Wall Street Skyrockets While Protesters Freeze
Still don't understand why people are angry enough to take to the streets in protest over the runaway greed in this country?
Recent news stories have inadvertently underscored just how broken and out of whack the scales have become when weighing the growing wealth of the richest individuals and corporations against a backdrop of staggering unemployment and crippling losses in value for average American homeowners.
First, a report came out last week on Exxon's third quarter profits. The numbers were jaw-dropping.
(See story at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-27/exxon-mobil-profit-tops-10-billion-on-crude-oil-price-surge.html)
At a time when people are getting absolutely gouged at the gas pumps, making hard decisions between paying for food or paying nearly $4 a gallon for gasoline in some places to get them to and from work, Exxon posted a third-quarter profit of $10.3 billion. It was the third quarter in a row the oil giant earned more than $10 billion in profit, and a 41% jump in profit over last year's third quarter.
Exxon has made a profit of more than $30 billion this year alone, sheltering those profits from the tax man by using their offshore corporations, while nearly 10% of the population is unemployed because other corporations have sent their jobs overseas.
The kicker is that Exxon's actual oil production was down 3.8%. Ordinarily, when a company produces less of their product, their revenues and profits go down.
Not in oil-addicted America. And the oil companies know it.
Oh, and just as a reminder...In 2009, Exxon paid NO income taxes.
One more irony in this scenario is that for years, Exxon and other members of big oil have lied that high gasoline prices aren't their fault, that it's a function of the speculation markets. Yet in a CNN story, they admitted that the higher profits are a direct result of higher gasoline prices.
Sorry, Exxon, you can't have it both ways.
Soon after the Exxon story broke, Chevron announced that at $7.8 billion, their profits for the third quarter of 2011 are double their 2010 profits for the same quarter.
Royal Dutch Shell announced that they also doubled their profits in the third quarter.
Again, all of this is happening while Americans are struggling under the Atlas-like weight of extremely expensive gas that has jacked up the cost of delivering food and goods. And you know how that "trickle down" works - higher prices for what we eat and wear.
On Friday, Oct. 28, Wall Street chimed in with a little salt to pour into the wounds of Americans who are losing their jobs, homes, and way of life.
According to reports, October was the best month for Wall Street's Dow since 2002. The Dow traded on Thursday at 12,186, compared to its March 2009 low of 6,547.
(See story at http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/wall-street-edges-down-after-strong-rally/101554/)
This is great news for those who hate the Occupy Wall Street protesters. It means that, in the face of this historic protest against greed, the stock market continues to skyrocket and go higher and higher in value and profits while America's working class continues to get pummeled by the economy. Wall Street continues to prosper while the protesters freeze out in the snow at Zucotti Park.
And a new report on housing indicates that economic news is going to get worse and worse for the average homeowner.
It states that home values will fall another 3.6% between now and June, and could fall as much as 15% more in the battered Las Vegas market. This means home values nationwide will have plummeted more than 35% since the peak in 2006.
(See story at http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/113725/home-prices-heading-triple-dip-cnnmoney?mod=realestate-sell)
Remember, for most average Americans, their home is their biggest investment and usually represents more than half their personal net worth.
To put it in perspective, the wealthy stock market investors and big oil corporations are making money like crazy, while hard working middle class homeowners are losing money on their most valuable asset through no fault of their own.
It's insane, and upside down.
The middle class has done nothing wrong. They didn't cause the real estate implosion or the banking scandal, yet they are paying the price across the board with lost jobs and lost value in their homes.
So to see protesters screaming about the inequalities and runaway greed on Wall Street should not be a surprise. The only surprise is that more of us are not carrying signs among them.
Don't be too quick to lay all of the blame for high energy prices on the oil companies. Speculative trading in commodities continues unabated and by some estimates contributes 25% to oil and food prices. In fact the trading is fueled by nearly interest free loans from the Fed to the wall street banks which in turn funnel the money to low-taxed hedge funds or make the bets themselves, continually churning the market and driving up prices.
ReplyDeleteThese people do the heavy lifting for the oil companies who have to do nothing but shovel the money in and thumb their noses at the tax man. Oh, and keep prices at the highest possible level, fully aided and abetted by your pension fund.
Yep,the next biggest group of players in commodity craps are the various Public Employee Retirement Funds. You've wondered how NV PERS can report 8% return when you can only pry .5% out of the Bank of America? Wait 'till that bust hits the fan. Meanwhile your food and energy bills will be raised to the maximum the market will bear by the guys you thought were working for you.
Tea Party or OWS, it doesn't matter, as long as somebody storms the gates of power. Tar and feathers sound like a good start but the mob can't afford tar, it's oil based.
Rage on Workman. Your voice isn't entirely lost in the desert wind but I am afraid your home value is.
Observer