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* Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts.
* Forty fve million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.
In other words, whether we
knew it or not,
many of us had a vested interest in
and greatly beneftted from
oil company profts,
while we simultaneously cursed them
for their excesses.
dearly; it could very well destroy the company.
But who is the company? When we talk about oil corporate greed, what and who are we really talking about?
Two
years ago, when the price of gasoline approached fve dollars a gallon
and oil companies were experiencing record profts, we Americans were
livid. Oil greed was shocking and shameful. And indeed nothing
infuriates me more than the extraordinary salaries the CEOs and other
offcers of these mega-corporations rake in. It is immoral.
(Editor’s
Note: As the Gulf oil spill story changes day to day, the frustration
of posting an issue of this publication every two MONTHS should be
obvious to all of you and especially to me. However, we are able to
make daily posts at our facebook page:
In
other words, whether we knew it or not, many of us had a vested
interest in and greatly beneftted from oil company profts, while we
simultaneously cursed them for their excesses. If you’re a school
teacher, a city employee, a cop, or if you maintain a small IRA mutual
fund, most likely, at least some of your retirement income comes from
oil company profts.
Last
month, as BP stocks plummeted, UK citizens were in panic mode as they
watched their retirement income collapse. Same story, different
country.
In
the end, pointing fngers at the oil companies and holding them entirely
responsible for all these disasters is disingenuous and dishonest if we
don’t acknowledge our own complicity. First, as long as we create the
demand and as long as we exhibit an insatiable desire to live the
excessive consumptive lifestyle we believe is an entitlement, oil
companies will keep looking for the product. Second, as long as we
invest in these companies and expect a great return on our investment,
we can hardly complain about the cost of gas or condemn their actions.
As
Shapiro points out, these guys are working for us. When you complain,
whether you want to admit it or not, you’re biting the hand that feeds
you.
This is the complicity that no “progressive” wants to acknowledge. Until we do, our credibility is laughable.
We hope you will follow the updates with us)
THE ‘SPILL’...AND OUR COMPLICITY
As
I write this, it’s July 19, about ten days before we post the
August/September issue. Two days ago BP appeared to have fnally
installed a cap to stop all the oil leakage from the Deepwater Horizon
well. It came almost three months after BP’s drill platform exploded,
killed 11 of it workers and created the biggest man-caused
environmental disaster in this nation’s history.
This
morning, the BBC reports that leakage some distance from the cap and
lower than expected pressures suggest the well has ruptured below the
sea foor. The consequences could be catastrophic.
Yesterday,
before the discovery of the new leaks, a perusal of news stories by
the major media would suggest the crisis was over and that once again,
life was good on the Gulf coast.
One
AP story noted the return of tourists to beaches and tourist resorts,
praised the marked reduction in visible damage from the oil and even
described the surface oil still out there as a “colorful sheen” on the
water.
Hey! Maybe this oil spill isn’t so bad after all. Heck it even creates a ‘colorful sheen!’”
Isn’t
it extraordinary how malleable we humans are. If only the media had
bombarded us with the notion that tar balls have a charm all their own..and taste good too!...why I bet no one would have even raised a fnger in protest.
BP
and the government simply didn’t know how to handle the crisis. They
should have told us that leaking oil was good for us and most of the
public would have been appeased.
Oil hits the Alabama coast
Ultimately, however, most corporate profts don’t go into the pockets of their senior offcers. Corporations are owned by their shareholders. The
men and women who run these companies believe their frst responsibility
is to them. It is a sign of the times that corporate leaders feel very
little loyalty to their own workers–to the thousands of employees who,
by their hard work and sweat, help make the company proftable to begin
with.
But who are the shareholders? Are they predominantly the ‘rich weasels’ we’d like to believe they are?
Last
year economist Robert J. Shapiro tried to fnd out. Shapiro served in
the Clinton administration as undersecretary of commerce for economic
affairs and was a key economic adviser to Al Gore and John Kerry in
their presidential campaigns. He is also a co-founder of the
Progressive Policy Institute, a “think tank” affliated with the
Democratic Leadership Council.
His fndings are interesting. Shapiro discovered the following:
FLASH!!! NEWS FROM THE FUTURE!
No
one can accurately predict the future, even locally, whether it’s
trying to guess the effects of climate change on the Blue Mountains,
the fow of the Colorado River, or the economic future of southeast Utah
(how WILL the “amenities economy” manage to keep Moab fat and happy in
the 21st Century?) But it’s interesting to speculate.
Reviewing
the recent news of the day, some ideas come to mind. For example, here
in San Juan County, Utah, it appeared there might fnally be some
progress in the decades old wilderness debate. But Senator Bob
Bennett’s efforts to fnd consensus may have hit the skids when his own
party rejected him at their convention in May (They thought he was too
liberal!).
Many
Utah environmentalists were probably delighted; some loathed the idea
of any compromise and with even local “grass roots” green
organizations boasting million dollar payrolls, what incentive is
there to actually put themselves out of business?
Besides,
a quarter century after the wilderness debate began, the various green
groups still seem to show more inclination to bicker amongst themselves
than to actually accomplish something.
* Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company
shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that
have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S.
households with a median income of $68,700.
* Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other
institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600
pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost
$64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These
funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current
and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fre personnel at every
level of government.
Still
Americans are angry and they aim the lion’s share of their wrath at BP.
The Obama administration has f-nally been held accountable by many
Americans as well, though only reluctantly by some. His supporters have
been loathe to admit that perhaps Obama isn’t the Messiah they thought
he would be 20 months ago.
But
it’s BP that catches most of the blame and rightly so. Their history of
putting proft before safety and environmental responsibility is
well-documented and irrefutable. Now their greed and shortsightedness
will make them pay
Yuppie liberalism:
“They
support civil rights but seem unaware of or indifferent to the
concentration of wealth and power in America (i.e., 1% of the
population controls 34% of the country’s wealth, while 10% controls
68%) as a threat to democracy.
They
promote economic Growth while ignoring the effects of Growth upon our
air, water, wildlife, etc. Neo-racism, yupster liberalism, New Age
liberalism.
Edward Abbey, January 22, 1988