Thursday, April 28, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 28, 2011


My beloved chef... and a kind, sweet girl!
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3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703956904576287441698855206.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* LET'S TALK OIL...

In a letter to Congressional leaders Tuesday, President Obama called for repealing some $4 billion a year in "subsidies" in the tax code [which benefit the oil industry.]

* SUBSIDIES ARE BAD... THAT'S MY STARTING POINT...

Mr. Obama wants to devote the proceeds to even more spending on "clean energy."

* BUT... BUT... THAT'S A SUBSIDY TOO...!!! (*HEADACHE*)

The problem here is that some renewables (ethanol) increase the cost of driving, while the others (wind, solar) are irrelevant in transportation.

* YES, FOLKS, AS NOTED AD NAUSEUM, ETHANOL BLENDED INTO GASOLINE YIELDS LESS MILES PER GALLON... (*SIGH*)

One of the main so-called subsidies that Mr. Obama wants to eliminate is for the expensing of intangible drilling costs, which has been part of the tax code since its inception. This immediate deduction - rather than amortizing the costs of development over a longer period - provides the capital and cash flow necessary in an industry where the risks are huge and returns are realized over many years, if not decades.

* WELL... THAT DOES MAKE SENSE... ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO SPUR THE CREATION AND SUCCESS OF A MYRIAD OF "SMALL" OIL COMPANIES INSTEAD OF THE ALLOWING "THE BIG BOYS" TO OPERATE WITH NO COMPETITION.

* BEYOND THAT... WOULDN'T AMORTIZED COSTS BE DEDUCTIBLE AS WELL...? IN OTHER WORDS, IF THE IMMEDIATE DEDUCTION FOR INTANGIBLE COSTS IS REMOVED BUT COMPANIES CAN LATER DEDUCT DEPRECIATION COSTS... (*SHRUG*)

* FOLKS... I ADMIT... THIS IS CONFUSING EVEN TO ME. ONE THING I DO KNOW, THOUGH, IS THAT IF WE REMOVE THESE "OIL COMPANY SUBSIDIES" THEN WE MUST REMOVE ALL ENERGY PRODUCING SUBSIDIES - SOMETHING OBAMA IS TOTALLY OPPOSED TO. IN OTHER WORDS, OBAMA WANTS TO DIRECT SUBSIDIES... NOT ELIMINATE SUBSIDIES.

The rest of the items on Mr. Obama's list are tax credits offered to all manufacturers, not just oil and gas.

* AH... SO IT'S POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL - NOT PRINCIPLED. (*PURSED LIPS*)

The liberal drive to tax Big Oil is rooted in an ideological commitment to higher energy prices, not consumer relief.

* NO DOUBT!

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the effective U.S. corporate tax rate for the oil majors was 26.3% in 2009, not counting royalties, excise taxes or bonus bids for leases. The effective rate typically tracks production and rises and falls with the price of oil. In 2008, it was 42.3%.

* BOTTOM LINE, GOVERNMENT MAKES MORE OFF "ALLOWING" THE OIL INDUSTRY TO EXIST THAN THE OIL INDUSTRY MAKES IN PROFITS FOR ACTUALLY PRODUCING ENERGY!

The most important step the government could take to stabilize if not lower oil prices is to correct the Federal Reserve's weak dollar policy, which has sent commodity prices soaring across the board.

* BERNANKE, GEITHNER, AND OBAMA HOPE TO MONETIZE OUR DEBT. IT'S A WRONGHEADED AND UNETHICAL POLICY.

April 28, 2011 at 8:58 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704099704576288913863822484.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Since 1962, the U.S. has reached its debt ceiling 74 times, about once every eight months.

* SOME "CEILING," HUH? SOME "LIMIT." (*SMIRK*)

Every time, the ceiling has been raised... (*SHRUG*)

* SO... WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE CEILING WEREN'T RAISED...???

[M]yths:

1) The Treasury is certain that there will be wrenching dislocations in the capital markets if the ceiling is not raised.

* VS. REALITY...

In fact, there is no secret Treasury analysis suggesting the world will collapse. Because we've always raised the ceiling, we simply don't know the consequences of not doing so. Four times the ceiling has been reached, remaining in place for months while Congress found consensus, and there was no disruption to the capital markets.

* MYTH...

2) The Treasury will raid pension funds to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling.

* VS. REALITY...

When the ceiling is reached but not exceeded, the Treasury has lawful tools to free up borrowing capacity and prolong the time until the ceiling's technical breaching.

* MYTH...

3) The government will default on Treasury obligations if the ceiling is not raised.

* VS. REALITY...

According to the Congressional Budget Office, tax revenues for 2011 will be around $2.2 trillion, with net interest on the debt costing $225 billion. We can afford that interest and therefore not default. Also, Congress could pass legislation requiring the government to honor interest payments before any other expense, thereby avoiding a technical default.

* FOLKS... YOU'LL GET THE TRUTH HERE... BUT ASK YOURSELVES... HOW MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS, RELATIVES, AND COLLEAGUES HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE CONCERNING THE REALITY BEHIND THE SCARE TACTICS THAT OBAMA, THE DEMS, AND THEIR MEDIA ALLIES ARE THROWING OUT THERE FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION?

(*SIGH*)

April 28, 2011 at 12:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704187604576290152569171440.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

India shortlisted France's Dassault Aviation SA and Eurofighter GmbH for one of the country's largest-ever defense deals, a contract to supply 126 fighter jets to the Indian Air Force, dealing a major setback to aerospace giants Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. and to U.S. efforts to expand military sales to India.

* YEP... GOOD OL' HILLARY AS SECRETARY OF STATE AND GARY LOCKE (WHO...???) SECRETARY OF COMMERCE ARE DOING A BANG UP JOB!

(*SMIRK*)

* BTW... I JUST HAD TO GO OVER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE TO FIND OUT WHO THE SECRETARY IS... WHO DO THEY FEATURE IN THEIR HOME PAGE PICTURE SHOW BY GOOD 'OL CHARLIE RANGEL "HELPING OUT."

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

April 28, 2011 at 1:12 PM

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