The Republican Economy

Today's economic news....

"Economy Gains Less Than Expected" - The United States GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.9% last quarter, though economists had forecast a growth of 2.3%, due to the $140 billion in economic stimulus checks that were handed out by the Bush Administration. Now the checks are gone.

"Dollar Falls on Weak Economic Report" - Due to the worse than expected GDP growth, and an unexpectedly big rise in unemployment claims, the United States dollar dropped in value against the world's major currencies.

"Jobless Claims Surge to 5 Year High" - The number of claims for unexmployment rose to their highest levels since April, 2003.

"Stocks Mostly Decline" - After the troubling news on the economy and jobs, Wall Street took another hit.

"Foreclosure Rate Hits Historic High" - More than a quarter of a million American homes are now in foreclosure status.

"Personal Bankruptcies Rise" - The number of Americans filing personal bankruptcies rose by almost 50,000 over the same time last year.

"The Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building" - The financial cost of the War on Iraq is nearing $562,000,000,000. That's 562 BILLION DOLLARS of American education and infrastructure money.

And my favorite headline of the day...

"Exxon Posts Record $11.68 Billion Profit" - Exxon-Mobil once again broke its own record by making the largest quarterly profit in history!

Let Me Get This Straight...

Ok. Let me see if I have this right.

In 1989, the oil supertanker, Exxon Valdez, hit a reef in Prince Williams Sound, just off the coast of Alaska, resulting in one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in history. Nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil contaminated 1,200 miles of ocean and pristine shoreline - immediately killing up to a half of a MILLION seabirds, 5,000 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles, 22 orcas and 12 river otters...not to mention the BILLIONS of salmon and herring eggs that were instantly destroyed. Local and Native communities were devastated, peoples' lives and livelihoods were destroyed, divorce and alcoholism rates soared and the mayor of the small town of Cordova committed suicide. The the ecological systems in and around Prince Williams Sound will take at least 30 years to recover, and the residents may never recover.

In 1994, a court awarded some of the victims (about 33,000 of them) $5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon immediately fought the judgement and was able to get the amount reduced to $2.5 billion.

In the meantime, Exxon has recovered a significant portion of the clean-up costs and legal expenses through insurance claims. And, the oil giant took a TAX DEDUCTION on its loss of a supertanker. And, they've been earning $400 million per year in interest on the money that it has set aside, just in case, somehow, it might have to pay for its negligence.

Then, in 2007, while the price of oil and war was crippling the American economy, Exxon-Mobil happily posted the LARGEST MOTHER FUCKING PROFIT IN HISTORY!!! While we were re-budgeting, and downgrading and buying cheaper foods at the grocery store, Exxon-Mobil posted a $404 billion profit. The previous record, ironically, was held by Exxon-Mobil.

Today, the crack team of big oil attorneys representing the interests of Exxon-Mobil sits in front of the Supreme Court of the United States of America and argues that the salmon is back and the seabirds are singing, so Exxon-Mobil shouldn't have to pay any damages to those people who survived the destruction of their lives and communities. They'll say that Exxon-Mobil has suffered enough and that the people of Alaska should just be thankful that they still have oil to export. Then, they'll get exactly what they want, because they own our government and our nation.

And next year, they'll beat their own profit record.