Bottom line, 2009, produces multiple “bottom lines” in glasses filled with opposing parts water and motor oil.  Is the bottom line a top line or a top line a bottom line?  Why do capitalists emphasize the bottom line when talking about the economy?  Bottom Line attempts to displace notions of such a “bottom-line.”

Bottom line attempts to mix oil and water.  Fresh water may eclipse oil as a strategic interest in determining imperialist policy due to global warming.  Yet, much of the fresh water has become polluted by Western and/or industrial powers, who have determined much of their policy on the perceived scarcity of oil.  Now, they are faced with a perceived scarcity of fresh water.

Global warming and pollution has caused—and will most likely cause—fresh water resources to have increasing emphasis in determining global politics.  During his confirmation hearing, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair speculated that the parts of the world where water becomes more scarce will likely cause “instability.”  Yet, we are already seeing a rise in tensions and conflicts caused by imperialist powers occupying territories strategic to acquiring fresh water resources for themselves.  For instance, Nicholas Noe, contributor to Radical Philosophy, writes in a commentary in January 2008 on Hezbollah called "Nasrallah’s reasons Hezbollah and the conflict in Lebanon:"

First: the issue of water.  As Nasrallah constantly reminds his audiences, Lebanon is a water-rich country compared to Israel (which has a poor track record of fair water use, especially in the occupied territories).  Some 20 per cent of the River Jordan’s headwaters – Israel’s main freshwater source – stem from south Lebanon’s Wazzani and Hasbani rivers alone.  Underscoring Nasrallah’s main point on the subject – that Israel is a bellicose neighbour unrestrained by international laws and norms – in 2002, Israeli premier Ariel Sharon went so far as to declare, unambiguously, that a small pipe installed on the Wazzani for Lebanese use had become a casus belli for Israel" (Noe, Nicholas, "Nasrallah's reasons Hizbullah and the conflict in Lebanon, in Radical Philosophy, January/February 2008, http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/default.asp?channel_id=2187&editorial_id=25437).

The water and oil in Bottom line are symbolic of these increasing tensions, which, ironically, have to do with water and oil.

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