America, Biden, Guyana and Exxon

Jun 16, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – According to one sacred scripture, God made man, and gave him numerous creative powers. Man, in his turn, made many things, including money which makes much possible. Unbelievably there are now men at America’s oil giant, ExxonMobil, who “make more money than God.” We are not the source of that assertion, United States President Joe Biden is the one who did, and about his own highflying American oil company, ExxonMobil.

Making more money than God is a big thing, and can be a bad thing also. This is because, also, according to The Holy Book, God is a jealous God. And a jealous God is usually an angry God. President Biden is reportedly angry at his own Exxon, as he very well should be. For sheer rapaciousness, the American oil behemoth can’t be topped, it is top of its class, over the top, where any other oil company, perhaps any corporate power is concerned.

The company has compiled an unequalled record of denials, whenever climate change comes up for discussion and serious action. Its newer senior people have since adjusted, somewhat slightly, their public posture of dismissal and resistance about what damages environment and atmosphere. When Exxon denies and scorns climate change science, now ever more compelling, it makes money hand over fist; like the man said, ‘more money than God’ himself.
Exxon in its worship and pursuit of the almighty dollar by any means fair or foul, has run amok right here in Guyana. The horror movie has many frightening parts, and all to the intense anxieties and rage of Guyanese, who own the oil that Exxon harvests for a paltry penny, if not less. The company has run one racket after another, only a few of which can be touched upon in passing, so many of them there are. It flares and flares gas into the atmosphere, which is its answer to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions alarms. Not content with that excess, the powers at Exxon have compromised Guyana’s political and professional elites, so that both rush forward to justify or minimise what Exxon does and gets away with here.

The Government of Guyana, its leaders, its servants, have only been too glad to give Exxon any pass that it requires (or haughtily demands) so that it can operate more freely and flare more recklessly. The objective is so that the company can polish its bottom line, and load up on Guyana’s money in its overseas banks. We play around, from the President and Vice President (and subject minister) on down, while Exxon collects and makes complete laughingstocks of this nation before the world. One leader talks up a storm about what the advanced countries have done, how they have poisoned and destroyed the world for decades, and of Guyana’s minimal contributions in this regard. Leaders and helpers distract Guyanese with happy talk about carbon sink, while ignoring the carbon bomb that is constructed by Exxon’s hands. This is all too clear the way so that Exxon makes more money, while poor Guyanese are starving.

President Biden is so angry that he takes aim with taxes, a much-feared word in the U.S. Exxon (and its kind) must pay more, given that ordinary Americans are struggling to cope. Talk about taxes in this country, and our politicians from the top down get cute. Before Exxon’s chiefs could open their mouths to defend the tax banditries that it extracts from Guyana, through its oil, our own PPP/C Government races ahead to run interference for the company. Guyana’s leaders speak in solemn tones about ‘sanctity of contract’ and how we must be true to its provisions. We are being robbed blind and ravished repeatedly and our leaders in this PPP/C Government see nothing wrong with the highway robbery that drains this country of its oil income, and reduces it to nothing but meaningless pittances. While Joe Biden can appear lost at times, he is dead right on Exxon, and how much money it is making. Guyana needs a national leader, a true patriot, who can stand up, stare down, and step out in carrying the fight to Exxon, so that the company makes less, and we make far more.