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I don't like the price of gas any more than the next guy, but is there really blame to be placed? Could the price of gas be simply a product of supply and demand? Why does congress feel it is necessary to call executives from oil companies in and talk to them like naughty children? Why does congress think it is correct to deny oil companies the same tax incentives than many other large corporations get? Is it really fair to single out one industry and penalize them for making a profit?
And the oil companies do make a profit, there is no doubt. But their profit margin is less than that of many other companies, like Walmart or Apple. Oil companies pay about 40% of their revenue in taxes, much more than a lot of other industries. Take General Electric for example, last year GE actually got more money back from the government than they paid in taxes. And the oil companies are the bad guys. It sure didn't hurt GE that their ceo at the time, jeffrey immelt, is an advisor to the crooked obama administration.
The "evil" big oil companies make less on a gallon of gas than the federal government, yet they are demonized by the left at every opportunity, and have been for years.
What do you think increasing taxes on oil companies will do to gas prices? I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm betting it would make prices go up by about the same amount as the tax increase.
Maybe if oil companies were allowed to do what they do best, drill for oil, supply and demand would equal out and we wouldn't be paying 4 bucks a gallon to go back and forth to work...
By Bob Beauprez - FoxNews
As voters around the country wince at rising gas prices, panicked Democrats, in a rush to cover the failure of their all-or-nothing bet on the alternative energy industry have started singing a familiar tune – blame the oil and gas industry. Instead of facing the reality of his owned failed policies, President Obama is calling for an end to the "tax giveaways" he claims amount to $4 billion in “subsidies” to the energy industry.
This tactic isn’t surprising given the effect that rising gas prices have on the president’s approval ratings and his obsession with re-election. But, less-than-truthful innuendos and political spin hardly helps America's working families who are getting hammered at the pump.
If our leaders are going to have an honest discussion about energy, it's important to clear up a few rumors, misconceptions and outright falsehoods being perpetrated about the oil and gas industry. Let's begin with three of the more common ones:
1. The industry doesn’t receive any taxpayer funded subsides. None.
2. Rampant speculation and Wall Street tricks aren’t driving up gas prices.
3. The oil and gas industry is not dodging the taxes they owe and withholding “their fair share.”
I'll say it again; contrary to popular opinion and the president's spin, the oil and gas industries do not receive any taxpayer funded subsidies. The tax code does allow them to claim certain tax credits and deductions to encourage continued investment in an industry that is heavily front-end loaded with capital expense.
These are the same kind of incentives available to Coca-Cola, General Electric, Ford, and Microsoft and other companies doing business in the U.S. Or, for that matter, like the deduction for mortgage interest payments enjoyed by homeowners. But, importantly these are tax credits, and markedly different from direct taxpayer cash subsidies like the 45 cent per gallon payment blenders get to put ethanol in fuel mixes.
When businesses invest in America, we all benefit. The oil and gas industry plows about $300 billion into domestic projects per year – that's 75 times more than Obama's phantom "taxpayer giveaways" amount -- and employees over 9 million people. Those are real numbers; not Washington spin, and if government would allow and encourage even more domestic production there would be more jobs and more investment – and more total taxes paid, too.
Another argument that often circulates when gas prices go up is that a phantom class of “Wall Street speculators” is to blame for the increase of prices. In 2008 this school of thought was so persuasive that President Bush commissioned an exhaustive review, via the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, looking into the effect that speculators had on market prices. Their conclusion was surprising, according to The Wall Street Journal, “The agency concluded that speculators—otherwise known as traders—were putting downward pressure on prices. The liquidity they provide helps to smooth volatility.”
Not satisfied with the 2008 study, President Obama recently resurrected this school of thought, even tapping Attorney General Eric Holder to police perceived illegal activity and price gouging. Yet within the presidents’ own administration, the Federal Trade Commission found that the recent spike in oil prices is due primarily to normal market forces, including booming demand from developing economies in India and China and not because of any questionable behavior from Wall Street.
Read the rest at the link above...
