Phony 'Emergency'

IBD Editorials ^ August 1, 2008

Stimulus: Barack Obama's newly unveiled "Emergency Economic Plan" is quite a document, sounding more like the rantings of an extremist fringe candidate than a serious contender for the presidency.

The six-page package is a doozy, replete with populist ideas that will wreck the economy and leave us poorer. The only real emergency we should worry about is the debacle that would follow its passage.

It's shocking that a mainstream candidate, with so many supposedly well-regarded economists advising him, would produce such a shoddy, poorly thought-out plan.
Take his proposal to send every family a check for $1,000. Don't worry, he assures us, we won't have to pay for it. "Windfall profits from Big Oil" will pick up the tab — in this case.

Sen. Obama seems to be trying to take advantage of reports that Exxon Mobil reported record second-quarter income — indeed, the highest quarterly profit for any corporation ever.

But the reality is that as Obama and his equally unknowing friends push windfall taxes, Exxon Mobil has already given the U.S. a massive windfall. As economist Mark Perry has noted, Exxon Mobil will pay more taxes this year to the U.S. Treasury than the bottom 50% of all taxpayers — combined.

In the first half, Exxon Mobil's after-tax income rose 15% to $22.6 billion. A lot of money, to be sure, until you consider that Exxon Mobil paid $61.7 billion in taxes — also a record.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...

NOTE: If the marginal wells in Oklahoma and Texas were reopened (closed by Executive Order), according to Sen Inhofe there is more crude then what we import from Saudi Arabia. Drill NOW and reopen wells if you want the price to go down. No new refineries in over 30 years thanks to regulations and cost. For the first time oil companies are seeing light and the Feds are getting rich off the profits and yet the oil companies get blamed. Shame on the Dems in Congress who went home and refused to take up the drill for oil bills. Want to blame someone for high prices, blame the 'NO DRILL' Democrats!