Exxon Investigated Over Climate Change Deception. Why Do These Guys "Get Off" With Fines?

Alan: I am increasingly struck by America's normalization of white collar crime -- deadly felonious crime.  To wit: there is no supposition or expectation that white collar crime will be punished with jail time.  Corporate America assumes the commission of ongoing felony and "factors in" multi-billion dollar fines" as "the cost of doing business."  American "captains of industry" have "shone a light in the darkness" and "Behold! America embraces The Darkness."  The payment of fines (as the constant alternative to "doing time") is identical to mob-style protection payments. It is the business plan of malfeasant -- even pyschopathic -- corporate leaders to "pass the cost of felonious behavior onto shareholders."  They are as confident "as Tom Cruise in the midst of mania" that paying laughable fines insures sustained issuance "Get Out Of Jail Free" cards. In the end -- and at the bottom line -- corporate America see multi-billion dollar fines as "good investments" that guarantee astronomical profit margins.   This self-nourishing validation of felonious behavior is the cornerstone of Cowboy Capitalism and the artifically trumped-up boom/bust cycles (culminating with The Great Depression and Great Recession) fleece The 99% while funneling ever larger percentages of the Gross National Product to the handful of criminals atop The Pyramid.

Exxon investigated over possible climate change deception

The world’s largest publicly traded oil company rejected allegations that it suppressed climate change research after the New York attorney general served it a subpoena on the subject.

By Chris Mooney  •  Read more »