At least those windfall profits are benefitting the oil companies employees, right?

Or not. Business Week of 05/29/06 reported on a Shortfall At Exxon: All those profits - but underfunded pensions:

Scroll through the financial data of the biggest U.S. corporations and a surprising fact appears: Arguably the mightiest of them all, Exxon Mobil, has left its employee pension plans with the biggest funding deficit. Its assets are $11.2 billion short of projected obligations, according to company figures as of Dec. 31 - greater even than the gaps at struggling Ford Motor and General Motors.

Exxon could write a check for its underfunding this afternoon. The oil giant has $27 billion in its coffers. It generated free cash of $9 billion last quarter - almost enough to cover the pension shortfall. And it carries an AAA credit rating.

But Exxon claims that their current level of funding is in compliance with government requirements. So apparently until the federal government tells them to do it, they don't intend to.

Keep in mind that large corporations' pension funds are federally insured through ERISA. So a responsible administration in Washington would be all over this issue.

But the Bush administration is neither responsible nor competent. It is, as James Galbraith memorably put it, the energy industry invested with state power. Their sense of responsibility, therefore, is much like the Exxon is putting on display:

The fact is, Exxon could be topping off its tank for employees but isn't. It's declining to put more money away for a rainy day while the sun is shining on the oil industry. And it isn't apologizing, either. "We basically chose not to," says Gardner. "That's not an investment we want to put more into at this point. Our financial strength provides excellent security for any pension." We'll see.

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