If you’re the world’s largest oil company, it probably makes more sense to tell the public that you don’t believe in global warming than to say that you intend to obstruct preventative measures in order to protect your profits, even if means destroying the planet. So, when the NYT tells readers that Exxon Mobil “had long been skeptical of global warming,” how does it know that this is true?

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.