A government subsidy

[jbfalaska]

Subsidies work to incentivize certain behaviors over others. And it does work. We have oil companies making the most profit on the planet who are getting massive subsidies. Our behavior quickly follows as the nation stays endlessly hooked to "cheap" oil. Yet the cost of oil is not so cheap. We have no choice but acknowledge these subsidies have done a couple of errors. In the same year Exxon received the most subsidies in its history, the CEO, after only 10 months on the job took $1,000,000,000.00 in bonuses and salary and retired. Yes, $1 billion for 10 months on the job, and our oil compny subsidies had no string attached other than, or so it seems, "go do good things." So let's add in the cost of my service along with what many of us nobly did, and served. I joined to defend democracy, fight for freedom, and defend our shores against all enemies, foreign or domestic. I must say, we seem to have more enemies domestically, beginning with Faux News. The real cost of oil, take away subsidies, giveaways, and add the costs, is over $10 per gallon. And that money is going to our REAL enemies of the state. Time for a change - buy a car fueled by the nation you are part of, not anti-freedom nations.

As for subsidies, which are truly a minutae fraction of subsidies, federal, state, and local governments are trying to keep those jobs and that money in positively in there own communities. That too seems to work to modify behaviors. Time to recognize who the real enemy is. Time to buy cars that serve our own.

[tboult]

Subsidies work to incentivize certain behaviors over others. And it does work. We have oil companies making the most profit on the planet who are getting massive subsidies. Our behavior quickly follows as the nation stays endlessly hooked to "cheap" oil. Yet the cost of oil is not so cheap. We have no choice but acknowledge these subsidies have done a couple of errors. In the same year Exxon received the most subsidies in its history, the CEO, after only 10 months on the job took $1,000,000,000.00 in bonuses and salary and retired. Yes, $1 billion for 10 months on the job, and our oil compny subsidies had no string attached other than, or so it seems, "go do good things." So let's add in the cost of my service along with what many of us nobly did, and served. I joined to defend democracy, fight for freedom, and defend our shores against all enemies, foreign or domestic. I must say, we seem to have more enemies domestically, beginning with Faux News. The real cost of oil, take away subsidies, giveaways, and add the costs, is over $10 per gallon. And that money is going to our REAL enemies of the state. Time for a change - buy a car fueled by the nation you are part of, not anti-freedom nations.

As for subsidies, which are truly a minutae fraction of subsidies, federal, state, and local governments are trying to keep those jobs and that money in positively in there own communities. That too seems to work to modify behaviors. Time to recognize who the real enemy is. Time to buy cars that serve our own.

While I thank you for your service, and overall agree with the sentiment, we need to keep the facts straight.

Froom the WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...805597128.html)

In 2011 Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson received about $35 million in total compensation last year, up 21% from 2010. ...

Mr. Tillerson received around $2.4 million in base salary, $180,000 more than in 2010, and cash bonuses totaling $4.4 million, up from about $3.4 million a year earlier. He also received shares of Exxon stock valued at around $17.9 million, a 16% increase from 2010. Other compensation, including his use of a company aircraft, life insurance and home security, was valued at around $519,230. His pension in 2011 gained in value by around $9.8 million.

Exxon said Mr. Tillerson and other senior executives' compensation received a boost last year because the company's performance continued to be "very strong" compared with its oil industry competitors.

Still a crazy amount.. but not a billion.

[jbfalaska]

I should have listed the fellow who made glorious use of government subsidies, profiting handsomely every step of the way. We could buy every American out there looking for one a new Volt and cut our appetite for foreign fuels with these vainglorious subsidies to foreign oil and the work we taxpayers subsidize with our taxes.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ehii4...gallerycontent

The CEO is Raymond. I believe Tillerson is still lining up for his golden parachute. He will have to work a few months more I suppose. His "I quit" pay alone was $392 million.

[jbfalaska]

I want to subsidize American jobs, over foreign. My taxes should create jobs for those taxpayers who paid my salary while serving our country. Seems strange to me to subsidize the most profitable company on earth to create imports of oil, and exports of jobs while making more profit than any other company on the planet. How does that fit the definitiion of I need to encourage the right behavior. This sounds like SUCCESSFUL lobbying and nothing more.

[jbfalaska]

$392 million just for quitting, and how much of that came from subsidies? Very tough to see how Congress works.

[buckhead]

We have oil companies making the most profit on the planet who are getting massive subsidies.

Can you be more specific as to the subsidies you're referring to? Most of the "subsidies" I'm aware of for "oil companies" are tax credits available to all businesses or are direct subsidies not related to oil production, e.g. alternate energy credits and ethanol subsidies. And any remaining subsidies can be balanced by the huge tax load paid by these companies. It's not unusual for the major oil companies to pay significantly more in federal taxes than they make in profit each year, sometimes multiple times higher. For example, the gross profit margin for gasoline is about 2.5% or around 8 cents a gallon.

There are many compelling reasons to reduce fossil fuel consumption. But I don't think it's appropriate to demonize the oil industry. The fact is that for all its faults, oil is/was a great gift to the earth - a plentiful and cheap energy supply. The huge amount of taxes we pay on energy proves that we would still be using massive amounts of oil even with no subsidies. In any case, this thread seems to be more about politics than Volt News.

[tboult]

Can you be more specific as to the subsidies you're referring to? Most of the "subsidies" I'm aware of for "oil companies" are tax credits available to all businesses or are direct subsidies not related to oil production, e.g. alternate energy credits and ethanol subsidies. And any remaining subsidies can be balanced by the huge tax load paid by these companies. It's not unusual for the major oil companies to pay significantly more in federal taxes than they make in profit each year, sometimes multiple times higher. For example, the gross profit margin for gasoline is about 2.5% or around 8 cents a gallon.

There are many compelling reasons to reduce fossil fuel consumption. But I don't think it's appropriate to demonize the oil industry. The fact is that for all its faults, oil is/was a great gift to the earth - a plentiful and cheap energy supply. The huge amount of taxes we pay on energy proves that we would still be using massive amounts of oil even with no subsidies. In any case, this thread seems to be more about politics than Volt News.

I cannot answer for jbfalaska, but I can comment that its probably just a semantic hair splitting.
Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, addressed that in
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...dy-myth/print/

As pointed out in http://www.politifact.com/ohio/state...nies-barack-o/
"Because most Americans agree that tax discrimination is bad policy - Uncle Sam shouldn’t be picking winners and losers through the tax code -- accurate language would diminish these proposals."

So formally many of them are not "subsidies", they are special as well as generic tax deduction.

But calling special tax issues are very common (e.g. the "volt subsidies"). Even the Congressional Budget Office call it subsidies in their report
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/fil...ergy_Brief.pdf

(The above report has a good discussion of the tax breaks).



With people on both sides of congress calling special tax breaks "subsidies", its natural for us to as well.

[jbfalaska]

No other source of energy is destroying this country more so than OIL. The Volt is dead on.

[jbfalaska]

Wow, 75 miles is fantastic. One mistake I made, I hit my window defogger. When the car restrated the next day, it stayed on through the whole charge. In the meantime, the heat wave of over 100 degrees had me full blast on AC. I had a double whammy and didn't notice the tiny LED light on the heater. 31.7 miles caused me to look for what was going on. Heat AND air conditioning - yikes. Personal best - 47.5 miles, and really, didn't try very hard. Too hot to go for the best right now. I'll try later on.

[jbfalaska]

Its about the need to get off oil coming from outside the USA. Take a look at my other posts about serving there and you'll see I'm consistent. I really don't care which politician, or which party does it, I saw what I saw first hand as did my wife who served this great nation. We're simply concerned American citizens.