McCain-Palin Campaign Dipped in Oil

[IndianaGreen]

McCain-Palin Campaign Dipped in Oil

By PA Staff Writers

With nine straight months of job losses, declining incomes, collapsing in consumer spending, rising in home foreclosures, and a contraction of the GDP, recession sees most working families preparing for the worst.

But one group of people has continued to do just fine. Outstanding even. The two biggest oil companies in the world raked in record profits in the past quarter. Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil company in Europe saw its profits rise 74 percent to $10.9 billion. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company, did even better. It set a new US record with profits of $14.83 billion (its second record in consecutive quarters).

According to media accounts, BP reported an 83 percent increase in profit this quarter, and ConocoPhillips claimed a jump of 41 percent.

Oil speculation drove the price of oil up to close to $150 per barrel over the summer and, along with price gouging, fueled these record profits. In the US, oil companies enjoyed the special favor of the Bush administration with special tax breaks, loopholes, and regulatory favors.

Republicans in Congress, including John McCain, repeatedly thwarted attempts to require oil companies to shift some of these massive profits into investments in renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels like petroleum that cause global warming.

In addition, oil companies sought to maintain influence in the White House by donating millions to the McCain campaign as well as donating more than two dozen oil industry lobbyists as campaign advisors.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7657/