Barack Obama Needs to Stop Exxon, Before They Kill Us All

Just as I think Barack Obama might, just might, be able to lead us out of the environmental hell-hole that we have been led into by the Bush Administration, I forget about what he's up against.

What really horrifies me about ExxonMobil's record-breaking profits this quarter is not how big they are, nor that they continue to make huge sums at the expense of the planet that they exploit in order to get them, but that the money they earn (and I use that word very begrudgingly) is then used by their executives to lobby congress to halt the battle against climate change.

This is a problem with our democracy, and an inherent problem in Washington. The power that big firms like Exxon have, and excercise, over congress and the White House is despicable. One wonders whether Obama's campaign promise to eradicate special interests and corrupt lobbyists can really be lived up to, in light of the huge pressure that he will inevitably be under. The enormous resources that companies like ExxonMobil and all the other huge oil conglomerates can use make it almost impossible to believe that somewhere inside the Obama Administration, someone won't be enticed to take a little cash here or there, or slip in some policy in exchange for a house or two.

And what really gets me about it is that there really isn't anything we can do to stop firms like Exxon do what they want. That kind of money, that kind of political power means that they are practically unstoppable. Or at least, thats what they want you to think.

I went and had a look at their website today, and looked at their published views on the environment. By the end of the first paragraph I was already annoyed:

There is increasing evidence that the earth's climate has warmed on average about 0.7 C in the last century. Many global ecosystems, especially the polar areas, are showing signs of warming. CO2 emissions have increased during this same time period -- and emissions from fossil fuels and land use changes are one source of these emissions.

The inaccuracies contained within this are too numerous to point out, but the most frustrating thing about it is that everything they say is hesitant; which means everything they do is hesitant. They say there is "evidence", but they have no solution. They say the earth is "showing signs of warming", when what they really need to say is how they, the most successful oil company on earth, and therefore the most powerful, are going to do to stop it. And at the moment, that's not much.

Barack Obama has his work cut out if he is going to stop ExxonMobil and it's compatriots from taking over this country's environmental policy. But I believe he can do it, or at least I hope he can. For all our sakes.

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Comments

[mjt218]

What I don't get is why Exxon should not be part of the political process? Regardless of how you feel about their business, they employ tens of thousands of Americans directly, pay billions in tax dollars, have contractural obligations to provide fuel for America's military and other government services, etc.

The company and the employees they represent have the right and the obligation to push for their interests. Just because they push for their interests does not mean that everything they do is amoral and that they are just glutonous creatures incapable of following the rule of law.

[ScreenName05]

I don't suppose you saw the movie "Waterworld". A mythical story of how the Exxon Valdez is used by smokers to find the rest of the world's remaining resources so they can continue to ride around on jet skis - thus dominating the sailboat sailors. There are two types of people in this world. Those who take and devour everything they can get, and those who build. Exxon is full of those who take and devour. They are amoral, they care for what they can get not what they can give. Failure to understand this paradigm results in being eaten alive by these creatures.

FDR understood this and the result was the creation of regulations that went beyond contract law that America had relied on for its first 160 years of life, with the exception of Teddy Roosevelt's break up of the oil companies. The only way to deal with oil companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, the big banks, etc. is to learn the lessons of the Roosevelts. First break them up into smaller entities, then regulate the hell out of them.

[Snwbnny9]

Agreed. Just like Ma Bell was broken up into the baby Bells.
Monopolies are bad for America.