Please edify me; why did the oil companies get tax breaks today?

I don't know much about this energy bill (apart from that ethanol is not much of a substitute, I've used fluorescent bulbs and other green items before it became a fad to do so), but with the big profits the oil companies are making, I honestly do not understand why they need more breaks and benefits.

Please respond with seriousness. I honestly don't know.

Thank you. :)

Contributions to congresscritters' campaigns are 'legal' bribes and that is how this country is run.

Think about it. How much does air time cost in small states and small congressional districts? Peanuts. A million here and a million there, and voila! you own congress.

for starters.

Has she bothered to try to stop the razing of homes down there?

Some thoughts:

1: The oil industry is an employer.
2: The oil industry is a strategic supplier.
3: Oil and its derivatives are used in agriculture and synthetics.
4: Many oil companies around the world are state owned and subsidized.

For these reasons, some people think that oil companies need help. That cutting their taxes will encourage growth and new technology, further employment, and maintain the smooth flow of oil to the war machine.

This is our form of subsidization.

This is also probably our way of keeping them as tax payers at all. I would not be surprised if these companies had floated the idea of moving their HQ to Dubai, Shanghai, or London to capitalize on the currency exchange issues. If they leave, we can't tax them, and they kill jobs here.


It sucks.

any legislator who thinks oil companies need another tax cut has to be the most ignorant person on earth. Or incredibly corrupt. Or both.

The oil companies must be into negative tax brackets by now, with the IRS sending them checks every month instead of collecting taxes.

The IRS doesn't send them their check though, they get their subsidies from ethanol sales.

If they weren't the huge force they are, other major industries might wonder how big oil is able to skirt taxation when they can't.

I still think it's a threat to keep them in the country. If things get ugly next year economically speaking, and the "wrong" candidate for big business isn't looking like they'll get into office, I bet we see the flight of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs as companies relocate.

It's not just that they gave the money to big oil again, they also stripped the bill of money for renewables. I can only hope that the Dodd stand up shows the rest what can be done.

before so I'll digress on this.

That's the narrative according to Cheney.