idea, and they also know that anything that they do will amount to no more than what moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic did. It is like the earth getting hit by one “mother” big asteroid, it is like a super volcano blowing up (just a little slower), and there is nothing that anyone can do about it!
What ever rhetoric we hear out of DC, or London, or Beijing is just that “rhetoric”. It is the power elite playing musical chairs with each other. It is like a bunch of little kids fighting over the scraps on the table. But, if you are looking for official recognition of the situation it is not going to come. Their only concern is to preserve what ever power (which isn’t much) that they have as long as they can. Stop looking for confirmation, the only confirmation you are going to find is in your own head.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:07 pm
Davy — I imagine you’re one hundred percent correct.
Plant — I’ve agreed with you before on your point just made that Obama is lying to the American people (and everybody else, in public) about our future energy prospects. My previous comment was something like “It’s his job to lie.” I think where you and I completely differ on this one topic is that you seem to believe that Obama is running the show and calling the shots, where I tend to believe that Obama is just a player in a much larger game being run by far more wealthy and powerful people who remain hidden behind the curtains.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:15 pm
shortonoil said: “They have a good idea, and they also know that anything that they do will amount to no more than what moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic did.”
Totally agree.
So, knowing that, what do they do?
They do the same thing a smart and humane doctor does when he knows his patient is on the brink of death and wants to ease his passing. He calms him, relieves his pain, tells him everything is okay, just close your eyes and relax, relax, relax…
That is the exact functional equivalent of what our government, with the silent acceptance and participation as needed by the power elite, is doing.
And hey, I think I’ve already got some outside confirmation that goes nicely with that confirmation inside my head. 🙂
Speculawyer on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:47 pm
Well, I suspect we will hit at least a temporary peak soon. The western oil companies are just not going to invest in much more drilling with a Price below $60/barrel!
It is much wiser to import oil at these prices . . . burn through other people’s oil at these low prices and save our domestic oil for when the prices get much higher.
SugarSeam on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:48 pm
No mention of …
1) Monterey downward revision of 96%
2) The public’s capacity to afford the given price
Speculawyer on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 3:51 pm
I would think that the real ‘reserves’ has shrunk quite a bit lately. Reserves are known oil that can be economically produced. And since the price of oil has dropped from $110/barrel to less than $60/barrel, a lot of the previously economically viable reserves are probably no longer economically viable.
They are just not worth drilling at $59/barrel. They are now a ‘resource’ but not a ‘reserve’. But they’ll become a reserve again when the price inevitably rises again.
Of course, no one is going to fess up to this unless they are forced to do so through SEC filings or something.
GregT on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 4:01 pm
“Why am I the only one who sees the blatantly obvious truth?”
You aren’t NWR, but you are a member of a very tiny minority, something that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Trying to explain our predicament will get a person about as far as trying to explain to Plant that Obama doesn’t run the federal government. Repeatedly smacking ones forehead against a brick wall, comes to mind. Or flogging a dead horse.
When people hold on to preconceived ideas, it is extremely difficult to get them to listen to the truth. Especially when the truth is uncomfortable for them.
GregT on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 4:07 pm
“But they’ll become a reserve again when the price inevitably rises again.”
Not if society cannot afford those higher prices. We are already seeing the results of $100bbl plus oil prices. Recession, economic contraction, mountains of debt, and wars.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 4:39 pm
GregT — Ain’t that the truth!
Apneaman on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 8:02 pm
What does it mean when ” a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment” is arguing with itself? At the very least when TSHTF it can cherry pick and showcase whichever prior argument is convenient. In some of his more recent posts, the wizard Greer has been discussing how this kind of ass covering is about all bureaucracies do in the later stages of a dieing society.
GregT on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 9:51 pm
Apnea,
Both my wife and myself have been working for bureaucracies for over 30 years. Hers being an offshoot of a government bureaucracy, the healthcare system. The last decade has become increasingly dysfunctional for both of us. Again, as pointed out above, there is no point in telling the truth. Nobody wants to hear it. Ass covering is only surpassed by ass kissing. Everyone is doing whatever they can to hang on to their bigger piece of the pie, at the detriment of the entire system. Smile, tell the boss what wonderful clothes he/she is wearing today, and compliment them on their youthfulness or latest hairdo/cut. It is to the point that little work is actually accomplished anymore. Bureaucracies have become more about social networking, than they are about actually doing anything productive.
In many respects, it reminds me of recess in seventh grade.
Perk Earl on Thu, 11th Dec 2014 11:02 pm
“Not if society cannot afford those higher prices. We are already seeing the results of $100bbl plus oil prices. Recession, economic contraction, mountains of debt, and wars.”
Nailed that one, GregT.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 1:34 am
Who here thinks that the shale revolution could ever have taken off on it’s own, without the Fed paving the way and setting the financial stage for it all to blossom?
“Six years of the Fed’s easy money policies purposefully forced even conservative investors to either lose money to inflation or venture way out on the risk curve. So they ventured out, many of them without knowing it because it happened out of view inside their bond funds. And they funded the fracking boom and the offshore drilling boom, and the entire oil revolution in America, no questions asked.”
“After not finding any visible yield in the classic spots, thanks to the Fed’s policies, institutional investors (Institutional Fish — see AutomaticEarth for that article) – the folks that run your mutual fund or pension fund – took big risks just to get a tiny bit of extra yield. And to grab a yield of 5% in June, they bought energy junk debt so risky that it now has lost a painfully large part of its value, and some of it might default.”
We have witnessed first-hand a short term strategy to stretch out BAU for a few years longer and to ratchet up GDP in an otherwise shrinking economy. One last big debt splurge as a going away party for the Age of Oil.
Never forget that the folks who threw this big party — The Fed — knew that the party would end eventually, as it now is. But that didn’t keep them from talking up American Energy Independence, or going along with all the fairy tales about cheap and plentiful oil as far into the future as your dreaming eyes could see.
The Fed played their part, a huge part, in this grand illusion that we’ve all lived through. Now it’s over, the partygoers are staggering home, investments are crashing. Pretty soon the lights will go out and there won’t be any more soothing dreams of energy independence and oil gluts to make us feel safe.
Now we get to watch the grand illusion unravel right before our very eyes. Seriously, folks, it is going to be a long cold night when reality comes home to roost.
http://wolfstreet.com/2014/12/11/oil-bust-contagion-spreads-to-wall-street-and-the-banks/
$550 Billion Energy Junk Bond Bubble Busts; “Whac-A-Mole” Distortions in Multiple Markets
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/550-billion-energy-junk-bond-bubble-busts-whac-a-mole-distortions-in-multiple-markets-2/
theedrich on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 3:36 am
My layman’s, worm’s-eye view: if a barrel of oil produced no profit whatsoever, the oil companies would be out of business, and so would modern-style governments. If it brought in, say, $1,000, but no one could afford it, the same results would obtain. Someplace between these two extremes lies the band of utility. Throughout the twentieth century that band was rather wide, and allowed our species to overload its ecological niche. But due to a thousand factors resulting in Tainteresque decline, the same band is clearly narrowing. So although happy talk and various Ponzi operations will keep our overshoot going for some time yet, the ultimate state of affairs is not promising.
In the period leading up to September of 2008 there were many economics Ph.D.s and allied gurus measuring this and that and making projections that were all over the map. But the vast majority of them were utterly surprised when the entire world economy was suddenly engulfed in a sinkhole. Almost no one expected it. Because the complexity of it all exceeded the ability of our best minds and computer programmers to predict it.
Since 2008 there has been an immense amount of economic, fiscal and financial dodging, shucking and jiving, mostly with the aim of expanding debt — that is, postponing the inevitable: paying the piper. Whether QE, ZIRP, inflating the world’s reserve currency, “continuing resolutions” or Barrycare, the method of operation has been to shove the day of retribution off a little longer.
It does appear, however, that the globe, including Japan, the EU and Russia/China, is finally becoming exhausted. Appeals to “moral superiority” are no longer of any avail. If any strategy at all is going to make it through the coming bottleneck, it will be Machiavelli’s.
Davy on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 6:45 am
I doubt shale would have lifted off if different 08 leadership would have chosen a tea party path which advocated “let the chips fall where they may”. The Tea Party has an extreme distaste for moral hazard and welfare of any kind. The tea party would have pulled the plug on the car industry for example. There feeling was “the dumbasses should pay for their inept business plan”. BTW I am apolitical so I have no affiliation. I am a doomer that’s it.
The bailout of 08 was nothing more than a huge act of corporate welfare and wealth transfer. Poor decisions were in effect rewarded and encouraged by this moral hazard hence the same activities today. The poor’s welfare transfer would take decades to accumulate to the level of the 1%er’s and the banksters welfare package. In fact the net wealth transfer to the 1%ers negates any welfare to the less than 1%ers considering the transfer of huge amounts of wealth.
We all know the political, administrative, and financial sectors are in a revolving door of fraud so it was more than a bankster bailout. It was a bailout and maintenance of power at the top. The top had to do the bailout we saw in 08 to maintain power. Power corrupts absolutely this is why TPTB could not properly apply these policies for only a short time.
What the tea party type leadership failed to understand their type of policies at a time of near paralysis would have been the end of BAU. The leadership’s decisions at this time of near paralysis was the right one. Yet, it was right for no more than the amount of time it took to stabilize and reboot. After this period of stabilization it should have been recognized that harsh remedies were needed. Excessive debt, parasitic financialization, market manipulation, and industrial political corruption was the problem. Power corrupts absolutely so this was never going to happen. It was instead a green light to rape and loot.
Reforms were needed for this failed experiment IMA initiated by the Bill Clinton era with the lose Greenspan monetary policies and the repeal of Glass–Steagall Act. Moral hazard and the disregard for the rule of law didn’t started at this point but it did blossom into a noxious weed out competing the native grasses. We have always had this corruption and manipulation but there were checks and balances.
My long story points to the very real possibility that the aggregate descent could have started in 08 instead of a cannibalizing wealth transfer descent. IOW a healthier descent without 7 years of social fabric destruction from the moral hazard of wealth transfer and repression.
Oil prices would likely barely recovered from lows from the resulting lower economic activity. System wide descent would have started in 08. The 1%ers would have never recovered their lost paper wealth. One caveat no decision would have changed the outcome of descent and decay. My only point is some decisions are better than others.
Davy on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 7:02 am
This article is from ZH. At least at ZH there is the realization the oil situation is not going to turn out well. You can say what you like about ZH but they have been zeroing in on many of the financial problems for months now. I admit there is some corn porn but nothing like MSM USA.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-12/crude-drops-yields-slump-futures-tumble
Crude Drops, Yields Slump, Futures Tumble
Anyone who was hoping the market would rebound on last-minute news that the US government has gotten funding for another 9 months, will be disappointed this morning, when futures are finally starting to notice the relentless decline in crude, and with Brent down another 1% as of this writing following yet another cut in the forecast of Global oil demand by the IEA (the 4th in the last 5 months) and with Chinese industrial production also missing estimates (recall that the Chinese slow-motion hard landing has been said by many to be the primary catalyst for the crude collapse) which however pushed Chinese stocks higher on hopes of even more stimulus, the S&P is trading lower by some 14 points, the 10 Year is in the red zone at 2.12%, and the USDJPY is close to session lows. In short: Kevin Henry’s “ETF” desk at the NY Fed will have its work cut out to generate one of the now traditional pre-weekend feel good, boost confidence stock market ramps.
Apneaman on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 2:59 pm
Greg T
I have family that have worked in gov and expressed the same frustration. I also dated a former social worker/ idealist. She had such high hopes when she was in university and for about two years after working. She put in a decade and called it quits. She is now waitress at a nice busy pub that makes and sells it’s own kraft brew and teaches a few employment skills classes. She told me she wished she left sooner. Good luck to you and your wife.
GregT on Fri, 12th Dec 2014 4:29 pm
Apnea,
We’re pulling the plug and moving to the farm this coming June. The wife has already put her early retirement notice in. I will remain working in the city until the house is sold. I hope we aren’t too late. Can’t deal with the big city crap anymore. It’s become beyond stupid.
R1verat on Sat, 13th Dec 2014 8:59 pm
As one that has spent a ‘lifetime’ (26 yrs) working for the Fed Gov’t, you either play ball or are “invited” to retire or are shit canned. The bosses that are in power didn’t get there by being honest & truthful. They got there by schmoozing. Hard work & talent are possessed by few anymore for these folks get ground down.
Think Jack Nicholson saying, “….you can’t handle the truth.” I tell people, you really don’t want to know how bad it has all become….
Incidentally because I had a hard time playing the game, I was shit canned. At first I was really pissed. Now I believe they did me a very large favor!