I live in Florida, so I may be a little prejudiced, but while I will admit the damage done to the environment resulting from the oil spill by BP is probably somewhere between the worst some said it was going to be and the best that BP says is the case, it did cause damage. Let us not forget that it took 11 lives in the process, and that no one can ever fix, but, neither can anyone question whether it did harm to businesses and the tourist and other industries in Florida and the Gulf Coast. This is one of the reasons a $20 billion fund was set up at the insistence of the Federal government by BP. Now, there are a few things that just do not make sense to me.
BP is going to pay little or no taxes, partly as a result of the fact that they are going to take a write off, write down, or whatever they want to call it, for the establishment of this fund, as well as any money they spend to fix the damage, to both the environment, Gulf Coast industries and the families of the people they killed, as well as all of the costs of litigation and attorney fees. So, they harm the environment, damage the tourist and other industries in The Sunshine State and on the Gulf Coast, kill 11 people and they get to take it off their taxes? Excuse me?
Just so I understand this, if I engage in an act of gross negligence, that causes my house to burn down , which kills some construction people working on my house, causing a brush fire that burns a nearby park and burns down the homes of my neighbors, I get to take a tax deduction? Okay, can I also deduct the legal fees if I murder someone? How about the fines I get for my traffic ticket? When I was in school, I was told the reason I cannot take a deduction for a traffic ticket is that it is bad public policy to reduce the impact of a fine that is designed to prevent bad behavior. If you don't speed, you don't get fined. It's kinda like allowing a kid to put on 15 pair of underwear before he gets a spanking for misbehavior, not a lot of incentive to change behavior there, reduces the impact a bit (pardon the pun).
Okay, so "Big Oil" like BP gets to write off the expenses associated with the single largest oil spill the world has ever known, that probably occurred because they screwed up. And the lesson we learn from this is...? No accountability for you if you are so big and make so much money and donate a small percentage of that money to politicians (remember a small percentage of a lot of money is still a lot of money), you can do anything.
Now let us consider the profit thing. Big Oil has made HUGE, ASTRONOMICAL and otherwise record-setting profits, by their own admission, albeit to their stockholders (Did they think no one would notice?). Gas is now at $4.00/gallon and on the rise at our local pump, but the profits are not enough to give them the incentive to keep producing oil...nooooooo, the Federal government is giving them incentives!! Yes, that's right; they get huge additional tax breaks and subsidies to do what is making them, by anyone's account, HUGE amounts of money. Isn't the HUGE amount of money, referred to as profit, enough to make them want to drill-baby-drill? Do we have to give them tax subsidies as well? Where are the Capitalists when you need them?
Okay, all of you Right-wingers. Explain to me exactly why we give them subsidies and tax breaks? Is this part of the free-enterprise, Capitalist system? No, it is government involvement, something every true Capitalist despises. It just depends on whose ox is being gored, I guess. Let's examine this for exactly what it is, a kickback. "Hey Senator/Representative Whatsurname, if you vote to give me subsidies and tax breaks, I will make donations to your campaign fund and send you on junkets and such."...~Wink-Wink~”Those idiot voters will never notice, those dumb sheep-like creatures."
I know the response, "It is not that simple." YES, IT IS THAT SIMPLE! Some things are just that simple, no matter how many lawyers and CPA's and politicians get involved, and I, for one, am sick of being patted on the head like a six-year old and dismissed. Unfortunately, I am just one lone voice, crying out against a howling wind that cannot be heard, much less get listened to.
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