Another Victory For Senate Reps, This Time On Windfall Oil Tax

Scoring the second major victory against horrendous economic impact in the past week, Senate Republicans killed the proposed windfall profits tax on oil companies.  Always seeking to expand government and gain control over...well...everyone, the Democrats proposed this tax as well as a rollback of $17 billion in subsidies to the five biggest oil American companies.  Some excerpts:

"The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy," said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, warning that if energy prices are not reined in "we're going to find ourselves in a deep recession."

Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters has already threatened to nationalize the oil industry.

By the way, this is what dictator Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela.  Rep. Waters is an idiot.

Fortunately, Republicans held firm, preventing a cloture vote and effectively killing the bill.  The vote came out almost along party lines (if you include the most lefty RINOs with the Dems) at 51-43, nine votes short of breaking the filibuster.

The key thing to remember is this: corporations don't pay taxes, consumers do.  Every tax that is directed against these oil companies is passed directly on to you, the consumer, in the form of higher prices.  So, while it might feel good to stick it to Big Oil, just remember that they're invisible in this process.  If you support a tax on Big Oil, you support a tax on yourself.  Don't fall for the hype on these things - stop and think for a moment before rejoicing at Congress hammering any particular industry.  After all, if they can stick Big Oil with a tax, they can also stick a tax to Big Pharmaceutical, Big Farming, Big Retail, and any other industry segment.  If we allow Congress to engage in penalizing specific industries, it's only a matter of time until they stick the one you're in.  Both Obama and McCain support such a tax, so we can expect this to come up again in the near future.

This bill failure is a very good thing for Americans, and I have to say I'm a bit surprised that these GOP Senators are showing so much spine.  Maybe there's hope for the next term, after all.

There's my two cents.