Blowout

Maddow shifts focus from Oklahoma City and Aubrey McClendon to another central figure—Rex Tillerson, a man who in 2009 led the biggest energy company of them all, ExxonMobil, as the energy giant pivoted into becoming a major player in the natural gas world, after some initial skepticism. Tillerson is described as company man, through and through, having joined the company in 1975 after graduating from the University of Texas. After climbing the ranks all the way to the top, including a key role in the 1999 merger of Exxon with Mobil, Tillerson was deeply invested in the company’s success. In fact, this merger made ExxonMobil the “largest oil company in the world not owned by a national government” (71). Consequently, Tillerson’s personal involvement in the merger deal is a clear representation of his place in the oil industry. The chapter’s title associates Tillerson to Ayn Rand’s classic book Atlas Shrugged, perhaps the single most effective literary endorsement of unbridled capitalism, a story where genius and ambition are only hindered by bureaucracy and regulation. Yet in a democracy where competing ideas exist, at least in theory, to better society and its responsibilities, oil companies cannot move freely and unfettered.