Apparently, the words “democrat” and “demagogue” are similar not just phonically, but also in meaning. In reference, I cite the recent hearings in Congress about the “obscene profits” that oil companies are making.
First, read a bit of this article. (click link to go to article.)
In it, it states that in the US, consumers use about 168 billion gallons of gasoline per year. Oil companies, then, made about 75 cents’ profit per gallon of gasoline used (about $120 billion last year). The average tax on a gallon of gas in the US is about 42 cents per gallon. That means that the government made about $70 billion on the same gasoline.
There are two points I’d like to make about the above before I continue: The government did next to nothing for their portion of the profit. Secondly, the oil companies make money on a whole lot more than just gasoline. There’s diesel fuel. There’s heating oil. There are petrochemicals. There are plastics. There are a multitude of products that go into the oil companies’ profits. The figure cited for the government is JUST for gasoline.
Now, let’s look at an article from the local paper.
First off, the name of the committee holding the hearings is: House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Note that “Global Warming” is part of their agenda… I mean “responsibilities.” Not to mention that just today, the UN commission has predicted a COOLER climate next year and that the entire Global Warming Hoax is nothing more than hype, speculation, and hysteria, but this doesn’t portend well for the unbiased reception the “Big Oil” people might expect.
Secondly, the Chairman of the committee is Edward Markee, a democrat from the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts… At least that’s one way I’ve heard the socialist, nearly communist, State of Massachusetts described. With representatives like John “Hero” Kerry and Ted “Mario Andretti” Kennedy, I think that the appellation is probably apt.
Here’s the real rub, though. The Government gives tax breaks to businesses (and occasionally, to citizens) to encourage behavior or actions that they wouldn’t take, if they weren’t paid to do it. In this case, the US Government gives tax breaks to oil companies to encourage things like alternative energy research, experimental drilling in inaccessible areas, and other such projects.
The oil companies have decided that there is no profit in such activities, or not enough profit to justify the expenditure, so the US Government gives them a tax break to encourage them to do it, regardless of the lack of profit.
So, if they take away the “tax breaks” it isn’t going to lower pump prices one penny. What it will do is cause the oil companies to stop doing whatever they were being encouraged to do. So, this demagoguery does nothing more than grab headlines, and mislead people into thinking that the oil companies are making money only because the government isn’t making them pay taxes… NONE of which is true.
Democrats are even capable of lying without saying anything, apparently.