Word: crude
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Gulfs crunch came in 1975. Kuwait, where Gulf had poured the bulk of its foreign investment money, took over the company's share of Kuwait Oil Co., with its wells, refineries and other facilities, cutting off Gulfs biggest and most profitable source of crude. Venezuela also took over Gulfs holdings. General Atomic, a joint Gulf-Royal Dutch/Shell venture, pulled out of the production of high-temperature nuclear gas reactors after heavy losses. Meantime, Gulf had missed out on most of the big U.S.oil strikes?the Rocky Mountains, west Texas, east Texas and Alaska...
While all this was going on, a temporary global glut of crude kept a lid on prices, stretching Gulfs once bountiful cash reserves and cutting into earnings. Last year profits fell 7.8%, to $752 million; in this year's first quarter, they fell another 7%. The need for a drastic reduction in outlays became urgent...
Recent experience should not be forgotten. In the late '40s, with brokendown soldiers crowding the psychiatric wards of Veterans' Administration hospitals, psychosurgery's crude predecessor, lobotomy, became surgically fashionable as a means for quickly and efficiently pacifying violent veterans. Lobotomy, now in disrepute, involved the use of an instrument much like an ice pick to sever the connection between the frontal lobes of the brain. But while the technique generally pacified patients for a while, it also frequently left them with new and unpredictable mental disorders. The crest of enthusiasm for lobotomies left behind thousands of human tragedies...
...fifth part of the package, which Carter called "the centerpiece" of his program, is a tax on crude oil aimed at boosting domestic prices to the world level in order to promote conservation and raise production. This would end the controversial bureaucratic swamp of "entitlements" under which refiners of domestic crude oil subsidize refiners who use more expensive imported oil. No one gives this proposal much chance of passage, however, despite the determination of House leaders to keep on pressing. A new tax, especially one that may raise consumer prices on such a basic commodity, is hardly likely to find...
...Theo" is crude, a little vulgar in his materialism, but really kind of nice once you get to know him. "Liz" is, perhaps, a bit standoffish, but also quite a nice girl once she loosens up. Of course, they have their tempestuous moments, but what marriage doesn't have its rough spots? The pair settle down very nicely together on the yacht or his private island, and she even gets used to his little quirks - like not getting rid of his mistress after the marriage. Later, following the death of his son, Theo is seen suddenly...