Who Said the Democrats Can't Do Anything Right?

From ABC News

The House rolled back billions of dollars in oil industry subsidies Thursday in what supporters hailed as a new direction in energy policy toward more renewable fuels. Critics said the action would reduce domestic oil production and increase reliance on imports.
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The legislation would impose a "conservation fee" on oil and gas taken from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico; scrap nearly $6 billion worth of oil industry tax breaks enacted by Congress in recent years; and seek to recoup royalties lost to the government because of an Interior Department error in leases issued in the late 1990s.
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"The oil industry doesn't need the taxpayers' help. … There is not an American that goes to a gas pump that doesn't know that," said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Pump prices topped $3 per gallon last year as the oil industry earned record profits.
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I don't know enough about the leasing issue to comment on it, but I do agree with the rolling back of subsidies. However, the Democrats will probably just redirect the subsidies to renewable energy sources, as the article implies.

I am against subsidies for any source of energy. People want to make money. If there are legitimate renewable sources, they will be found.

Update. Cato has their take on the issue.

...There is no identifiable market failure that might cause private actors to significantly under-invest in domestic oil production. In practice, however, the Democrats are simply transferring subsidies from one energy sector to another with no net reduction of taxpayer funds going to corporate in-boxes. Moreover, they are sneaking in energy-tax increases under the rhetorical cover of a war on subsidies. Accordingly, there is little reason for conservatives to get particularly excited.
[...]The case for oil subsidies is laughably thin. Proponents argue that the more you subsidize oil production, the more oil you'll get, and that, after all, is a good thing for consumers when gasoline prices are around $2.25 a gallon. Unfortunately, there's simply not enough unexploited oil in the United States that might be exploited as a consequence of those subsidies to greatly affect world crude oil prices.
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In short, eliminating — or at least, cutting back on — federal subsidies to the oil and gas business is a fine idea. But that's not exactly what the Democrats have in mind.

The article also goes on to discuss the leasing issue, and you can follow the link if interested.

Oil Company Watch

It's time to check out what Exxon Mobil is doing with their money. Neal Boortz says

The Associated Press is reporting that Exxon Mobil's second quarter profits totaled $10.36 billion. That's the second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by any publicly traded U.S. company.

OK .. get ready for the screams. It's just a matter of hours before some demagogues in Congress start yelling again for a windfall profits tax. Across the country we're going to hear screams of anguish from economic ignoramuses who couldn't tell you the difference from a profit and a profit margin.

Nowhere in the article can you find Exxon Mobil's profit margin for the quarter. You can, though, find the numbers you can crunch to reach that figure. Total revenues for Exxon Mobil during the quarter were $99.03 billion. Run a little division problem and you come up with a 10.46% profit margin. Not bad at all, but not the best out there either. Most pharmaceutical and banking companies earned a higher profit margin.

The amount of profit earned is directly tied to the price of the product you are selling, and the market for that profit. All these higher profits mean is that the cost of Exxon Mobil's products (primarily petroleum-based products) has gone up along with demand.

By the way ,,, during the quarter Exxon spent nearly $5 billion of this profit on capital projects and exploration for new sources of oil, and another $7,9 billion was sent to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Belinda is one of those shareholders, so perhaps you can blame here for your high gas prices. Besides Belinda, we have some of teacher's union pension funds out there who invest heavily in Exxon Mobil. These dividends, which came from the Exxon profits, will be spent to cover pension checks to retired teachers. Now that's pretty nasty, isn't it! How DARE these teachers receive pension checks funded by investments in a successful corporation like Exxon Mobil when the government could be getting that money thorough a windfall profits tax?

Capitalism does not just benefit the rich. Yes, white-haired old men are getting millions of dollars in salary and stocks, but they get paid to make the company money. When the company makes money, the average Joe or Jane makes money too.