Exxon Mobil announced record earnings increases yesterday of 36% over the same quarter last year. Let’s look at this both from a global perspective and a personal one. We are in a regional war which would not be taking place were the region not oil-rich. This isn’t a theory- we’re alledgedly fighting terrorism which is funded by oil money. Remember 19 of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis.

Oil is a commodity which means its price is driven by market conditions rather than brand quality or added value. Therefore, all things being equal, if light sweet crude rises a penny a gallon, then gas should rise exactly the same amount and oil company profits should remain steady. If they don’t and gas rises proportionately higher than an increase in the underlying cost then we are seeing additional mark-ups added, hence higher profits. If your local station does it, it’s called goudging; if ExoonMobil does it, its called profits. I call it profiteering.

Profiteering, which is illegal, is taking advantage of wartime or disaster conditions and scarcity to make higher than normal profits on a product. Our 2600 dead soldiers and the thousands of maimed and wounded soldiers and the innocent civilians dead in the middle east are the source of these profit opportunities. It is malignant. If these oil companies are willing to increase profits based on the misfortune of others then we certainly can’t expect them to care a whit about climate change, regardless of what their ad campaigns say.

Now to the personal:

Coincidentally, I filled my tank this morning at an Exxon Mobil. I paid $3.18 a gallon and the fill-up was $46. (four cylinder Honda Accord). This is about twice what I paid a year ago. These increases have decreased my ability to buy other stuff by about $45 a month or $540 a year. This loss of discretionary income takes that money out of the rest of the economy including local businesses and global businesses and puts it into burnt fuel and oil company profits. Their obscene profiteering is literally coming out of everyone else’s pockets.

And what is our government doing? Absolutely nothing.