Posted On: June 27, 2008, 3:38 pm CDT

Posted By: Buckeye

Chris, I tend to think we would see an endless stream of truly sad stories of homeless fisherman if the Valdez incident resulted in such. If the fishing business was adversely impacted by the spill, then the fisherman would have received appropriate and just restitution in the form of compensatory damages.

There are laws and corporate oversight mechanisms in place to prevent Exxon from acting in an inappropriate manner as you suggest. The corporation is also held accountable by its stockholders and I would suspect that many of us are invested in Exxon via our mutual funds and retirement programs.

Exxon is a big, powerful company that serves the needs of the general public by providing for our energy needs and other very necessary goods and services. If they generate $400B in revenue and $40B in profit in the process, then bravo to them. I just don't understand this vilification of profit when we all benefit from living in a free society and have ample opportunity to thrive in a capitalistic economy.