Exxon, "religious" hucksters,and the Supreme court

God only knows where Exxon be without the multi-billion dollar tax breaks? It is undoubtedly true that without those tax breaks promoting additional exploration (at precisely the time when we need to wean ourselves off of hydrocarbons), there would be mass suicides among their stockholders. As it is, however, Exxon is poised to announce record profits yet again. They are expected to announce 2007 earnings of $39.2 billion, or $75,000/minute. I am grateful that my fuel expenditures, coupled with the wisdom of the tax cuts, is actually saving lives.

The United States Supreme Court, in a backbreaking ruling, protected the profits of the banks who made fortunes colluding with Enron to defraud Enron's stockholders and customers of over $30 billion, when they dismissed a lawsuit brought by injured parties seeking the right to sue the banks. This Supreme Court, now dominated by hard-line right-wingers, is all pro business, all the time. Everyone else--you know, the ones who pay taxes-- can go screw themselves.

In an unrelated story, except that the perpetrators of this continuing fraud are tax-exempt, the televangelist "prosperity gospel" hucksters are raking in hundreds of millions to support truly lavish personal lifestyles by suckering the gullible and desperate out of their last dollars. And their free will. Here is an article from AlterNet that gives you an inside look at how they work.

Remember, tax free. No tax liability for these millionaires-- They're churches after all. And every dollar they don't pay in taxes is money that doesn't go into our treasury to reduce the deficit, or pave roads, or fund social programs. No sir, those are things that the rest of us have to pay for.

Government for the people? No, definitely not.