PoliBlog

Contemplating power, I was wondering what is the difference between my computer consulting business, and Chevron.

Two businesses: What have they in common? We're both out to make a buck. Do small businesses share a larger commonality with giant corporations? Should I join the chamber of commerce, because I'm fundamentally no different than Chevron with it's refinery a mile down the road?

These are the things that haunt me at night. No mindless distractions: I have years ago turned off the TV, with the exception of an occasional science program or an episode of that revolutionary-in-disguise Huell Howser. Am I just another David O’Reilly, CEO of Chevron, writ 100,000 times smaller, and similarly insignificant?

The answer is no.

According to Directorship.com, last year O'Reilly made,:

$15.7 million. This 17-percent increase in compensation accompanied the dramatic rise in oil prices.

O’Reilly’s salary of $1.65 million was supplemented by $2.6 million in performance based incentives and stock awards valued at $10.2 million. Chevron also covered various prerequisites totaling $255,251 and $82,456 for O’Reilly’s use of the corporate jets. The CEO has also realized a gain of $18.2 million after exercising his 600,000 stock options. Chevron’s stock price has increased 27-percent since last year.

I won't even try to add this up: salary, stock options, jet-plane rides. One would be safe to say I don't live in this stratosphere, nor do I want to do so.

To live in this land of the unreal is to live an unreal life.

For all the money and power David O’Reilly possesses, many things can he do not.

Things which Chevron CEO David O'Reilly cannot do:

• Post a link on the Chevron website to KPFA
• Quote the sociologist C. Wright Mills: “The life-fate of the modern individual depends not only upon the family into which he was born, or which he enters by marriage, but increasingly upon the corporation in which he spends the most alert hours of his best years.”
• Decline to make money because he personally chooses to adhere to humanitarian principles
• Organize, or even attend an anti-war rally
• Openly buy, read, and extol a book written by Naomi Klein
  

You might dismiss this list as irrelevant because, surely, he would not wish to do any of these things. Such an argument is spurious. O'Reilly could not do any of these things: period. He isn't free to choose yes or no. He'd be fired immediately by the board of directors if he did. CEO's are mere functionaries performing at the bidding of far greater wealth. CEO's are servile. He couldn't have lunch with Ralph Nader and keep his job. They choose to trade integrity and freedom for social status, political power, and cash.

If you think about it, you could easily make a much longer list.

The corporate economic system encourages and rewards immoral conduct. The price of freedom and integrity is expensive, indeed. About 15.7 million dollars, to be precise.

“People with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages.” ~ C. Wright Mills

So, is there any significant difference between small businesses and large? I posted a link to KPFA. Check out the spring fund drive.

Researchers say computer keyboards harbor significant quantities of bacteria and viruses. A simple wipe with tap water will remove most of the bacteria, whereas alcohol wipes will reduce contaminants for about 48 hours.

The Internet rumor mill has it that new iPhones with 3G capability may be available for purchase next month.