Hypocrisy 101

[unixronin]

''There ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud."

-- President George W. Bush, September 1, 2005, on national TV

How about starting with your buddies in the oil industry, you hypocrite?

[...] A month ago, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips announced record second-quarter profits of $7.6 billion, $3.7 billion, and $3.1 billion, respectively.  Royal Dutch Shell's quarterly profits of $5.2 billion were up by 34 percent over the same period last year.  Other well-known companies like Sunoco also had record second-quarter earnings.

(While whining bitterly about rising crude-oil costs. -- unixronin)

[...]

Everyone knows that Bush does not really mean what he says about price-gouging at the pump, since he just gave energy companies the bulk of $14.5 billion in tax breaks in the new energy bill.  Surprise, surprise.  In Bush's two elections, oil and gas companies gave Republicans 79 percent of their $61.5 million in campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

If Bush really meant what he said, he would call for a freeze or cap on gasoline prices, especially in the regions affected most dramatically by Katrina.  He would challenge big oil to come up with a much more meaningful contribution to relief efforts.

Insurance companies are expecting up to $25 billion in claims from Katrina.  For ExxonMobil, which is headed to $30 billion in profits, to jack up prices at the pump and then only throw $2 million at relief efforts is unconscionable.

-- Derrick Z. Jackson, September 2, 2005, Boston Globe

(Boston Globe cartoon link retroactively snagged from yndy)

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

OK, I see your point.

I'm not sure I see it as socialistic, though. Or at any rate, not in a bad way. I think those who live in and benefit from a society have a responsibility to support it when it needs support, just as they have as responsibility to defend it when it needs defense. And when some of them just look at a natural disaster as nothing more than an opportunity to rake in huge profits at the expense of people in desperate need, society as a whole needs to tar and feather the predatory bastards and ride'em out of town on a rail.

I freely concede jail's not necessarily the best way to achieve that end.