Gas Price Rant #7 · Friday February 1, 2008 by colin newell
Exxon Mobil Corp: (NYSE:XOM) posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company Friday — US$40.6 billion — as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year’s end.
There’s no business on the planet that gushes forth more profit than selling oil—nothing even close…
And if I were speaking (to their North American customers…) on behalf of Exxon (via this blog), I would say…
Thank-you! Oh, thank-you! You lovely people you! Thank-you so much for paying these obscenely inflated prices at the pump.
Thank-you! Thank-you for not uttering a word while we price-fix in communities all over North America! Thank-you! Thank-you!
We love you, we really do!
And we know that as we artificially raise the price higher and higher, you good people will be there for us – your hearts and wallets open!
Oh thank-you! God bless! Thank-you!
Seriously though: When Lee Raymond retired from Exxon last year, he received a staggering 400M Dollars. link
I can almost hear him singing… Oh, thank-you! You wonderful people, thank-you!
Fcuk.
Comment [1]
Looking South Part 1 · Thursday January 17, 2008 by colin newell
My wife and I are watching with rapt attention the unfolding of the democratic process… ah, South of the border.
And like a Mongoose whose eyes are locked on the Cobra, with unflinching attention…
We watch. And listen. And read.
Rinse and repeat.
So – in this the first of a multi-part blog/rant on the subject of the American election experience (for those just joining us, we are Canadians living in Canada – Top that!) I will be giving my readers an escorted tour of my, sometimes confused, interpretation of this most unusual ritual.
Primaries. Caucuses. Super Tuesday?
What does it all mean?
And seriously – what is the difference between what the Republicans are offering the World versus the Democrats?
Well. Let’s start by diving in to some of the current craziness… candidate by candidate.
Mike Huckabee – Republican candidate:
[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards,” Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.”
What the #%$@*? Can anyone spell American Taliban? Can anyone say Theocracy?
I think Huckabee’s candidacy for American Mullah is now pretty much toast. And it’s a good thing.
Good day to you Sir!
Year in review rant number 1 · Sunday December 23, 2007 by colin newell
2007 has been one heck of a year wouldn’t you say?
I, for one, have been quite comfortable… no disasters, no illness to speak of, steady employment, regular pay cheques, 3 square a day.
Not everyone has been so lucky. And trust me folks: Luck has everything to do with getting through the year without pain or crisis. When your luck turns, look out. No one can protect themselves against the furies.
Well. No one except for people like Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein who received a whopping 67.9 million in bonuses for being, well… a guy in the right place at the right time.
In the photo upper-right, CEO Blanfein relaxes after a hearty meal of investors
Somehow this company managed to avoid the bulk of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis – a crisis that touched, no walloped the likes of Merrill-Lynch and Morgan-Stanley. Their respective CEOs did not earn a bonus this year.
And this is a perfect example of good luck. I mean, Lloyd Blankfein did absolutely nothing to warrant this kind of financial reward – his staff did. And guess what, his staff are getting no where near 67 million in rewards.
Truth is, as much as I support the free market system, this kind of reward system verges on the incomprehensively obscene. What of the million plus home-owners that will lose their homes this year because of the sub-prime mortgage scandal?
Sadly, versions of this story can be re-told from one community to the next in every small Canadian or American town; tales of inequality, unfairness and injustice – plain bad luck I guess.
In the last few days leading up to Christmas 2007, I hope your luck has been good, that your family and friends are healthy and that there is a roof over your head and food on the table.
In a society like the one we live in, sometimes it is all you can hope for.
B.C. Ferries rant number 3 · Friday December 14, 2007 by colin newell
The newest member of B.C.‘s ferry fleet arrived Thursday and the people who didn’t get to build them have a kink or two in their bulkheads.
And so do I.
They’re now urging Ottawa to use the $82 million in import duties to support the province’s shipbuilding industry.
The Coastal Renaissance is the first of three ships to be built in Germany by the Flensburger Shipyard, for a paltry $524 million.
Peter Julian, the NDP-MP for Burnaby-New Westminster, said “about 5,000 direct and indirect local jobs were lost by the short-sighted provincial government investment in the German shipbuilding industry, rather than supporting B.C. jobs.”
At a ceremony for the ship’s arrival, B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said “I am more concerned about lowering ferry fares for British Columbians than subsidizing the shipbuilding industry.”
Say what?
The Flensburger yard was a bankrupt shipyard and the reason it’s able to compete in the manner it does today is simply because the government invested in it. Sound familiar?
Yes, the shipyards of British Columbia are very busy, thank you very much. It is just that the optics of this situation do not bear up under closer scrutiny. For instance, B.C. shipyards were shut out of the bidding process – and that includes the Washington Marine group – current owners of the former Fast-Cat Ferries
So Ottawa. Give us the import duties back… and maybe the Gordon Campbell Liberals can restore the funding to the Women’s Centers in the Province that have faced budget cutbacks this year.
Take a Safe Boating Course and get your Boat License in BC from Boater Exam.
Comment [5]
