david duncan
Jul 22, 2017 · 4 min read

the government does several actions that lowers the cost of fossil fuel energy production; pipe lines construction and loan guarantees for refineries construction,

Loan guarantees for pipelines and refineries? Not true. Try naming a pipeline or refinery that received a federal loan guarantee. Meanwhile, Solyndra did receive government loans which were rendered worthless when the company collapsed.

services in remote areas allowing more people to work and live which would be more expensive.

Man camps in North Dakota are built at the expense of companies such as Halliburton and Baker Hughes.

the US Export-Import Bank, or the Overseas Private Investment Corporation — all of which are supported by US tax dollars, both gave billions last year to the fossil fuel industry.

The Ex-Im Bank is primarily a lender to enterprises with lousy credit or no credit. And they are outside the US. In the case of lending to Exxon and other energy companies in remote parts of the world, well, that’s good business. The energy companies actually repay the loans. On the other hand, the usual borrowers default and stiff US taxpayers.

The Overseas Private Investment Company does the same kind of work. But, in the cases of both, the numbers are rather small. Nevertheless, if you’d like to terminate both lenders, that’s okay with me. You can be sure other nations will step in and seize whatever they can in emerging economies that are currently receiving cash infusions from ExIm and OPIC.

raises the prices energy producers receive; Tax Credits, Exxon had 92 billion in profit, but paid $0 taxes, subsidies to consumers

Exxon. $92 billion in profits? Your figure is purely imaginary unless you’re adding up the company’s net income for the last 10 years.

In 2016 the top-line revenue was $226 billion. Net income was $8 billion. Last year, Exxon’s corporate income taxes were roughly zero. That’s what happens when oil and gas prices collapse.

2015 was better. Revenue $269 billion. Net profit was $16 billion. Taxes were $6 billion.

2014 was better still — because oil prices were twice their current level. Revenue was $411 billion. Net profit was $32 billion. Corporate taxes were $18 billion.

Exxon’s income taxes are separate from the royalties and fees the company pays for the privilege of drilling for oil and gas in countries around the world. Those royalties and fees are many, many billions of dollars. $61 billion in 2014.

; the winter heating oit subsidy. Start up costs of consumers of Carbon products, subsides for factories, Cash for Clunkers, the Auto Bail outs,

None of the aforementioned have any connection to the oil & gas industry. Though the Bush administration was party to the GM bankruptcy proceedings, it was the Obama administration that accepted the responsibility of picking up the bill for retiree pension and healthcare benefits. And it was the Obama administration that sold the government’s holdings of GM stock for a loss of $10 billion.

But the bankruptcy of an auto company means nothing with respect to the number of cars on the road. GM would not have disappeared into a black hole if it had received conventional bankruptcy treatment. It would have emerged as a smaller company and the retirees would have been required to take a haircut on their pensions and benefits. But GM has no connection to Exxon. On the other hand, GM, like Tesla, can give buyers of electric cars HUGE tax credits, which, of course, really benefit GM and Tesla. If any business is hurt by electric vehicle tax credits, it’s the oil business.

not to mention providing a police force that protects the oil fields

Is there a sane reason private property is not worthy of protection? Local cops don’t stand guard at oil fields. But oil companies do hire private security firms to keep lunatics away. It would be painfully easy to state a massive fire at an oil field, as Saddam Hussein demonstrated in Kuwait in 1991. Is that your goal? Hoping for a catastrophe caused by a vandal? Same for refineries and other sites at which fossil fuels are handled.

and oil shipping lanes essentially providing free private security that oil companies don’t have to pay for except through taxes, which as we saw with Exxon, they don’t pay.

You’re dreaming. International shipping requires security. Both at sea and in port. Seems you’re unaware of how the USS Cole was hit by Islamic terrorists in a small boat full of explosives. Back in 2000, at the end of Clinton’s administration. About 20 dead US sailors. Moreover, as noted previously, Exxon does pay taxes to the US and it pays plenty of bucks to other nations.

Now we can argue if this or that program is a good idea or not, but the oil companies definitely benefit from taxpayer funded programs directly and indirectly to the tune of $10 to $52 Billion during the Obama administration. and that was not counting any military spending.

Obama himself, in a State of the Union Address, said the annual subsidies granted to the US oil & gas industry amount to $4 billion. Do you understand that $4 billion is a rounding error for the US government. The US government spends over $100 billion per day. Of course, Obama was wrong about the subsidies. They’re more or less zero.

    david duncan

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