Crude

I had to look at the number and I had to think about it a little…$40,610,000,000. That is the amount of profit recorded for 2007 by Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company. Those profits by one company were more than the gross domestic product of more than 120 countries. That alone should remind us who carries economic clout when it comes to many political decisions. Many choices will go to the highest bidder. And now we know who has the money to pass out.

Some might suggest that any critique of such profits simply disregards “good business practice”…so I will look back a bit. The previous year, the same company reported $39.5 Billion in profits, which was up from the previous $36.13 Billion in 2005.

But now we have done it! The current price of a barrel of oil ($110.60) this morning, is now higher than at any time in the history of US oil production since the 1860’s (adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars). Strangely in almost all of that time…most oil was well under $40 a barrel (in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars). Today the price of a barrel of oil was ten times what it was less than 10 years ago. Every dollar higher for oil will automatically create inflation for the economy as a whole. The costs of goods and services will largely be escalated by the movement of those products and the rising costs of moving them. Suddenly domestic production may become more favorable than international transport of goods to and from distant ports. But wait, we just sent our factory contents overseas!

Is there a moral issue to be addressed in times like these? I would suggest several. Does it help or hurt people to increase their costs of living without also creating an environment for increasing their capacity to earn higher wages? At what point does mobility become less of a value worth pursuing in favor of other humanitarian goals, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing decent housing, educating our children, providing basic health care to everyone interested in pursuing health and a quality of life in healthy relationships toward others. Mobility is a need in these contexts, but it may also be a less important need if we prioritize in light of environmental consequences and basic requirements for clean air, and clean water, and uncontaminated food sources.

For too long, we have accepted the idea that government is the solution to our problems. Government has not been particularly effective toward that end. Efficiencies are derived from local activity addressing local needs in specific ways with local responses. Jesus had it right when he commended us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have got to start thinking about things more cooperatively and collectively in community. Better ideas happen in the places where people know one another and know how to best meet needs in light of those circumstances. We have seen it work before; it can again. Carpoolers unite! Shop less frequently, but with greater intensity and efficiency. Spend your extra time helping those near you. Plant a garden, take a walk, ride a bike, cook a favorite recipe and share your efforts with a friend or two. If economic recession is to be experienced by the force of poor economic decisions in the past, it would stand to reason that some progress might be made if we pitched in together to do what we could to help one another through it. Whether that will be helping someone next door or around the world, it ought to be an effort of joy from a heart of love. Somehow that wolf of greed needs to be held at bay some way or another. And maybe, in the process, we will become a little more human.