If Big Oil hasn't figured out how to make money at this stage, then there's a problem. But of course, they have figured it out and a big part of it is squeezing taxpayers for handouts. If we can't afford a real safety net or affordable health care (and we have neither), how can we afford to keep funding the most profitable industry on the planet? NY Times:
With his re-election fate increasingly tied to the price Americans are paying at the gas pump, President Obama asked Congress on Thursday to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies and vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning “phony election-year promises about lower gas prices.” Mr. Obama, in an appearance at Nashua Community College here, took a page out of his jobs strategy of last year, calling on Americans to contact their Congressional representatives and demand a vote on the oil subsidies in the next few weeks. “You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.”While he's at it, Obama needs to shut down the free money (also known as quantitative easing) for Wall Street and let them fend for themselves.
