ExxonMobil is the world’s largest and most profitable non-governmentally owned oil company, formed in 1999 from two companies that have had central rolesin the forming of United States Middle East policy since the early 1900s. (www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/oil1.htm)
Between 2000 and 2006, ExxonMobil has given $3.95 million to Republican candidates. The top recipient was George W. Bush, at $117,417. Other recipients include members of the Republican Congressional leadership, for example $34,000 to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. (www.opensecrets.org/org/summary.asp?ID=D000000129)
In addition to campaign contributions, ExxonMobil spent $7.14 million in 2005 on lobbying. Since 1999 when it sought and received government permission for its merger, ExxonMobil has spent $50 million on lobbying, including the 2005 sum. (www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?txtname=Exxon+Mobil&year=2005)
Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s Chairman and CEO has made personal political contributions to Republican organizations of at least $14,450 since 2000. (www.campaignmoney.com/exxon-mobil.asp)
ExxonMobil has been very successful in Congress, often at the disadvantage of taxpayers and consumers.
Ralph Nader, writing in July, 2006 in Common Dreams, notes that ExxonMobil is “making well over $1,250 a second and over $110 million a day” but this does not, as it might in the 1970s or 1980s, “prompt any action by our oil-marinated Congress and White House.” He does not point out that these huge profits are related in great measure to the uncertainty in the oil market created by the Iraq War, which it appears ExxonMobil had a part in encouraging.
ExxonMobil plans, Nader says, to use $23 billion in one year to buy back its own stock, a bonanza for company officials with stock options. Nader notes that this is money the company apparently feels in unneeded for exploration, refining and marketing and that it “would reduce the price of gasoline by about 15 cents a gallon if spread nationwide.”
ExxonMobil has been able, with other oil companies, to block any kind of tax on its huge, war generated profits, and Nader points out:
“…ExxonMobil, unlike some other oil companies, is even fighting the proposed reduction of the subsidies that Congress gave to the companies’ operations in the Gulf of Mexico when oil was around $40 a barrel. Now at around $75 a barrel, ExxonMobil still wants your taxpayer subsidies.” And it is still getting them. (www.commondreams.org/views06/0729-22.HTM)
Open Secrets notes:
(ExxonMobil) long has enjoed a close relationship with Congress, successfully lobbying to gain commercial access to federal lands as well as the rollback of several Environmental Protection Agnecy iniatiives deemed unfriendly to the oil industry.
Perhaps the company’s biggest coup, however, was winning federal support for its very creation. In 1999, lawmakers were initially hesitant to allow Exxon to purchase Mobil because of antitrust concerns, but after heavy lobbying with both sides, not to mention the support of President Bill Clinton, the merger was approved and the nation’s No. 1 supplier of gasoline was created. As oil prices have soared, so have ExxonMobil’s profits and executive salaries.”
Fallujah Says it all
FALLUJAH - In 2004 the United States destroyed Fallujah. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. This action typifies the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. This video shows what happened, and what continues to happen daily if on a smaller scale.
Watch the video preview of
"Caught in the Crossfire".
ConsumersForPeace.org, through the ExxonMobil War Boycott, is working to stop the killing in Iraq; to end the United States' occupation of Iraq; and to bring the perpetrators of the war to justice.
To assist you in boycotting ExxonMobil and firms connected to it through its board of directors, you may wish to have Democracy Dollars.
You may wish to write to the ExxonMobil Board of Directors
