Exxon Has No Allegiance to the U.S. and Neither Will Tillerson

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By now, anyone seriously interested in Exxon’s long and twisted history in the oil industry worldwide can readily find information about its dealings with dictatorships, criminals and shadowy politicians to extract and export black gold from the far reaches of the earth.

But, the proposed appointment of ex-Exxon Rex Tillerson to become U.S. Secretary of State should be considered very dangerous since it essentially puts the head of one of the world’s largest global corporations at an equal level with the entire U.S. government. Or, maybe above it.

Based on Exxon’s history, this corporation and its top management, including Tillerson, has put its interests ahead of the U.S. on many occasions, including its actions to violate trade sanctions and conduct business without any regard for U.S. foreign and domestic policies, including environmental laws, regulations and skirting embargoes.

But in case no one noticed, the ascent of Tillerson to be Secretary of State really is a coup for corporate America. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the corporate elite in the Gilded Age bought their politicians as proxies, but now with the proposed Tillerson appointment, corporations (as evidenced by other Trump cabinet nominees) are now in the process of taking over the U.S. government by inserting a top CEO, who spent over 30 years at Exxon and was indoctrinated it its arrogant, pro-oil culture that operated for years above and beyond the rule of the U.S. government.

After all, why buy politicians when you can just take over the government directly. It’s faster, cheaper and easier.

While others can produce thousands of pages on Exxon’s worldwide arrogance and violations, here are a few direct quotes from the 2012 bestseller, Private Empire: Exxon Mobil and American Power, by Steve Coll, that show what Exxon thought of their power and its relationship to the U.S. government.

  • “[then-Exxon CEO Lee] Raymond aligned Exxon with America, but he was not always in sync; he was more akin to the president of France or the chancellor of Germany. He did not manage the corporation as a subordinate pf American foreign policy; his was a private empire.” Page 19

 

  • “ExxonMobil’s’ interests were global, not national. Once at an industry meeting in Washington, an executive asked [then-Exxon CEO Lee] Raymond whether Exxon might build more refineries in the United States, to help protect the country against potential gas shortages.

“Why would I want to do that?” Raymond asked, as the executive recalled it.

“Because the United States needs it…for security,” the executive replied.

“I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.,” [then-Exxon CEO Lee] Raymond said.”  Page 71

Re: Exxon’s Distain for the Environment—

  • “In a large color ad taken out in Life magazine in 1962 by ExxonMobil’s precursor Humble Oil, a small smartly dressed cartoon character saluted a photograph of a majestic glacier. “Each day Humble supplies Enough Energy to Melt Seven Million tons of Glacier!” the ad’s headline declared.”  Page 77

 

  • “They [ExxonMobil top management] had come to the conclusion that the whole debate around global warming was kind of a hoax,” said an executive who had direct access to [then-Exxon CEO Lee] Raymond. “Nobody inside Exxon dared question that.” Page 83

Corporations Now Running the Government

So even the fact that Tillerson is being considered to be U.S. Secretary of State means the reins of federal power have been offered directly to the world’s top global corporations.

Money in politics is a given that will not go away for possibly a generation. Now, corporations represented directly in the cabinet is something J.P. Morgan,  John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie would really appreciate.

After all, why buy politicians when you can just take over the government directly. It’s faster, cheaper and easier.

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Chuck Epstein has managed marketing communications and public relations departments for major global financial institutions and participated in the launch of industry-changing financial products. He also has written by-lined articles for over 50 publications, five books and served as editor and publisher of nation’s first newsletter on the topic of using the PC for personal investing and trading. (“Investing Online, 1994-1999). He also is a marketing consultant, writer and speaker on topics related to investor protection and opportunities in the very dynamic cannabis industry. He has held senior-level marketing, PR and communications positions at the New York Futures Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Lind-Waldock, Zacks Investment Research, Russell Investments and Principal Financial. He has won national awards from the Mutual Fund Education Alliance (MFEA) and his web site, www.mutualfundreform.com, was named best small blog in 2009 by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW).

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