Recently, I read a letter to the editor of the Mobile Press Register that laid it on ExxonMobil pretty hard. Having learned first-hand how this giant and politically powerful oil company operates, I read the opinions set out in this letter with great interest. Since our readers might get some insight into how this company operates, I am setting out the letter below.

FAT CATS JUST GETTING FATTER

Start the clock: $1,300. That’s more than a lot of Alabamians make in a month, but that’s the kind of profits ExxonMobil makes, every second, all day long. So while most Alabamians are draining their wallets just to fill up their cars, Exxon’s fat cats are just getting fatter at our expense. Enough is enough. Let us not forget that we, the taxpayers, are giving these greedy, price-gouging oil companies tax breaks and tax incentives to make these world record profits. Across the country, families are barely scraping enough money to put gas in the family car so they can go to work or take their kids to school. Parents have to go to work and children have to go to school. Occasional drops in fuel prices don’t last, but the hardships for American families do. What is really fascinating, if not downright insulting and laughable, is the fact that oil companies defend themselves by claiming that they are merely reaping the benefits of good old “capitalism.”

They are claiming that they should be able to charge us whatever they want as long as we are willing to pay it. They are claiming that any attempt to put a cap on their profits would defeat the principles of a free-world market. Well, I don’t know about you, but in my “free-world market,” the government does not give me a tax break for going to work and doing what I choose to do for a living. The worst part is that, not only are they not paying taxes like you and I are, and not only are they gouging us into a recession, but ExxonMobil wasn’t even punished for intentionally stealing taxpayer dollars from every Alabamian in the state. When someone steals, they ought to be held accountable for it.

Now, stop the clock: If it took you one minute to read this letter, Exxon just made nearly $80,000 in that time. If it took you two minutes, Exxon made more than $150,000 profit. During your lunch break today, Exxon will make nearly $4.7 million. Do the math. It doesn’t take long to see that oil companies’ price-gouging adds up, and Americans are footing the bill.

EATON G. BARNARD
Mobile Press Register
August 24, 2008

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