Wednesday, May 2,2001

ANOTHER DICK IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Laying out a framework for a national energy plan this week, Vice President Cheney touted increased domestic oil drilling in wildlife reserves, an expanded natural gas network, more coal and more nuclear power as paths toward keeping energy prices in check and supplies abundant. Uh-huh. Fortune Magazine tells the story in a different way.

Each year the magazine lists its "Fortune 500," the largest corporations in the US. The issue provides handy tables that show which companies and industries are most profitable. Topping the list this year are-- you guessed it-- "supply starved" energy companies.

The newly-merged behemoth Exxon Mobil is number 1 with $210 billion in revenue and profits of $17.7 billion. The President's pals Enron came in at number 7 ($13.5 billion in profits), Texaco at 16 ($2.5 billion), Duke Energy at 17 ($1.7 billion), and Chevron at 20 ($5 billion).

A look at Fortune's tables confirms which industries have skimmed the most wealth from the American populace. "Fastest-Growing Companies" lists them in order: Energy, Pipelines, Mining & Crude Oil Production, Petroleum Refining, and Utilities rank 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 respectively on this list. Companies listed under "Pipelines" Enron and Dynegy, for example, are also major players in the energy and utilities industries. A reasonable person might group all of these companies together under one broad "Energy" category, which would show how obscenely powerful this entire industry is. For example, the table "1 Year Growth in Profits" lists the top three industries as Mining & Crude Oil Production (473.9% growth), Petroleum Refining (148%), and Pipelines (73.2%). Most of the other industries had well below 20% growth last year.

Under "Shareholder Rate of Return"-- a term for what a company pays its shareholders in dividends, plus the amount its stock has increased in value during the year-- we find the individually-grouped Pipelines, Energy, and Utilities again at number 3, 4, and 5 on the list.

Cashing in big on the West's energy crisis, power brokers Enron and Duke Energy appear on just about every list tracking profitability and fast growth. Last year Enron had 151% growth and Duke Energy 126.8% growth in revenues. Dynegy shows a 5-year growth in revenues of 51.7%, while Reliant Energy's 5-year growth rate is 46.2%. Dynegy is number 3 on the list of "Best Investments," producing an obscene 220% total return to its shareholders-- a huge chunk of which is money paid by the government of California to bail out its bankrupt utilities.

Meanwhile, we don't see Whatcom County industries on Fortune's list at all! Funny thing, that... and under George's plan it'll keep being funny... all the way to the Food Bank.

©2001 ACME Communications, Inc.

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