2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumRomney's top energy adviser: subsidize Big Oil
Oh, brother.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/12/12187526-romneys-top-energy-adviser-subsidize-big-oil?lite
Romney's top energy adviser: subsidize Big Oil
By Steve Benen
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Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:54 PM EDT
We talked last week about Harold Hamm, one of the planet's wealthiest billionaires, who was named Mitt Romney's top adviser on energy policy right around the time he contributed nearly $1 million to Romney's super PAC.
Today, the conservative oilman was on Capitol Hill, making the case for -- what else? -- tax subsidies for oil companies.
Companies should continue to be able to expense intangible drilling costs rather than deduct them over time, said Hamm, who also is an energy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Sure, we could let the free market operate on its own, but Hamm -- who said he was speaking today in a personal capacity -- prefers a system in which taxpayers offer breaks to oil companies, giving them an edge other companies in other American industries don't enjoy.
Romney, who's convinced President Obama opposes the principles of free enterprise, made Hamm the chairman of his "Energy Policy Advisory Group," putting Hamm in a position to shape a new "pro-jobs, pro-market, pro-American" energy agenda, which Romney would presumably pursue if elected.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)SoutherDem
(2,307 posts)If profits were down, then maybe. But, with the profits the oil industry makes Hell no.
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)And he wants to make their profits even larger??
Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)Why? Because the costs to find and extract viable sources of oil are going up at a rate where they want the consumer to pay for the costs. Of course, that will artificially make alternative energy sources less competitive....and keep us dependent on oil. We'll pay at the pump and with our tax dollars. But that's not a problem for the Big Oil Party.
SoutherDem
(2,307 posts)Tax breaks for an oil company making billions in profit ok.
Tax breaks for sustainable energy bad.
Is that what he is saying?