Ten companies, thousands of products

the graphic below lists ten companies and connects them with the products they produce... unfortunately, the graphic depicts only the products marketed by those companies in the united states... many thousands more similar products are sold in countries across the globe under different brand names... in my travels, i have made it a habit to always search for the name of the company on the product, usually found in very small print somewhere on the packaging and it almost always is one of those same companies, no matter if i am in argentina, macedonia, or afghanistan... the heavy hitters are usually nestle, proctor and gamble and unilever but the rest of them are also well-represented along with a healthy sprinkling of other companies, usually german and uk...


(click on graphic for larger version)

i strongly recommend always doing your own checking... i guarantee it will be an eye-opening experience...

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Employees want good leadership...? I'm shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED...!!

i've been pounding on this point for years... every single goddam book on management and leadership you pick up says virtually the same thing... it's taught in both graduate and undergraduate management programs... it's proudly pointed to as the way the company does business in the opening pages of every corporate annual report... there's only one problem... it isn't practiced, but i guess that's also the american way... we're at our best when we're telling everybody how things should be done but heaven forbid we should do it ourselves...

Money's Nice, but a Good Boss Is Better

When it comes to sizing up the quality of their workplaces, federal workers value strong leadership and straight answers from their bosses more than even pay and benefits, according to a new comprehensive study of the federal workforce.

one of the things i like best about teaching and training non-u.s. folks is when, after making a point about leadership or management, i get the inevitable comment that says, "well, that may work in the u.s., but you gotta understand this is (fill in name of country here)"... that's when i throw back my head and laugh... after looking at all the nonplussed stares, i lean forward conspiratorially and say, "here's a dirty little secret... it doesn't work THERE either because we don't practice what we preach... so, if you figure it out and do it, you'll be WAY ahead of the u.s..."

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The world food crisis for dummies: food as a weapon

there really isn't any mystery to the rapidly-escalating global food crisis... just like endless war, it's all part of the plan of the global elites to make sure that they, and only they, remain in charge... since they have all the money imaginable, augmented by immense power, they will never have to worry about where their next meal will come from, and then, when all the great unwashed finally kill each other off over a cup of rice or die from starvation, the world will be an ever-so-much-nicer place for them to live...

amy goodman interviewing raj patel...

[I]f you imagine a sort of hourglass, at the top there are the millions of farmers who grow the food that we eat, and at the bottom there are billions of us consumers, and in the middle there are just a handful of corporations that mediate between the people who grow our food and us. And those corporations, in many cases -- it's usually four corporations controlling more than 50 percent of the market. I mean, in tea, for example, one company, Unilever, controls 90 percent of the market.

Now, when you're in that position of market power, you're able to do a great deal. First, you're able to drive prices down for farmers. And of course the irony there is that farmers and farm workers are the poorest people on the planet. So you're paying the poorest people on the planet the least. And then you're processing the food so that what we end up with is food that is rich in salts and fats and sugars, food that tends to make us want to buy more, food that makes us obese. And that's why you're having a situation where there are six billion people in the world, a billion of whom are now overweight.

[I]n the past, it used to be that the people who were overweight were rich ... and the people who were hungry were poor. Today, hunger and obesity are both signs that people are unable to control their diets. They're unable to control, not in a sort of willpower way, but unable to control in terms of being able to access fresh fruits and vegetables, access food that is healthy. I mean, in the United States, for example, it's much harder for communities of poor people and people of color, in particular, to access fresh fruits and vegetables. In West Oakland, for example, near where I live, you have a situation where there's just one supermarket in West Oakland and dozens and dozens of liquor stores where there are no fresh fruits and vegetables, but there are these highly processed industrial foods. Now, that's a sign that in fact -- I mean, it would be wonderful for all of us to be able to access these fresh fruits and vegetables, but at the moment, particularly for people on low incomes, that's pretty tough to do. And so, the environments in which poor people find themselves and which are being built around poor people are more conducive to being overweight and to be unhealthy in the cities, and for poor people in the fields, those kinds of prices that come from the industrial food system are driving them out of business.

if that doesn't put it all in perspective for you, then try this...

Using food as a weapon is as old as the siege but today’s barbarians have upped the anté by several orders of magnitude.

“…There are only two possible ways in which a world of 10 billion people can be averted. Either the current birth rates must come down more quickly. Or the current death rates must go up. There is no other way. There are, of course, many ways in which the death rates can go up. In a thermonuclear age, war can accomplish it very quickly and decisively. Famine and disease are nature’s ancient checks on population growth, and neither one has disappeared from the scene … To put it simply: Excessive population growth is the greatest single obstacle to the economic and social advancement of most of the societies in the developing world.” — Speech to the Club of Rome by Robert McNamara, Oct. 2, 1979

“Overpopulation and rapid demographic growth of Mexico is already today one of the major threats to the national security of the United States. Unless the U.S.-Mexico border is sealed, we will be up to our necks in Mexicans for whom we cannot find jobs.” —Robert McNamara, then World Bank president, March 19, 1982

McNamara’s thinly veiled genocidal utterances took place over thirty years ago, echoing the wealthy and the privileged’s fear of the ’great unwashed’ when ‘over-population’ was the buzzword. So not much has changed has it, we’re hearing the same, tired old messages being rolled out once again by the ruling elites and their spin doctors. McNamara’s cries of fear about being up to his neck in Mexicans is exactly same as the current bogey doing the rounds in Europe, only now they’re Africans.

[...]

[I]t’s the economic and political policies of our governments in cahoots with Big Business that created the crisis in the first place (as it has all previous crises).

The ‘credit-crunch’ /is merely symptomatic of a sick system that needs to be replaced poste haste.

The issue is really quite simple, as long as we have ruling elites joined at the hip to Big Capital, running the show, they will never, not in a million years entertain the idea of doing away with the present economic system—which is the cause of all our miseries—and replacing it with a saner and more modest way of earning a buck, there’s too much at stake and for so few, dammit! Only we, the so-called people can do that, they won’t even begin to change things unless we either force them to or failing that, get rid of them.

didja get all that...? good...!

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Making people suffer through corporate and state-initiated economic warfare

Vs.



i posted the other day on exxon's move to freeze $12B of venezuela's assets via court orders obtained in britain, the netherlands, and the netherlands antilles, and also via a pending court action in the u.s... my point was that those assets belong to the PEOPLE of venezuela... they do not belong to hugo chávez nor do they belong to pdv (petróleos de venezuela s.a.), the state-owned oil company... exxon has declared economic WAR on the people of venezuela much as israel has done with gaza... given that the prime responsibility of the head of a sovereign nation is to his people, chávez has responded... unfortunately, his response stoops to the same low level as exxon, although i honestly don't see any other viable options...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez yesterday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if ExxonMobil pursues international court orders it has obtained against billions of dollars of Venezuelan state assets in a contract dispute.

"If you end up freezing [Venezuelan assets] and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said in his weekly radio and television show. "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."

Venezuela sells about 1.3 million barrels a day of oil to the United States, making it the fourth-largest source, at 14 percent, of U.S. petroleum imports.

naturally, those who worship at the twin altars of greed and power are thrilled at exxon's move...

"Hugo Chávez foolishly thought he could get away with it," said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Sons. "You just cannot go unilaterally and confiscate assets at will like that especially when your largest customer is the government of the company you're seizing assets from. Obviously Exxon is going to have the last laugh."

i'm so glad he thinks exxon will be laughing... israel must be positively doubled over now that egypt has re-sealed the border wall...

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In an Israeli-style move, Exxon, the most profitable company ever, freezes $12B belonging to Venezuela's people

vs.


lovely...

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as it fights for compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.

The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project.

The move is the boldest challenge yet by an international oil major against any of the governments around the world that have moved to increase their holds on natural resources as energy and commodity prices have soared.

"To me it sounds like a very aggressive tactic," said Stephen Zamora, professor of international law at the University of Houston Law Center.

"I can't really say that I'm aware this has been used in other investment disputes. They may be trying to get the government to settle."

Exxon -- which last week posted the largest ever year's profit by a U.S. company -- said on Thursday it has received court orders in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles each freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuela state oil firm PDVSA. An Exxon spokeswoman said the total that could be frozen worldwide was $12 billion.

[...]

The move underscores Exxon's reputation for toughness in dealing with foes as varied as governments and fishermen, as it has been willing to wage prolonged legal battles to defend its interests around the world.

you need to read this carefully... besides the "nobody fucks with us" game that exxon's playing, the $12B that's being frozen DOESN'T just belong to the state-owned oil company, it belongs to the venezuelan PEOPLE... these are precisely the assets that chávez has pledged to help his people escape from poverty... of course exxon knows this and is engaging in this unprecedented move for precisely the same reasons that israel is blockading gaza - to stir up unrest among the people such that they will be more inclined to overthrow their government...

and why...? because, in exxon's world, the first duty of the president of a sovereign nation is to protect businesses, corporations, the holders of capital, and the owners of private property... the people of the country need to accept their role as secondary and subservient to those interests... in fact, insuring that ALL of a country's resources are devoted to serving those interests is the lesson that exxon is attempting to force mr. chávez to learn... putting a fine point on it, the insatiable desire for power and money knows no bounds...

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The myth of free trade and neoliberalism, special to "The Mustache of Understanding"

a somewhat lengthy but quite informative article in alternet via truthdig by chalmers johnson, reviewing Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, by cambridge economist ha-joon chang that, besides debunking neoliberal economic policies and the so-called "washington consensus," excoriates tom friedman...

[The] book is a discursive, well-written account of what [Chang] calls the "Bad Samaritan," "people in the rich countries who preach free markets and free trade to the poor countries in order to capture larger shares of the latter's markets and preempt the emergence of possible competitors. They are saying 'do as we say, not as we did' and act as Bad Samaritans, taking advantage of others who are in trouble."

[...]

[Neoliberal policies include] privatizing state-owned enterprises, maintaining low inflation, shrinking the size of the state bureaucracy, balancing the national budget, liberalizing trade, deregulating foreign investment, making the currency freely convertible, reducing corruption, and privatizing pensions. It is called neoliberalism because of its acceptance of rich-country monopolies over intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, etc.), the granting to a country's central bank of a monopoly to issue bank notes, and its assertion that political democracy is conducive to economic growth, none of which were parts of classical liberalism.

chang's - and johnson's - bottom line...

[F]ree trade, privatization, and [neoliberal] policies are ahistorical, self-serving economic nonsense...

[...]

It is time to recognize, particularly in the English-language economic press, that a "level playing field" leads to unfair competition when the players are unequal.

i spend a great deal of time outside the united states... i have worked on economic development projects in so-called "emerging economies," principally in former socialist countries, i reside part-time in argentina, i have traveled extensively throughout latin america, eastern and southeastern europe, and i have seen first-hand the devastation wreaked by neoliberal, world bank and imf policies... following those policies, it is virtually impossible for a country's producers and manufacturers to prosper... how could they when transnational corporations flood the national markets with goods and services, establish a country-wide presence, and operate with an economy of scale that home-grown businesses find it impossible to match...

every time i go to shop, i always look at the fine-print on the labels of the items i purchase because i want to see what corporation is behind the product... 9 times out of ten it is a transnational corporation, unilever, nestle, proctor and gamble, pepsico, coca cola, danone, bayer, etc., etc... sure, if the country is a big enough market, those corporations may license local companies to produce their products in-country which is at least somewhat better than importing everything, but the money still largely flows out of the country... and, if the market is small - macedonia, for instance - most brand-name products on store shelves are 100% imported... (and, yes, there are plenty of knock-offs, but that's a whole 'nother story...)

anyone who espouses free trade and neoliberal economic policies is either grossly ignorant of the realities those policies have created in the developing world or committed to serving his or her own economic interests at the expense of others...

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"Every citizen is faced with a simple choice: organize or perish"

finally, somebody says what i've been yammering about for the past three years: there is nothing incompetent about the Bush administration...

charles sullivan...

These days it is popular to describe the events occurring in Iraq as the result of incompetence, mismanagement, miscalculation, and benevolent bungling; to characterize them as a well intentioned mistake on the road to freedom and democracy, rather than the moral abomination they are. What we have in Iraq is not the result of any of these phenomena. It is the intended consequence of cold calculation to bomb Iraq into submission, to thoroughly disorient its people, and to apply economic shock therapy before they can recognize what is being done to them.

The intent is to invade sovereign nations either militarily, economically, or both; and to force unbridled capitalism on them. This means, of course, that we must first overthrow the existing governments—many of them democracies, and replace them with ruthless dictatorships willing to betray their own people, and amenable to opening up their countries to corporate exploitation and privatization.

So called free market capitalism requires corrupt leadership on the receiving end that is willing to accept bribes while becoming a puppet to the US. This is how some of the must brutal regimes in the world came into power. Corporate America is always beating the drums of war in search of profits and ever increasing shares of the world’s markets. Enough is never enough—they want it all.

Aside from overthrowing popularly elected governments, the unspoken objective of mature capitalism, guided by the doctrine of economic shock therapy, is to turn once sovereign nations into totally deregulated corporate states, answerable to no one.

This objective will be accomplished by privatizing the nationalized infrastructure, inviting in foreign investors, removing tariffs that protect local business and cooperatives from predatory multinational corporations, and downsizing the workforce; by eliminating social spending, and removing all forms of corporate controls. In short, by conducting a fire sale of each nation’s stolen assets and auctioning them off at bargain basement prices to wealthy multinational investors.

The intent is to create an unfettered corporate state in which the market, driven solely by profit, is the final arbiter of all things; an Orwellian world in which human rights, labor laws, environmental protections, and social justice do not even exist, much less enter into market equations.

[...]

We are witnessing naked greed unleashed upon the world like a swarm of locusts the size of North America. The fabulously wealthy are realizing obscene profits, while the majority of the world’s people are forced into economic servitude, many of them living in abject poverty, scratching out a bleak existence on sweatshop wages under horrendous conditions.

[...]

If the world were as enamored with capitalism as its adherents proclaim, there would be no need to masquerade it as anything other than what it is—economic self interest for the privileged, driven by insatiable greed, funded by the public treasure. There would be no need to impose it on the world through high tech militarism and occupation, preceded by elaborate propagandistic media blitzes and tricks. All people would seek it out, as they seek water to slake their thirst and nourishment for their bodies.

So we must ask ourselves: When has it ever been in the pubic interest to over feed the rich and starve the poor? When has it ever been in the public interest to destroy the earth for the sake of profits? When has it ever been in the public interest to promote war and injustice over peace and shared prosperity?

[...]

Every citizen is faced with a simple choice: organize or perish. The storm clouds of World War Three are looming on the horizon. These are extraordinary times that demand something from every one of us.

i rarely read things that put the truth out so clearly and unambiguously as this does... it's very sobering...

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John Edwards is on the right track - the system is broken and it's up to us to fix it

from his "corporate democrats" speech, via alternet...

Real change starts with being honest -- the system in Washington is rigged and our government is broken. It's rigged by greedy corporate powers to protect corporate profits. It's rigged by the very wealthy to ensure they become even wealthier. At the end of the day, it's rigged by all those who benefit from the established order of things. For them, more of the same means more money and more power. They'll do anything they can to keep things just the way they are -- not for the country, but for themselves.

[...]

You cannot deal with them on their terms. You cannot play by their rules, sit at their table, or give them a seat at yours. They will not give up their power -- you have to take it from them.

and there needs to be one HELL of a lot more emphasis on the following...

[I]t's time for the American people to take responsibility for our government -- for in our democracy it is truly ours. If we have come to mistrust and question it, it is because we were not vigilant against the forces that have taken it from us.

i had an online chat yesterday with an old friend... she's a reasonably intelligent person but, for reasons of small kids, a husband that loves football and hates the news, and no strong attraction to news on her part either, she only recently stumbled on all of the doubts and questions floating around out there about 9/11... she was asking me a lot of questions and i pointed her to some of the resources i've perused, and she was asking me whether or not i thought it was a conspiracy or even an inside job... i told her the same thing i say to everybody who asks that kind of question, "i believe everything and i believe nothing..." do i believe a 9/11 inside job is a possibility...? absolutely... do i believe it was...? i simply don't know...

the reason i cite the chat with my friend was my amazement that, in august 2007, someone would not have already been aware of the 9/11 conspiracy theories... but, as i thought about it, i had to admit that there are probably lots of people in her position... they get what information they have from tv news and probably don't pay all that much attention to it even then... mostly, they just go about their daily lives and, as long as their own immediate world isn't disturbed, they don't bestir themselves to become any better informed...

so, what does this have to do with john edwards...? he says that american people need to take more responsibility for our own government, that we have not been vigilant... and, imho, that is a serious understatement... it's easy to play the part of victim... indeed, there's a strong victim mentality that underlies much of our society... but we must also remember, an outlaw presidency like bushco has managed to accrue the power it has because we, the people of the united states, have given it away... it's way past time to take it back...

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A follow-up on La Oroya, Peru, Doe Run and Renco Group

back in mid-june, i posted on doe run, a subsidiary of renco group... doe run is a precious metals company based in st. louis, with an operation in la oroya, peru... it wasn't a particularly uplifting story, but nevertheless exemplified what many companies do when operating in a country and a regulatory environment where there is little to no accountability...

some key points - and photos - from that post, courtesy of the la times...

* In 2006, the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, named La Oroya among the world's 10 most-polluted places, a list that includes Chernobyl, Ukraine.

* In children, a [blood-lead reading of] 10 micrograms a deciliter, is considered elevated by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials at Doe Run acknowledge that almost every child tested in the Old Town has a blood-lead reading at least double that level.

* A St. Louis University research team said La Oroya faces a "daily toxic cocktail" and labeled the situation "an environmental health crisis."

.
Decades of toxic emissions have robbed the nearby mountains of vegetation

.
(L) Men and women scrub down a street in La Oroya to wash away lead and other contaminants spewed from the smelter.
(R) Crispin Huaroc, 63, wears rubber gloves as he cleans masks used at the smelter, where he has worked for 37 years.

from ips, there's this...

Far from halting the source that is poisoning the Andean city of La Oroya, which is home to the Doe Run smelting complex, the Peruvian government ordered a contingency plan for the days when air pollution is worst, as if it were dealing with a natural disaster.

[...]

The plan is the result of two years of debates involving citizen groups, non-governmental organisations and the state agencies in charge of carrying it out, as well as representatives of the company, which will provide much of the financing.

[...]

The degree of alert will be determined based on air quality and weather forecasts unfavourable to dispersal of the gases and particulates away from the city, such as lower temperatures and lack of wind. But none of the three levels entails ceasing operations at the smelting plant, [Carlos Rojas, regional coordinator of the government's national environmental council, CONAM] said.

Once a state of alert is ordered, it will be recommended that the most vulnerable -- children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with respiratory or cardiovascular illnesses -- should not be outdoors between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm local time, the worst period of the day for exposure.

Doors and windows of homes, schools and hospitals should be closed, and food sold on the street should be covered.

The population in general should cover mouth and nose with scarves and handkerchiefs when outside. The idea of facemasks was ruled out because "people don't want images that further dramatise the situation," said Rojas.

so, don't reduce the pollution, just stay inside while THIS continues...

The Doe Run complex's main chimney emits an average of 1.5 tonnes of lead and 810 tonnes of sulphur dioxide every 24 hours -- more than four times the maximum allowed under Peruvian legislation, which is 175 tonnes per day of sulphur dioxide, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The same day that CONAM approved the plan, the level of sulphur dioxide recorded over the course of three hours was 12,000 micrograms of sulphur dioxide per cubic metre of air, when the air quality standard only allows 364 micrograms.

Tests also found 330 micrograms per cubic metre of air a composite that includes lead, cadmium and arsenic -- twice the level allowed under air quality standards.

[...]

[A]ccording to CONAM, the emission of this toxic agent is a matter of concern. If the contingency plan were CONAM already in place, a state of emergency would have been declared 183 days so far this year.

hell, they're just peasants in peru... screw 'em...

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Context-free journalism, Sunday edition: shed a tear for the oil companies' greed

the oil companies are enjoying the most obscenely bloated profits the world has ever seen, yet they're crying over reduced refinery capacity and environmental restrictions that, amazingly enough, are pushing up gasoline prices, meaning that they can make even more money...

Gas Prices Rise on Refineries’ Record Failures

Oil refineries across the country have been plagued by a record number of fires, power failures, leaks, spills and breakdowns this year, causing dozens of them to shut down temporarily or trim production. The disruptions are helping to drive gasoline prices to highs not seen since last summer’s records.

[...]

American refiners are running roughly 5 percent below their normal levels at this time of the year.

“You have a system that is taxed to the limit,” said Adam Robinson, an energy research analyst at Lehman Brothers. “This is what happens when spare capacity is eroded.”

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted the nation’s energy lifeline two years ago, oil companies delayed maintenance on many of their plants to make up for lost supplies and take advantage of the high prices. But, analysts say, they are now paying a price for deferring repairs.

[...]

The refining crunch has pushed wholesale gasoline prices up 35 percent this year and has contributed to a 23 percent gain for crude oil prices. Oil futures in New York closed at $75.57 a barrel on Friday.

Some critics of the industry have theorized on Internet blogs that the squeeze on gasoline and other refined products points to a deliberate effort among oil companies to bolster profits by keeping supplies tight. But experts point out that the companies have little incentive right now to hold back on fuel supplies.

“Every refinery would like to run as much crude as possible but they simply can’t,” said David Greely, senior energy economist at Goldman Sachs, who in a recent report compared the drop in domestic refining with an “invisible hurricane.” “These are more complex systems. There are more chances for things to go wrong. And when things go wrong, they tend to back up the system.”

Meanwhile, refiners have been scrambling to meet a raft of environmental regulations, phase out toxic additives, add ethanol to the fuel mix and introduce new ultralow sulfur standards for gasoline and diesel. Industry insiders attribute much of the fragility of refining operations to the difficulty of making these cleaner fuels.

[...]

“It’s a marvel we can continue to run refineries the way we do these days given the many requirements and specification changes we have,” said Charles T. Drevna, executive vice president of the refining industry’s main trade group, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. “There comes a time when the piper has got to be paid.”

[...]

No refineries have been built in the United States in over three decades, because refiners say they are too costly. Instead, they have been expanding their existing refineries.

honest to great jumping jehosophat on a bagel, do they honestly expect us to swallow a claim that their failure to deal with refining capacity problems and environmental regulations is something that couldn't have been well and truly foreseen, and that some of that mind-boggling profit couldn't have been reinvested to deal with both in a timely manner...? this is an open and shut case of greed, greed and more greed, and shame on anybody for trying to make us think otherwise...

now, let's jump to the context-free portion of this post... one, nowhere in the article is it mentioned that the oil companies are vertically integrated and most of them own their own refineries... instead the article reads as though the refineries are an industry apart from their parent companies... two, nowhere in the article are the continuing sky-high profit levels of the oil companies mentioned... the closest they come is this...

All this is happening as the industry goes through another golden age. After 20 years in the doldrums, the refining business has never been so good for oil companies. Refining margins — the difference between the price of crude oil and the value of refined gasoline made from it — have shot up as much as $25 a barrel for some types of crude oil, compared with about $5 a barrel just a few years ago.

again, refining is presented in a box, with its profit margins not explicitly connected to the profitability of the parent company, and we are left with an incomplete and misleading picture...

here's what conocophillips says about how oil company profits should be used...

Basically, oil company profits are used for two purposes: to pay dividends to shareholders in the business and to pay for capital investments to find, produce, process and deliver energy products to consumers.

find, produce, PROCESS and deliver... but they aren't reinvesting in the processing side... why...? maybe this article on the 2007 first-quarter earnings report of exxon mobil holds a clue...

Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest oil company, said profit climbed 10 percent to a first-quarter record after higher gasoline and diesel prices increased refining profit.

Profit rose to $9.28 billion from $8.4 billion in the comparable period a year earlier, the Irving, Tex., company said in a statement yesterday. Revenue fell 2 percent, to $87.2 billion.

Refining profit rose 50 percent, as the company increased fuel output at its 45 plants and as growing demand and breakdowns held back competing producers.

or this from 2006...

ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company, announced that it earned more than $8 billion in the first three months of the year. The news follows Conoco Phillips' announcement that it earned $3.3 billion during the first quarter of 2006. Chevron is set to announce its quarterly profits Thursday.

or this from 2005...

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said yesterday that second-quarter profit rose 32 percent, to $7.64 billion, as Asia and North America used more crude oil and gasoline.

The quarterly profit was the third-highest in the company's history. Revenue climbed 25 percent, to $88.57 billion, Exxon said.

didja catch all that...? a profit increase of 32% to $7.64B in the SECOND QUARTER of 2005, jumping to $8B in the FIRST QUARTER of 2006, and 10% to $9.28B in the FIRST QUARTER of 2007...

think about that at your next fill-up...

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The super-rich get a LOT richer while we fight their very profitable wars

this article from alternet, citing the incredible gains made by the top .01 percent of the income pyramid, offers tax cuts as the principle explanation...

Saying that the majority of the country's economic gains in recent years have gone to the top one percent of the income ladder understates the trend. You have to cut the pie into even smaller slices to get the full picture. Because while the bottom half of the top one percent of the income distribution have done far better than the average wage slaves, it is a smaller slice still -- the top .01 percent -- that has grabbed most of the gains--seeing an impressive 250 percent increase in income between 1973 and 2005 -- from an economy that's grown by 160 percent.

An analysis by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez gives us the best perspective of what's going on for everyone else. They found that despite several periods of healthy growth between 1973 and 2005, the average income of all but the top ten percent of the income ladder -- nine out of ten American families - fell by 11 percent when adjusted for inflation. For three decades, economic growth in the United States has gone first and foremost to building today's modern Gilded Age. The recipients of those gains don't care about a fully funded Social Security system or a healthy Medicare program -- they don't need them.

Meanwhile, even as the top earners' incomes have gone through the roof, their tax burden has shriveled. At the same time, the share of federal revenues contributed by corporations has declined -- by two-thirds since 1962.

commenter and contributor, jim, fills in the rest of the picture...

(this is jim's comment to his earlier post, too salient to leave buried...)

At this point, the Elite, which is a very loose term for the top 1% of the population, have their assets protected in international financial markets.
They can afford to let the dollar decline.

The approximatley 200 or so largest trans-national corporations no longer totally depend on the dollar for their profitablilty and growth. This enables them to draw off incredible amounts of accumulated equity in this nation.

In addition, despite a declining dollar and a reduction in long term economic value, Americans will continue to consume at a rate that is far beyond their ability to pay, making this nation the prime marketplace to sell goods produced internationally. When the money finally dries up, corporations will simply move on.
How does the war fit in?

War is a wonderful profit opportunity. Thanks to the American taxpayer, the military industrial complex is recording record profits. Also, destabilization in the middle east drives up oil prices. On the political side, continued war and fear of war make it possible to control multiple facets of society.

None of this is a new philosophy. These ideas have been around for centuries:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
- James Madison, April 20, 1795

It's like he had a crystal ball.

We can't really do justice to these issues here. I think if you read from the published works of the Founders, you will find the answers.

not at all a pretty picture...

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The New World Order

This is the post cold war modern world we are buying. A world totally supported by our government and the criminals in the Millionaires Club that infest it all the way to the White House.
And we wonder why they hate us.
You do have power to change what you see in this video. It's the power in your wallet.
Money can be used as an agent for positive change, if you take a little time to spend it wisely..

A documentary film by John Pilger

'Global economy' is a modern Orwellian term. On the surface, it is instant financial trading, mobile phones, McDonald's, Starbucks, holidays booked on the net. Beneath this gloss, it is the globalisation of poverty, a world where most human beings never make a phone call and live on less than two dollars a day, where 6,000 children die every day from diarrhea because most have no access to clean water.

Check out this video at The Information Clearing House.

I have seen total poverty aside incredible wealth first hand. It changes you in ways you never imagined. The greatest tragedy of all is that the ordinary individual need only give up a small amount to totally change the lives of the poor in America and the rest of the world.
Sometimes that small amount is just buying a locally made product, instead of the big name international brand that bombards you with slick advertising.
The point is, don't stop buying things you need or work hard to obtain, just spend wisely and it can make a big difference the world over.
Oh yeah, it will piss off the NeoCons if you get smart as well.
That makes it a double win.

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The questionable ethics of U.S. businesses operating outside the U.S.

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Decades of toxic emissions have robbed the nearby mountains of vegetation

i took a calculated risk while teaching my class this past weekend... i showed them the film "the corporation..." besides presenting some little-known facts about the evolution of the corporate form of business structure, the film also offers a stark and unflattering perspective of the many ethical abuses transnational corporations engage in daily, with a particular focus on their operations outside of the u.s... in a stroke of timeliness, this la times article in today's edition about doe run's smelting operation in la oroya, peru, caught my eye and i thought it would make the basis for a good post...

some years ago i had the opportunity to visit the high mountains of peru and more recently spent some time in the andean altiplano in argentina, so i've had a brief but first-hand glimpse of the vast and breathtaking beauty of that part of the world... i never saw an environmentally damaged andean area, but i have seen other, similar areas in the u.s. rocky mountains, in mexico, and in the balkans of s.e. europe...

some key points from the article illustrate the dilemma often faced by the citizens of the communities in which transnational corporations do business...

• On the twisting streets of the Old Town [La Oroya Antigua], air laced with sulfur dioxide spewing from the smokestack irritates the eyes, befouls the mouth and stings the lungs. Fine dust coats furniture and clothes, residents say.

• In 2006, the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, named La Oroya among the world's 10 most-polluted places, a list that includes Chernobyl, Ukraine.

• In children, a [blood-lead reading of] 10 micrograms a deciliter, is considered elevated by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials at Doe Run acknowledge that almost every child tested in the Old Town has a blood-lead reading at least double that level.

• A St. Louis University research team said La Oroya faces a "daily toxic cocktail" and labeled the situation "an environmental health crisis."

• Doe Run officials say emissions are down and have never been shown to have harmed anyone. "I am not aware of any case of serious illness that may be attributed to our La Oroya operations," said spokesman Victor Andres Belaunde. Critics say Doe Run's repeated threats to shutter the plant and leave more than 3,000 employees jobless have intimidated Peru's government.

• [M]any residents support the plant because it drives the economy. "The smelter is needed here," said Rocio Guadalupe Mejia, 31, a mother of two who heads a community group backed by Doe Run. "There would be no La Oroya without the smelter." Many here work for Doe Run, live in Doe Run-supplied housing and send their young to Doe Run-supported schools. The company logo and its green-and white colors are seen on buildings, lunch boxes and billboards.
  

and, as in so many other underdeveloped and emerging economies throughout the world, the citizens of la oroya are faced with an unfair choice - earning a living or maintaining their health...

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(L) Men and women scrub down a street in La Oroya to wash away lead and other contaminants spewed from the smelter.
(R) Crispin Huaroc, 63, wears rubber gloves as he cleans masks used at the smelter, where he has worked for 37 years.

here's what doe run says about the la oroya operation on its la oroya web page...

The Doe Run Company acquired Metaloroya (now Doe Run Peru) in 1997 from the government-owned company, Centromin, which had operated it since 1974. Doe Run Peru operates a metallurgical complex in La Oroya, located 112 miles northeast of Lima at an altitude of 12,385 ft.

The La Oroya complex has been smelting copper since 1922 to support the Cerro de Pasco mining empire. Lead production began in 1928 and zinc production in 1952. The complex has recovered precious metals, such as gold and silver, since 1950. The complex also produces more than a dozen other by-products.

and, on the same page, here's what they say about what they're doing to help the community of la oroya...

Community Involvement

Previous operators of the La Oroya complex left a legacy of contamination which, compounded with the unstructured growth of La Oroya, has exposed its residents to environmental and health risks. Doe Run Peru is concerned with the impact the contamination has on the surrounding communities as well as the health concerns brought on by poor nutrition, lack of sanitation and clean water, and poor air quality. The company is working with local communities and government authorities to find solutions to these issues and improve the quality of life for the town’s residents.

To meet these objectives, Doe Run Peru supports the surrounding communities in implementing sustainable-development projects. The company also works extensively in the community to improve public education and healthcare infrastructure.

Doe Run Peru’s accomplishments in La Oroya over the last five years include:

* Conducting the first-ever community-wide blood lead level survey using the Centers for Disease Control protocol.
* Entering into an agreement with the Peruvian Ministry of Health, MINSA, to launch a joint effort to control blood-lead levels of 2,000 children under the age of 6 living in Old La Oroya.
* Constructing a modern medical clinic and government dining establishment that services 800 low-income individuals.
* Implementing water-collection systems in parts of La Oroya that enable treatment of storm water and sewage.
* Remodeling more than a dozen public schools, benefiting more than 2,000 students.
* Introducing a breeding program for sheep and llamas through the purchase of top-quality animals, whose offspring were donated to 12 surrounding communities. In addition, seminars were offered to 2,600 farmers covering animal husbandry and pasture improvements.
* Providing small business practices training for nearly 4,000 local women, resulting in 25 new community businesses.
* Developing a recreational center that includes soccer fields, artificial lakes, wildlife, and barbecue areas.
* Introducing a community education program to address the issue of blood lead levels in young children.

most interestingly, here's what doe run says about la oroya on its home page...

The Doe Run Company recently created a new relationship with Doe Run Peru, which has transitioned to an affiliate from a subsidiary. Both companies operate equally and independently, guided by a common vision to become global providers of premium metals and services.

note the key verbiage oh-so-innocently buried there - "transitioned to an affiliate from a subsidiary"... what does that tell you...? one, by creating doe run peru as an "affilate," doe run has built a financial liability firewall between the parent company and doe run peru... whatever financial obligations doe run peru may incur for environmental and/or health damages, doe run in st. louis will not have to dip into its corporate coffers to pay... two, by placing doe run peru in an independent "affiliate" status, it's much easier to sell...

so, in closing, who's the power and money behind doe run...?

Doe Run emerged from the old St. Joseph Lead Co., which during the Civil War purchased extensive lead deposits in Missouri. In 1994, a New York-based conglomerate, the Renco Group, acquired Doe Run. Renco's chief executive is Ira Rennert, known for his junk-bond transactions, his holdings of polluting companies and his lavish Hamptons estate.

and the renco group...?

from wikipedia...

Renco Group is a holding company controlled by Ira Rennert. It owned AM General, maker of the Hummer SUV, until a recent deal handed control to Rennert's neighbor, Ronald Perelman. Another Renco subsidiary, U.S. Magnesium, is accused of polluting the Great Salt Lake, and other Renco companies are accused of pollution in Missouri. The Renco Group owns mills and mines around the United States and in South America. Pollution problems at the company's properties have sparked public outcries, environmental lawsuits, and hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental penalties and fines.

welcome to the wonderful world of globalization...

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