Oil Companies and the Poor Do Not Mix Well

When a wealthy CEO of an oil company says we shouldn't worry about the climate because reducing the amount of oil we use would hurt the poor, the first thing that comes to mind is, why would a wealthy CEO of an oil company that spends tens of millions of dollars lobbying the congress for tax breaks, care what happens to the poor?

The second question that comes to mind is, what would happen if the wealthy oil companies paid their fair share of taxes and stopped exploiting people in poor countries rich in oil? It would reduce poverty. So why do oil companies say they care about the poor, when they do all they can to keep the people in poverty?

The Wall Street Journal claims that oil companies get no special tax breaks (see, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324789504578380684292877300.html). Because oil companies are taxed in foreign countries where they operate, they are exempt from the portion they have already paid in US taxation to avoid double taxation. But there are other ways to avoid paying taxes, such as offsetting business costs immediately instead of gradually. And then there is of course the cost of cleaning up after oil spills that is an expensive operation, and therefore a business expense that can be re-claimed from the taxpayers (if your toilet leaks and damages the entire bathroom, try to deduct the cost on your next taxes, and see what happens).

If oil companies cared about the poor, they would work hard to combat climate change and work for sustainable energy, for a large portion of a household income goes to pay for gas for the car and for oil to heat the house, not to mention all the oil that goes into farming, and shipping food from one side of the earth to the other. Without oil food would be healthier, traveling cheaper, and incomes adequate to feed the whole family.

If wealthy CEOs of oil companies really cared about the poor, they could have eradicated poverty by creating alternative energy, for all the billions that has been poured into wars needed to secure a steady supply of oil for a handful of companies would have made everyone on the globe part of the middle-class by now.

So we find that oil companies and the poor do not mix well, for the former sees the poor only as a PR ploy to continue their relentless pillaging of our natural resources to satisfy their never ending thirst for more money, while the poor wonder what is so great about polluted water that no one wants to drink.

It's time to end the sham.