Ecuador fines Chevron, Chevron stocks rise

As I say over and over again to my free-market friends: I’m not anti-business, except when it destroys people’s lives. Business is necessary and good and the vast majority of us, in many ways, do benefit from it all the time. Business can be very, very good. But it can also be very, very bad.

What happens when an oil company comes into a resource-rich country in the 60s and then leaves 20-some years later, having done what it came to do? The indigenous people, who remain to cope with the mess, sue for damages. The oil company is bought out by another oil company, which inherits the lawsuit. The case persists for nearly 20 years. Then the court finally rules that the oil company owes nearly $9 billion in damages, and the judge warns that the fine will be doubled if the oil company doesn’t respond within two weeks. A victory for the indigenous people trying to clean up their land, upon which they depend for their livelihoods? Not quite. The oil company says it won’t pay. And Wall Street rewards the company with a rise in stocks.

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