Great Earnings

Shell recently announced it’s 2007 earnings, which was 27.5 billion dollars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/31/shell-posts-obscene-pro_n_84221.html

After seeing this article, I did some searching on the Internet and ran across this.

http://offtopicdiscuss.blogspot.com/...wow-dubai.html

I did some quick research so that I wouldn't be giving misleading info and found something that said only 6% of this "cities" revenue comes from oil. Now, I'm a little skeptical about that, and feel that if you looked long enough and deep enough, more revenue would probably tie back into oil somewhere.

Let's face it… we are dependent on oil. While it is a choice for me to own a car and to fill that car with gas, I live and work in an area where there are not many alternatives and riding a bike or horse 10 miles isn't really an alternative for me. I could make the point, that I could choose to not drive a car, but that choice would lead to my choosing not to eat, or own a home, have running water, etc. While this is a little exaggerated it’s not really that far off. The truth is that while we do have choices, we’ve backed ourselves into a corner to make these luxuries a necessity. I know for a fact that there is technology out there to save energy and make us less dependent on oil. I bet we would be shocked to see where the government gives money in pursuit/development of these other resources verses what is spent in the continued acquisition of oil.

I'm all for less government but... I'm not getting it anywhere else so why not use some of my tax dollars to regulate corporations who supply us with natural resources that we “need” to live our normal lives.

I guess in essence though, if I would get off my lazy butt and go start my own oil company, invest more wisely or develop a way to harness the oxygen in the air and then re-sale it to all those who need to breath, then I might could be that rich too. Shame on me!

Think a moment about the single Mom who has been working odd hours at the cash register of some grocery store trying to support her family. She’s already living paycheck to paycheck and now she has to pay more than twice as much for gas. Combine that with the fact that the food she needs to feed her family is continually climbing in price due to the cost involved to get those products to the shelves of the grocery store. While the numbers aren’t very huge, when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, ten dollars could be the difference between being fed and going hungry. I would bet that her priority is gas before food because without gas she cannot make money to buy more food or buy gas to make more money to buy food or gas to make more money to get food or gas….. get it? But still, maybe it is her fault. She should work longer hours, work a second job or find a different job and be away from her family more. There's always the furniture plants... wait a minute... those were all shut down and moved to Asia. I guess there's always manufacturing... oops, those are gone to Mexico. Textiles... gone.

Still though… it is Shell’s right to make whatever amount of money they want from others needs. It’s called capitalism or free enterprise. I’m trying hard not to judge them or have contempt for them. But something deep in my heart makes me want to cry knowing that they made that much money while that single mom faces the possibility of becoming homeless. My spirit aches at the thought that our world is so driven by our desire for more that we can applaud and even congratulate these types of excess while 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. My heart breaks from the thought that we've become people so disillusioned by the worlds definition of success that we envy these CEOs and head executives so much that we fail to realize that most of the rest of the world would envy us.

Here is what I see when I read about a company making 27 billion dollars in earnings:

Number of children in the world: 2.2 billion
Number in poverty: 1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide
121 million
Survival for children
Worldwide,
10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children
Worldwide,
2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

Statistics from: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp


I see the potential to do so much more but I'm saddened because we have become a people that walk around with blinders on.

To be continued….

Keep an open mind… Part II of my thoughts on this are to follow...
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Sorry if this comes across as me having contempt for big corporations like Shell. My emotions are ones of sadness and frustration, not contempt. I wonder what emotions Jesus was feeling at the temple?

Mark 11:15-17 (NIV)

15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"