I am always skeptical whenever anyone uses phrases like “big oil” or “big business” which are just code words for “evil capitalists.” Notice, those phrases never get used when talking about teachers unions (which actually give more money to lobbyists and political campaigns than “big oil”). The newest talking point to run around Washington D.C. and the cable networks has to do with “oil subsidies.” Rachel Maddow sternly rebuked the evil oil executives claiming they need to give up these lucrative subsidies and a cacophony of similar demands is rising from the Left and the Right.
At first this seemed comical because leftists seem to have finally found a subsidy they don’t like, something no one thought was possible. After all, these are the same people who think it’s A-OK to give fifty thousand dollars to every black person claiming to be a farmer because they grew Chia Pets on their windowsills. After further investigation, it turns out that the “subsidies” in question are really just tax incentives. So it makes perfect sense why Maddow and the Left are intent on demonizing the oil executives and confiscating their “subsidies.”
Maddow is maddeningly obsessed with incorrectly labeling tax cuts or incentives as “spending.” What any third grader could understand that Maddow cannot is that letting people keep more of the money they made cannot possibly be compared to spending other people’s money in the way the government spends tax dollars. It’s like comparing apples to socket wrenches.
Instead of running around claiming to want to end “oil subsidies,” why don’t they just say what they really mean? The Left (and some on the Right) want to impose unfair and oppressive taxes on the oil companies…and only the oil companies. The tax incentives in question are no different than tax incentives other corporations receive. Eliminating them for oil companies alone is the very definition of an unfair tax and while I’m no lawyer, I think there are rules about that in the Constitution (a document the Left clearly hates).
Tricking the American public into believing the oil companies are taking food off their tables by dipping into the U.S.Treasury is unconscionable and while we expect as much from Maddow and her ilk, Paul Ryan ought to be ashamed of himself for repeating this damaging lie.
If you want to talk about yanking actual outrageous subsidies away from companies, what about nixing the hand-outs to car companies to produce electric cars no one wants to buy? What about stopping the bribery of people who don’t want to buy them with thousands of dollars in order to change their minds? What about pulling the tax dollars being sent to Brazil so they can drill for their oil, which won’t benefit Americans at all? If the politicians in Washington are going to get their panties in a twist over subsidies, they should go after the multitudinous subsidies that actually affect taxpayers and are going to prop up technology or products people don’t want.
At least we know our oil and gas companies produce a much needed and much appreciated product. Despite their best attempts to demonize the oil companies, the Left has failed to make people unwilling to buy gas. What we need now is some commonsense drilling to bring prices down.
I would like Maddow to explain exactly how taxing oil companies and increasing their cost of doing business is going to bring down the price of gas. Short answer: it isn’t.