Three politicos take a stand on oil profits

There are a few US politicians talking solutions to oil profits, oil shortages, and global climate change. A couple of bills now before Congress would tone down the subsidies for big oil, and one presidential candidate suggests an oil dividend. These are steps toward geonomics, the policy that rewards people for efficient use of Mother Earth.

Exxon Mobil kicked off 2007 with a 10% rise in profits, its best-ever first quarter; the world’s largest publicly traded oil company earned $9.3 billion in the January-March period. That gain beat Wall Street expectations, since the market price for crude oil was down more than $5 a barrel in the first quarter versus a year ago, and the price for natural gas also was lower. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation to curtail rising gas prices; it would impose a windfall profits tax and close certain tax loopholes for big oil companies –


On our own site, we posted highlights from the World Bank Group report. In 2005, public institutions such as the World Bank and U.S. agencies such as the Export-Import Bank provided more than $3 billion to the international oil and gas industry; over the past year, lending for oil projects in poor countries increased more than 75%. Instead of alleviating poverty, most oil and gas projects have exacerbated corruption, worsened economic inequality, increased local conflict, and intensified global climate change. Hence Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) on April 17, 2007 introduced a bill to help end international subsidies to Big Oil.

Then on April Fool