$15 billion in quarterly PROFITS?

Blog readers, while I try to stick with the theme of cycling, sometimes world events get in the way and I just can't resist taking on a tough topic that is dear to my heart or affects all of us in a very viceral way. Today is just such a day... get ready for a different Break Away....

In all of my life, I've never been more stunned by anything than waking up today and reading about how Exxon-Mobil Oil Corp. has reported a record $15 billion in quarterly profits!

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm

This on top of a record $12 billion in Q2. At a time when our nation is in the midst of it's greatest economic depression in the last 75 years (maybe ever), we are just crawling out of an energy crisis that drove oil prices to an all time high, we're seeing the oil crisis ripple effect throughout the entire economy causing inflaion, unemployment is rising and the World Banking System has collapsed and every American is sitting back wondering what has happened to their retirement savings; these folks have a lot of balls! This is all about greed... pure, unadulterated greed. Greed at the expense of every man, woman and child on this planet. Greed at the expense of national security. Greed at the expense of economic health. This is the same greed that drove our banking systems to collapse.

When they held the senate subcommittee hearings in September to understand what was driving oil to $140 a barrel, the oil giants were all in unison when stating that it was the effect of a global oil shortage driven by additional consumption in India and China, that American oil reserves were dangerously low and that they were not profiting from it because they are paying the same amount per barrel as everyone else. I just think it's funny that the global oil shortage came out of no-where and subsided as quickly as it started. Nothing on a planetary level can cause that fast of a rise nor this steep a fall in the consumption of oil. This makes me wonder, who controls and reports on the nations oil reserves? Clearly, this is fruitful ground for me to investigate but it is an important fact to know. Is it possible that a consortium of oil companies can underreport oil reserves and/or restrict supplies to create a shortage, when in fact, they have plenty of reserves that were bought at $70 a barrel sitting in storage. As the price goes up, they turn around and sell the $70 a barrel oil at $4.80 a gallon at the pump and pocket the profits? Kind of makes you wonder... Simply tightening the release of stored oil can create a false shortage that nets huge returns for Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP and, of course the Arabian oil giants.

Simply stated: Exxon-Mobil managed to extract a record $15 billion in quarterly profits, from it's customers, during the worst economic period the global economy has ever known. I hope these guys can celebrate their incredible success with a clear conscience that they are not only looking out for the good of Exxon-Mobil but also the people that inhabit this planet. More likely, they are celebrating their fat bonuses and having spa weeks on the money they made from all of us. It's that greed thing again... can't escape it in a capitalistic society, I guess. The backing system sure highlighted that.

So, what is the next step? Is Exxon-Mobil taking advantage of their position over the control of America's oil futures? Greed led the banking system to pursue some unworthy business practices with respect to loaning money and it cost all of us at least $700 billion thus far to fix it. In the end everyone agreed that the government needed to have more involvement in regulating the financial systems in order to prevent prevented this risky business practices and the ensuing sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Maybe we should learn from this last crisis and apply some of that regulatory policy to the oil companies before their greed gets the better of them and causes further economic devastation to an already fragile system. Here the consequences can be much more dyer. Instead of an economic collapse, would could end up in a 3rd world war over control of the oil fields. As much as I hate to see oversite committees, I think that it is time that the US government took a more active role in regulating the business practices of the oil industry to prevent further rape of the American public.

It is truly a world gone mad...