With gas prices topping $4 a gallon in some regions of the country, now may not be the best time to say something positive about “Big Oil.”
But where is it written that the cost for a product or service should be frozen in place and in time? People who think this way know little to nothing about supply and demand and less than nothing about the profit motive. That?s because at least three generations have been raised on the notion of entitlement, and when one feels entitled to something, one believes someone else should pay.
Senate Democrats last week sought to ingratiate themselves with voters, while doing nothing to produce more energy, with a familiar attack on “Big Oil.” They want to repeal $17 billion in tax breaks for the oil companies over 10 years and on top of that impose a windfall profit tax on companies that don?t invest in new energy sources. This is political expediency at its worst.
Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron, told me the company spent $20 billion exploring new sources of energy last year.
Robertson said President Bush?s trip this week to Saudi Arabia is “highly embarrassing” because he is “calling on the Saudis to produce more oil when we are not doing it ourselves.” The last refinery built in America was in 1976. Tighter government regulations are the main reason. That?s how unserious we are about our energy “crisis.”
Cal Thomas is America?s most widely syndicated op-ed columnist and author of 11 books. (full column at baltimoreexaminer.com)
