The real reason that the corporate industrial complex is pushing the Keystone Pipeline Project is that they are laying the groundwork for war with Iran. Think about it -- a massive oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico would bypass any threat by the Iranians to choke off all oil trade in the Persian Gulf. Let's go to a few disparate news stories and then connect the dots.
First, Max Keiser. He has regular rants against governments and the banking industry on his program, the Keiser Report. You can hear them on Russia Today and other foreign news outlets. However, the corporate media won't carry him here in the US. His most recent rant is about how the UK is devising what he terms a Ponzi-style housing scheme in order to create the appearance of economic activity in the UK so that PM David Cameron can win the 2015 election. It is similar to the well-meaning but ill-fated "ownership society" envisioned by George Bush. He notes that the UK is on the list of countries to crash and require bailouts at some point. He has covered all sorts of economic catastrophes on his program including Cyprus, the Housing Market, and Greece.
Now, one thing that was noted on the program was the fact that it was not feasible to skim bank accounts in the UK like they are doing in Cyprus. But the corporate military industrial complex needs money from somewhere. That is why the corporate media is beating the drums of war against North Korea and Iran -- more war creates more opportunities for war profiteering such as Blackwater and Halliburton. The corporate military industrial complex is happy because they continue to rake in more and more profits.
There is a minor inconvenience here -- the fact that Iran is threatening to make the Straight of Hormuz unnavigable for oil shipping and driving oil prices sky high. That is why the corporate elites are seeking to bypass the Straight of Hormuz so that the supplies of oil continue unabated during any war with Iran. An alternative option is war with North Korea -- hence the shrill headlines about threats from North Korea.
While Obama himself may not start a war with either North Korea or Iran, his temperament is a problem here. Throughout his Presidency, he has shown himself to be too much of a follower and not enough of a leader. He defers to insiders, hence his constant dithering about Keystone, a project which will be a major blow to both the environment and to property rights. The polling depends on how you ask the question -- if you ask people if they want a pipeline to drive down oil prices, then people will be all for it. But ask them if you want one in their backyard, their tone changes quickly. If Obama were a leader, he would take bold steps to resolve international crises such as calling the President of North Korea like Franklin Graham suggested. It is interesting how Obama's head in the sand approach has brought Graham and Dennis Rodman into agreement on something.