3 Myths About the Oil and Gas Industry

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...

Obama’s Blame Game Continues: Who’s Behind Oil Price Rise?

obama is a master of a couple of things, blame and lies. Oh, and making bullshit commissions, can't forget that. If you have no clue how to solve a problem and don't want to be stuck with having to answer for it later, vote present and then form a commission.

This asshole has no intention of doing anything about fuel prices, but his commission will draw attention away from that fact for a little while. It will take our focus away from the fact that he is completely incompetent for a brief period so he can make some campaign stops.

I am sick to death of this guy and his bullshit games. Even the liberals should be able to see through him. How is it possible that there is a single person still supporting him? Supporters are getting less and less though, his poll numbers are in the toilet...

By Liz Peek - FoxNews

President Obama is at it again. Soaring gasoline prices are hitting Americans where it hurts, and threatening to undermine our fragile recovery. With oil hitting $111 today, and gasoline topping $4 a gallon in many markets, economists are beginning to ratchet down their GDP forecasts, boding ill for continued job growth. Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, the nation is souring on our elected officials, and on the president, whose approval ratings are sinking like a failed soufflé. A staggering 70% of the nation thinks we’re headed in the wrong direction. What’s Obama’s solution? Find someone to blame.

To show he’s on top of our energy crisis, the president has…created yet another commission! This one – a task force from the Justice Department - is charged with ferreting out the scoundrels behind the jump in gasoline prices – surely there must be some nefarious speculators or market manipulators who can be hauled before Congress in one of those satisfying and cathartic inquiries that, at the end, yield almost nothing. But, these hard-light investigations do provide plenty of room for posturing and prime-time sound bites.

President Obama has resorted to the blame-game throughout his presidency. GW Bush was responsible for the recession, the budget deficit, extravagant healthcare costs, the quagmire in Afghanistan, potholes, global warming and quite possibly Charlie Sheen’s meltdown. Wall Street fat cats brought on the banking crisis (not aided and abetted by Barney Frank et al), insurance miscreants are to blame for soaring healthcare expenses, oil companies are guilty of sitting on leases, pharmaceutical companies should be taken out and shot and Republicans have been mulishly resistant to even the most winning proposals. Now, rascals are at work pumping up gasoline prices; what is a president to do?

On oil prices, the president is vulnerable. First, the administration is accused by U.S. oil explorers of issuing misleading information about why offshore drilling is not moving forward. At the moment, the number of rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico is about half the level of a year ago; the head of the Independent Petroleum Association of America has said that the government has dragged its feet in issuing the permits necessary for work to move forward.

President Obama dismisses these allegations, pointing out that domestic oil production was up last year. He didn’t mention that when oil prices move dramatically higher, production always increases, as marginally profitable wells are brought on stream. Our output would have been even higher if offshore development had moved forward as planned. Instead, the new organization charged with issuing permits is like a deer in the headlights – panicked that they will approve a drilling project that will one day go awry. No one doubts the need to buttress our safety standards, and especially in deep waters, where failed technology led to the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Still, with the impact of climbing oil prices becoming all too visible, no one should prevent us from ramping up domestic supply as quickly as possible.

Also, economists worldwide are blaming the loose monetary policies of Fed Chair Ben Bernanke for having helped unleash commodity price inflation around the globe. Though Mr. Bernanke denies that the quantitative easing programs in the U.S. are boosting the prices of gold, corn, cotton, copper and oil, to name but a few, his is quickly becoming the minority position. The U.S. dollar is sinking and excess liquidity is flowing into commodities markets. Bernanke is singularly focused on preventing deflation; that global food and raw materials prices have climbed as much as 40% to 50% over the past year and that inflation is creeping higher seems to have eluded his gaze.

Finally, Americans may connect the rise in oil prices with disruptions in the Middle East. Though no one can hold President Obama responsible for the popular uprisings in Tunisia or Egypt, our disconnected and inconsistent response has heightened uncertainty in the region. Confusion is the enemy of price stability.

Mr. Obama’s blame game is quickly losing favor. Americans are now ready to hold President Obama responsible for their problems, recognizing that he has had two years in which he and his party were in charge. He needs to channel Harry S. Truman and acknowledge: “ the buck stops here.”

Temperatures Lowest For Time Of Year Since 1940s

Can you imagine how cold it would be in Chicago if it weren't for global warming? Holy crap, it would be an ice age or something up there.

Global warming has saved Chicago. See, there is an upside...

CBSChicago

Not only has Chicago dealt with chilly rain, hail and even snow this week, but temperatures Tuesday were at their lowest for this late spring date since the 1940s.

CBS 2 Meteorologist Megan Glaros says the high Wednesday is expected only to reach 46 degrees with a peek or two of sunshine, but the chilly conditions will make it feel like winter never ended. As of 6:45 a.m., the temperature in Chicago was just 34 degrees.

Glaros says if there were precipitation Tuesday morning, some snow would likely be mixed in. Fortunately, the storm systems have moved east and conditions were just cold and overcast.

On Tuesday, the high topped out at 38 degrees in the city.

In the early evening hours, just walking a few blocks along the streets of Chicago felt like going out to sea in an open boat during a rainstorm in northern Canada. Anyone walking against the wind was blasted continuously in the face with cold droplets of rain, and given the strength of the winds, an umbrella was as good as useless.

And that was before the severe storms even hit. Lightning bolts and thunder claps soon appeared, and hail of up to 1 inch in diameter was spotted in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.

More than an inch and a half of rain fell in less than half an hour Tuesday evening, forcing the cancellation of more than 450 flights at O’Hare and Midway international airports, and leaving people sleeping on terminal floors.

Read the rest at the link above...

Shh! Obama gets anti-secrecy award

If this doesn't describe the obama regime perfectly, I don't know what does. He accepted a "transparency" award in secret.... hahahahahahahahaha, omg, hahahahahahaha. What a crock of shit. Transparency award? You have got to be shitting me! This is the most secret, backstabbing, underhanded, crooked administration in the history of our Country. We are talking about the same administration that screens freedom of information requests and actually does background checks on people requesting the information. The very same people that bribed and extorted congresscritters for their votes on obamacare. The very same administration that went to war with libya without consulting with the American people or congress.

I guess he can hang this on the wall right next to his nobel prize. That's going to be the wall of shit he didn't deserve...

By Abby Phillip - Politico 44

President obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.

This time, obama met quietly in the Oval Office with Gary Bass of OMB Watch, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org, without disclosing the meeting on his public schedule or letting photographers or print reporters into the room.

“Our understanding going into the meeting was that it would have a pool photographer and a print reporter, and it turned out to be a private meeting,” Bass told POLITICO. “He was so on point, so on target in the conversation with us, it is baffling why he would not want that message to be more broadly heard by reporters and the public interest community and the public generally.”

Just hours before the White House put off the original event, White House press secretary jay carney was defiant in his defense of obama’s transparency record against criticism that it might have been premature.

“This president has demonstrated a commitment to transparency and openness that is greater than any administration has shown in the past, and he’s been committed to that since he ran for President and he’s taken a significant number of measures to demonstrate that,” Carney said in a testy exchange with Fox News reporter Wendell Goler on March 16.

The transparency advocates who presented the award to obama say that the recognition is important, because despite the work left to be done, obama has done a lot to change the government’s posture toward openness issues.

Read the rest at the link above...

Clinton: No-Fly Zone Over Libya Cannot be U.S.-Led Effort

clinton is full of shit. We are the United States and we can do whatever the hell we want to do. We don't need a bunch of candy asses in the u.n. to tell us when and where we can set up a no fly zone.

So as obama continues to wring his hands and plan his next golf game or vacation, women and children are being murdered by libyan jets and gun ships. While the u.n. schedules a meeting innocent people are dying in the streets.

WE ARE NOT THE WORLD'S POLICE FORCE! But it is immoral for us to stand by and do nothing while innocent civilians are being killed when we have the ability to stop it.

I'm not saying we should invade libya. What I am saying is that imposing and enforcing a no fly zone will inhibit the ability of the libyan military to commit mass murder with aircraft and give those fighting against a corrupt dictator a fighting chance.

The u.n. is worthless and so is obama. Leaders should have the guts to do the right thing even when it isn't popular. We should never base the decision to save innocent people on a u.n. mandate...

From FoxNews

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Sky News Wednesday that a no-fly zone over Libya cannot be a U.S.-led effort, and would need the backing of the international community.

"I think it's very important that this not be a U.S.-led effort, because this comes from the people of Libya themselves," she told Sky News.

"This doesn't come from the outside. This doesn't come from some Western power or some Gulf country saying this is what you should do, this is how you should live."

Clinton's comments come as Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell pushed back on notions that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was against setting up a no-fly zone.

"The secretary's position on a no-fly zone has not changed," Morrell told press traveling with Gates en route to a NATO advisory meeting in Brussels. "We are preparing a full range of military options for the president, including a no-fly zone."

Morrell added, "We have already moved significant assets into the Mediterranean to provide humanitarian assistance."

Libya will now likely be on the formal agenda of that pre scheduled defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, as British and French leaders continue to push for the establishment of a no-fly zone to prevent Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadaffi from firing on his own people.

"[Gates] position is he is committed to providing the president with the full range of options, it's his duty also to present the ramifications of each option presented."

Go read the rest at the link above...

Obama Was Against Forcing Americans to Buy Health Insurance Before He Was For It

This speaks for itself and doesn't even require any smartass comments from me...

Be sure to watch the video.

By Eric Scheiner- CNSNews

While on the campaign trail, President Barack Obama consistently voiced that he was strongly opposed to forcing the uninsured to purchase health insurance.

Currently, his administration is taking to federal court 27 states that are challenging the constitutionality of the federal government forcing people to buy health insurance.

As a candidate for president he argued against the individual mandate, using it as a focal point to separate his health care plan from opponent Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal.

 

“Senator Clinton has a different approach. She believes that we have to force people who don’t have health insurance to buy it. Otherwise there will be a lot of people who don’t get it. “ Obama said during a January 31st 2008 debate on CNN. “I don’t see those folks, and I think it is important for us to recognize that if in fact you’re going to mandate the purchase of insurance and it’s not affordable then there’s going to have to be some enforcement mechanism that the government uses and they may charge people who already don’t have health care fines, or have to take it out of their paychecks and that I don’t think is helping those without health insurance, that is a genuine difference. “

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, who ruled Obamacare unconstitutional this week, noted a statement that Obama had made in a February 5th, 2008 interview with CNN. In his ruling Vinson wrote, “I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that ‘if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house.’”

In a February 26, 2008 MSNBC Democratic debate Obama criticized the concept of a mandate again. “If, as we’ve heard tonight, we still don’t know how Senator Clinton intends to enforce a mandate and if we don’t know the level of subsidies that she’s going to provide, then you could have a situation which were seeing right now in the state of Massachusetts, where people are being fined for not having purchased health care - but choose to accept the fine because they still can’t afford it even with the subsidies and they are then worse off. They then have no health care and are paying a fine above and beyond that. That is a genuine difference between myself and Senator Clinton,” Obama said.