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...

Congressional Inquiry Reveals ObamaCare's Billion Dollar Give Away to AARP

If you are an aarp member or are considering membership, be sure to give this a read.

Before you send in your dues, consider that the biggest interestof the aarp is the aarp. From everything I have read over the last couple of years, the aarp doesn't give a damn about Seniors. They do care quite a bit about the huge salaries that the executives get. They care about obamacare, since they fought so hard to get it passed, at the expense of those they claim to care about.

Do your research with this organization. Find out where you really stand before you send them any money.

by Lee Habeeb - Guns & Patriots

Forget the Cornhusker Kickback. Thanks to a House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Investigation, we finally know why AARP worked so hard to get ObamaCare passed. Congressman Charles Boustany (R-La), a real life MD, released the findings of a nearly year-long investigation that revealed how AARP stands to make nearly $1 billion over the next 10 years if ObamaCare remains in affect.

“As one of the country’s most well-known non-profits, many of America’s seniors trust AARP to represent their interests,” Boustany said in an appearance on Salem Radio Network’s The Mike Gallagher show. “But in light of AARP’s dependence on its income from insurance products, there is good reason to question whether AARP is primarily looking out for seniors or just its own bottom line.”

“This should be called The Great Senior Swindle,” Gallagher told Boustany. “Conservatives who are members of AARP should quit immediately. And those who are not members should not join.”

AARP’s revenue in 2009 was a stunning $1.4 billion, with over $700 million of that revenue coming from the royalties they receive from the licensing of insurance products.

Worse, the investigation revealed that ObamaCare will cause 7 million seniors to lose their Medicare Advantage plans, resulting in a migration to Medigap plans.

“AARP is the nation’s biggest Medigap plan provider, the report revealed, “and AARP will gain between $55 and $166 million in 2014 alone as a result of new Medigap enrollees thanks to ObamaCare, which AARP strongly endorsed.”

AARP’s financial gain from ObamaCare could exceed $1 billion during the next 10 years,

“That’s 1 billion reasons why AARP supported ObamaCare,” explained Dan Weber, President of AMAC, a conservative alternative to AARP. “AARP took the deal Rahm Emanuel and President Obama offered them, and left seniors holding the bag.”

Fireworks on Capitol Hill

There were some real fireworks when AARP’s President, A. Barry Rand, testified on Capitol Hill. Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga), another real life doctor, and Congressman Wally Herger (R-Ca) exposed the sheer duplicity of AARP.

“It is troubling that the AARP – that supposedly exists to advocate on behalf of seniors – would fight for a health care law that cuts Medicare by over $500 billion and limits insurance coverage choices for seniors,” said Price. “The report reminds the American people of all of ObamaCare’s sweetheart deals. Health reform should always be about putting patients first and not be built for any group’s political or financial advantage.”

The hearing revealed some other surprises. It turns out that AARP makes big money from the interest it charges while premiums sit in AARP coffers for undetermined amounts of time. AARP collected and processed over 6.8 billion in insurance premiums in 2009 alone, and AARP’s President, after a relentless grilling by Congressmen Herger, revealed that interest on those premiums were as much as $60 million a year, thus making AARP a bank, as well as an insurance company.

In addition, the hearing revealed the staggering salaries of AARP executives, some of which topped out at over $1.6 million, and even more lucrative benefit and pension packages.

In some very tough exchanges, AARP was accused by multiple members of the panel for not cooperating with members of Congress during the nearly year long investigation.

Congressman Herger was particularly angered by AARP’s foot dragging, and expressed alarm that AARP was still considered a non-profit, when so much of the operation acts like a for profit.

“The facts show AARP no longer operates like a seniors’ advocacy organization; instead it more closely resembles a for-profit insurance company. In 2009, AARP raised 46% of its revenue from royalty payments, versus just 17% from membership dues. While questions have indeed been raised in the past about AARP’s reliance on royalties, the amount of these payments has nearly tripled just over the past decade.

AMAC President Dan Weber was not surpised by the investigation, or anything he heard at the hearings. “The fact is that AARP has been misleading its members for a very long time, especially its conservative members, and they need to know that they can get insurance elsewhere – and at competitive rates - where their values won’t be sold.”

“AARP spends millions to create the impression that they are the only game in town for seniors when it comes to their insurance needs,” explained Lee Habeeb, a content and policy producer for some of radio’s biggest shows, including Mike Gallagher’s, Bill Bennett’s and Michael Medved’s. “The good news is, conservative seniors are no longer hostages to AARP, and can join a group like AMAC.”

US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011

Keep these numbers in mind as the budget battles come up. obama and his pet democrats have spent money at levels we have never, ever experienced before. They will continue to spend like that until we run their asses off. We have told them to knock it off. We have begged and pleaded. They don't care. They have no respect and very little concern for We the People. Do you think they will have any concern when we show up at their door with torches and pitchforks?

If Boehner and the Tea Party new guys don't fix this soon, washington may find out just how many of us are pissed off with their inability to control their spending...

AFP

The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.

The Treasury reported a deficit of $829 billion for the October-March period, compared with $717 billion a year earlier, as revenue rose a sluggish 6.9 percent as the economic recovery slowly gained pace.

The Treasury argued that the pace of increase in the deficit was deceptive because of large one-off reductions in expenditures made during the first half of fiscal 2010, compared with previous and subsequent periods.

Those included a $115 billion reduction in funds spent on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- the financial institution bailout program -- in March 2010.

But 2011 so far has also seen significant increases in spending on defense, Social Security, health and debt service, while receipts have not grown as fast.

"The jump in outlays mostly owed to a smaller estimated reduction in TARP outlays this year versus 2010," said Theresa Chen at Barclays Capital Research.

However, she said, the trend shows that taxable income is rising at a 6.9 percent annual pace, and individual incomes taxes are up 20.6 percent, "consistent with general economic improvement."

The figures came amid a sharp, politically partisan battle in Washington over cutting spending and raising taxes, with President Barack Obama preparing Wednesday to release his plan for reducing the long-term deficit.

He also faces a looming battle over increasing the country's official debt ceiling, so that the government can continue to borrow to finance the deficit.

Read the rest at the link above...

Influential Lawmakers Call for More Congressional Involvement in Libya and an Obama Address to the Nation

This is a no win for obama. With assholes like me calling him a pussy for waiting forever to act and assholes in both the Republican and democratic party calling for impeachment, he is hosed.

People can say what they want about George W., but at least he got the buy in of congress before he took action.

This is another story that cracks me up. I have no sympathy for obama at all. He deserves all the criticism, from both sides. He should have gotten with congress and he should have done it 20 days ago.

It bothers the hell out of me that he waited for the u.n. before he decided to act. We are a sovereign Nation. We don't need the approval of anyone to act in the best interest of our Country. And doing what is morally right is the best path, always...

by Trish Turner - FoxNews

With the U.S. military's sizeable initial engagement in Libya to impose a no-fly zone, and with what some preceive as mixed messages from the Obama administration on an overall mission, respected moderate senators Monday began expressing concern for the road ahead in the African nation and said Congress must be more involved and the American people more informed.

"Although I do not support Qaddafi killing his own people, I have many concerns regarding U.S. involvement. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I will continue to monitor the situation and hold the Administration accountable for explaining the objective of the military campaign and other questions," declared Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, a member of the Democratic leadership.

"We need to get more involved," former Vietnam combat veteran Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., told MSNBC on Monday. "We have not had a debate...This isn't the way that our system is supposed to work."

Sen. Dick Lugar, a GOP foreign policy heavyweight, has consistently criticized the operation, calling for a vote in Congress. "My basic concern is that we do not have a plan for the United States and how its allies are going to handle the situation. We don't have objectives that, or at least some idea of how we would obtain those objectives," the Indiana senator told Fox.

"Who is in command of this operation?" Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., a current U.S. Navy reservist, asked rhetorically Monday at a speech in Chicago, "I don't know. Admiral (Mike) Mullen didn't seem to give a clear answer."

Go read the rest at the link above...

It's Time to Defund NPR

Juan Williams and I agree on something, for once. I don't think we came to the conclusion for the same reason though. I think nor should be defunded because I don't approve of my tax dollars being spent on something that goes against every grain of my being. npr has proven itself to be a tax payer funded shill of the left wing of the democratic party. They can claim that they too are fair and balanced, but it's a lie. I don't want my taxes funding abortions because it is against my beliefs, and so is the garbage spewed by the liberal elitists at npr.

Juan Williams was one of them, until he broke the rules and spoke the truth about his feelings about not being comfortable in the presence of muslims on an airplane. Who can blame him? Any American probably has those same feelings, even the stuck up, snooty folks over at npr. They would never admit to it though. It would ruin their holier than thou image.

I'm willing to bet though, that 1 hour before Juan Williams was fired he didn't think npr should be defunded. It was only after his ejection from the den of vipers that he saw the light. I'm thinking there may be a little conflict of interest going on. He can claim all the nobleness he wishes in his decision, but deep down, it has to be influenced by his firing.

By Juan Williams - FoxNews

It just keeps happening. NPR's leadership keeps tripping over its microphone wires and then asking everybody else to plug them back in.

I know everybody thinks I must be in a vindictive mood, celebrating the sudden departure of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller after her hand-picked personal fundraiser was caught on tape disparaging Tea Party activists, Jews and taking more shots at me. I'm human and do have some thoughts but it's okay to keep them to myself.

I will not slander her in the way that she impugned my intellect and my integrity with condescending comments after my firing. She said my comments on Fox News violated journalistic ethics and should have been kept between "him and his psychiatrist or his publicist." Schiller's missteps have been very public and all too visible to the world, allowing everyone to draw their own conclusions about her.

I'm not being vindictive when I say that NPR leadership had become ingrown and arrogant to the point that they lost sight of journalism as the essential product of NPR. People like Schiller and Ellen Weiss, the head of news for NPR, who made it her life's work to fire me, came to think of themselves as smarter than anyone else. They felt no need to answer to any critic. No other point of view had any importance to them. They came to personify anti-intellectual resentment and arrogance in journalism. Any approach at variance with their own was considered traitorous and a basis for exiling them to the Gulag or in my case, firing me.

If you care to read the rest, it is at the link above...

$223 BILLION dollar deficit in February...

The federal government posted the largest single month deficit in history in February. $223 BILLION dollars, did you get that number? I said $223 B I L L I O N dollars, in ONE month.

The old record was last February, and that was a mere $220.9 BILLION dollars.

Last month was the 29th straight month that our government ran a deficit. Another record!

obama should be so proud, two records in one month!

Do you have any idea how many generations of our children, grand children, etc. it is going to take to pay back all of the debt obama and the democrats have racked up in the last two years? Me neither, but you can bet your ass it will be several.

Go visit this debt clock site. It will scare the hell out of you. It has a lot of other information on it too, like bankruptcies and forclosures, interest on the national debt, etc. We are in some very bad trouble people...

Entitlement Evolution Poses Threat to America's Finances

This is some scary stuff. To think that entitlement programs could consume the entire budget of our Country is bad news. No politician wants to touch this. You kind of can't blame them. But every year they refuse to address these issues and it just becomes more dire.

Republicans hint around about privatizing social security and then the democrats use it against them. At some point major changes will have to be made, and if we wait until that point arrives it will be very ugly for a long time.

We are fortunant that many companies are offering 401k solutions. It's also pretty sad that even though social security eats up massive amounts of the budget, old people can't even live on it. All it takes is a couple of expensive prescriptions and these people are eating cat food. It's sad, very sad. Our elderly deserve better than that. If the social security issue had been addressed 30 years ago we wouldn't have this problem now.

I have been paying into social security for about 32 years and I will never see a dime from it. I am planning for my own future. I don't ever want to have to rely on this government for anything...

By Jim Angle - FoxNews

The debate in Congress this week over spending is a sideshow in the battle against debt and deficits because entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare are threatening to destroy the nation's fiscal security.

The problem is a familiar one -- the government made far more promises than it can pay for.

"Social Security and Medicare deficits together equal around 75 trillion dollars," said Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute. "But that figure is in today's dollars, meaning you had the money today in the bank earning interest. If we delay fixing these programs then the costs only get larger."

And with some 75 million baby boomers about to retire, and far fewer young people paying taxes, that will mean a massive transfer of wealth.

"So much of what the government is doing is to take money from younger people and give it to older people," Biggs said.

It was the creation of Social Security in 1935 that opened a new era of what are called entitlement programs.

These are "programs that are basically on autopilot," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "You don’t actually decide each year how much money you'll spend on them. You just pay out what's demanded by the rules that you've set up."

And that payout is growing exponentially.

Back in 1935, when Social Security was created, promises to those over 65 years old were easy to make "because many people didn't even survive to retirement age," Biggs said."Those that did live to age 65 didn't live for long after that."

In fact, at the time, the average life expectancy for men was only 60 years and for women, about 64. Now, it is 75 for men and 80 for women. That’s one reason entitlements are getting more and more expensive.

But benefits have also expanded.

In 1939, before Social Security was even fully operating, new benefits were added for surviving spouses and children. In 1956, disability benefits were added.

Then, in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson and Congress created Medicare and Medicaid to help the elderly and poor.

"Medicare took care of the elderly, Medicaid was originally designed to take care of the poor," said Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute. "Although an increasing portion of Medicaid now covers the elderly in nursing homes."

And as they age, entitlements themselves tend to expand and take on a life of their own.

"At the time [of creation], I don’t think anybody ever anticipated the kind of monstrosity the entitlement would turn into," MacGuineas said.

But the programs kept expanding, inflation protections were added and now, entitlements are poised to overwhelm the entire federal budget.

"Today, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up about half the budget," Biggs said. "Going into the future they could conceivably swallow up the entire budget."

"By the end of the decade," Tanner said, "we'll be at the point where the entitlement programs plus interest on the debt will consume the entire amount of federal revenue that we bring in. You'll have to raise taxes just to keep the government functioning."

The coming financial crisis over entitlements is so dire that Andrew Biggs said "the joke among entitlement analysts is that the government will eventually turn into a pension plan with an army."

In other words, by the time we pay for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, there will only be enough federal revenues left over to cover the military, but no other functions of government.

That's what entitlement policies have come to.

And though we can't even pay for promises already made, the new health care law created yet another entitlement, one for the disabled, which most analysts believe will also run short of money, early in its history.

Various panels and commissions have been warning about unsustainable entitlement programs for a good three decades. But politicians, says one analyst, always seem to be more worried about the next election than the next generation.