Vital Concerns for the World: Shell Oil's Corporate Spying in Nigeria

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Shell Oil's Corporate Spying in Nigeria

Wikileaks reveals significant details about the way big corporations are operating in the modern world as well as about how governments operate. The latest leaks now give us information on how Shell Oil has penetrated "all the main ministries" of the Nigerian government, so that the company has "access to the politician's every move". Many of us have supposed that we live in a world in which companies play by the rules -- Isn't that what their advertising says? But we are coming to realize that besides having secrets and long term projects and plans like governments they have spies and practice espionage.

Such issues seem to me all the more significant the more stratified the world becomes. I have heard that the separation the top 1% from the lower 90% is greater than in American history. If so, the opportunities for the abuse of power through the manipulation of information sources is greater than ever. Not good for our country; not good for the world.

For a fuller report click on the title above, which links to the Guardian report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-cables-shell-nigeria-spying

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A major source of the American debt problem

Notable Concerns

"Not one has taken responsibility for the biggest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history." Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condolezza Rica, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith.
The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. AlJazeera 10/15/11
GE, America's largest corporation, paid no taxes last year even though it made 5.1 billion dollars profit in the country [and even more outside the country] [source: same as below]
In 2009 the richest 5% held 63.5% of American wealth; the bottom 80% controlled 12.8%. [source: same as below]
Between 2000 and 2007 the richest 10% in America benefited from all of the average growth in the period. In the post WW II period the top 10% benefited from only one third of the growth, the bottom 90% benefiting from the rest of the growth. [Economic Policy Institute, cited by Bob Herbert, NYT 3/26/11]
In 2010 a "premier" investment bank paid each of its 26,000 employees an average of $370,000. [Bill Gross Pimco Investment Outlook Feb, 2011.]
In 2005, one-quarter of the corporations in America making a trillion dolars in revenue paid no taxes.
The 833% Medical Insurance Ripoff: Medicare charges 3% for service; the health insurance companies in Missouri charge 25% for services
The richest 1 percent of Americans have more net worth than the bottom 90 percent.
The richest 1 percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 50%. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/dec/10/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-viral-speech-says-top-1$ >