MSM papers are keeping the decline quiet.
Key quote:
"The $507.5 million award represents about 12 hours of sales for Exxon Mobil. The world's largest oil company last year broke its own record for annual profit by a US corporation with $40.6 billion."
Meanwhile, there are the rest of us first:
"The reports indicate the manufacturing and housing industries aren't strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs. Metals, machinery, and automobiles were among the goods that saw a drop in demand last month. Those declines were offset by gains in computers, appliances, commercial aircraft, and defense equipment.
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Yup, not everybody is hurting!
Also see: Economic Winners and Losers The Economic Untouchables
O.K., let's get to the good stuff!
"Justices pare jury award in Exxon Valdez oil spill case; Split ruling slashes punitive damages by more than 75%" by Bloomberg News | June 26, 2008
A divided US Supreme Court cut the $2.5 billion punitive damage award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for the 1989 Valdez disaster to $507.5 million, ending a 19-year legal saga over the worst oil spill in US history.
The justices, voting 5 to 3, said the original award, which would have been increased by more than $2 billion with accrued interest. The award will go to a group that originally consisted of 33,000 commercial fishermen, seafood processors, landowners, native Alaskans, and small businesses. The ruling slashes their recovery of punitive damages from about $75,000 apiece to $15,000.
That is CHUMP CHANGE at this point!
Oh, you gotta love it if you are Exxon, huh?
Yesterday's ruling adds to a body of Supreme Court decisions that have tightened the limits on punitive damages. Business advocates hailed the ruling, [saying] courts should intervene at times to limit jury awards.
Yeah, except that is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
But then again, here in AmeriKa, who cares, right?
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a Republican, denounced the decision, saying the court "gutted the jury's decision on punitive damages." The environmental group Greenpeace USA said the ruling "makes a mockery of justice."
Welcome to AmeriKa, Greenpeace USA!
The $507.5 million award represents about 12 hours of sales for Exxon Mobil. The world's largest oil company last year broke its own record for annual profit by a US corporation with $40.6 billion. Exxon has obtained a letter of credit and set aside $5.4 billion to cover its payments in the case.
The award doesn't represent a financial burden for Exxon Mobil, which had $40.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter, said William Andrews, a portfolio manager who helps oversee $8 billion at Pittsburgh-based C.S. McKee & Co.
So even the COURT has been CORPORATIZED!
"For Exxon, that's not a big number," said Andrews, who doesn't own any Exxon Mobil stock. The company issued a statement that didn't directly address the ruling, calling the Valdez spill a "tragic accident" that it "deeply regrets.
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Pffffttt!
Where is oil at, anyway?
If oil went DOWN, how come the price at the pump didn't, huh?
And that's the first time they have mentioned the Dow in quite some time. I know, because I check every day!
Don't want you to know the Dow is dumping, do they?
And how about this BULLS*** shoveled by the Energy Department?
Just as Oil Surges Above $140!
"Report predicts eventual drop in oil prices" by Bloomberg News | June 26, 2008
NEW YORK - Oil prices will fall to $70 a barrel by 2015 as new production begins in countries such as Azerbaijan, Canada, Brazil, and Kazakhstan, the US Energy Department said.
Yeah, so stop getting so angry, American people!
By the way, I'm going to be making $2 million dollars a year in a couple years.
At least, I predict I will!
:-)
The price of oil, which closed at $134.55 a barrel yesterday, will "ease somewhat in the medium term," the department said in its International Energy Outlook 2008.
F****** LIARS!
Yeah, don't get angry at being raped by the oil companies, Americans.
Now roll over, will ya?
"We're not going back to the historical low prices we saw in the 1980s and '90s," Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration, said yesterday.
Yeah, Bill Clinton sure got lucky, didn't he?
"Natural gas is expected to replace oil wherever possible," the department said. "Because natural gas combustion produces less carbon dioxide than coal or petroleum products, governments may encourage its use to displace the other fossil fuels.
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And nothing about SUN or WIND, huh?
That's how serious I'll take the environmental "crisis" then.
