Obama goads Congress to end tax breaks for large oil companies

This is just a tax increase on the oil companies that will be passed along to the consumer. The smaller exploration companies will be hit the hardest and possibly be put out of business. Tax breaks to Obama's cronies in the wind, solar and renewables far outweigh those of the oil industry. And yes, the high profits are a result of humongous investments made by ordinary people, pension funds, IRA's, 401ks etc. Do you think those people fall for this crock that Obama is shoveling? Yes, his uneducated base will believe it. They would believe all his lies.

Excerpt: President Barack Obama on Thursday pressed Congress to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies that are pulling down record profits, arguing that Americans hit with soaring gas prices should not also have to prop up firms that can easily "stand on their own."

The president's remarks came as the Senate, in a procedural vote, beat back a measure that would have rolled back the tax breaks. The bill fell shy of the 60 votes needed to advance, getting a 51-47 margin that saw Democrats join Republicans in opposition.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell mocked what he derisively referred to as the Democratic majority's "brilliant plan on how to deal with gas prices: raise taxes on energy companies, when gas is already hovering around $4 a gallon. Then block consideration of anything else—just to make sure gas prices don't go anywhere but up."

"Somehow they thought that doing this would set up some kind of a political win for them, which I never really understood," he added. "I mean, I can't imagine anybody giving them any high-fives for not lowering the price of gas. But anyway, that was the plan."

High gas prices pose a potentially serious election-year threat to Obama, threatening the fragile economic recovery and hitting Americans in the wallet. Experts blame the pain at the pump on soaring demand in fast-growing economies like China, India and Brazil, as well as instability and uncertainty in the Middle East. But public opinion polls show Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the issue.

The proposed repeal "would increase tax collections from the oil and natural gas industries and may have the effect of decreasing exploration, development and production, while increasing prices and increasing the nation's foreign oil dependence. These same proposals, from an alternate point of view, might be considered to be the elimination of tax preferences that have favored the oil and natural gas industries over other energy sources and made oil and gas products artificially inexpensive, with consumer costs held below the true cost of consumption, when the external costs associated with environmental costs and energy dependence, among other effects, are included," the CRS said.

Read YAHOO News article here.