Why I don't read BusinessWeek

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, but I find my patience for advocacy parading as "journalism" has diminished substantially over time. I read this article on "Why Exxon won't produce more" and left wondering who this guy's editors were. The "journalist" makes the argument that Exxon has few incentives to produce more and that greedy Wall Street continues to reward it for limiting production (ok that last bit was my editorial). Says the "journalist":

"It really goes back to what is an acceptable investment return for us," Tillerson said. In other words, producing incremental barrels just to ease prices for consumers is not part of the company's calculations.

His "in other words" makes a rather silly assumption that Exxon's greater investments in production would ease prices or as a corollary, Exxon is withholding investment to prop up prices. The reality is that Exxon's oil production is only the 12th largest oil producer in the world - a fraction of the size of its state owned competitors, and can no more affect oil prices/abundance than I can flap my wings and fly.