Dear Editor,
The following information is presented as an addition to Jerry Haslip’s letter which appeared in the Bitteroot Star on April 11, 2012. Sources–Steven Hayes, Economist, TV news programs, and the Institute for Energy Research.
1. Exploratory oil drilling on federal lands has been REDUCED 36% since Obama became President.
2. Oil production from federal lands has been REDUCED by 275,000 barrels per day.
3. Oil production has indeed increased in the United States. Virtually all of this increase has occurred on private and State lands. The President of the United States ‘brags’ about this increase and claims credit for it. Meanwhile the Environmental Protection Agency is examining methods to stop and or reduce oil development on non-Federal lands.
4. Pollution from alternative vehicle fuel production (alcohol produced from corn) has nearly doubled the size of the dead area in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River – many thousands of acres. Smart move making fuel out of food.
5. The President’s half-truth regarding oil availability in the United States is just that. The proven U.S. oil reserve (22.3 billion barrels) is about 2% of the entire world’s proven reserves. However, this oil is only a “small portion of recoverable oil” in the United States.
6. The United States has access to at least 400,000 billion barrels of oil using existing drilling technologies.
7. When oil shale is included the United States has 1.4 trillion barrels of oil – enough to meet all United States oil needs for the next 200 years. Without any imports! It’s called energy independence!
8. High oil prices cause inflation of commodity prices. All consumer goods increase in cost. The public is faced with higher prices which lowers the standard of living. Then local, State and the Federal governments “need” more money. Higher taxes “needed” by government further reduce disposable income which causes an even greater lowering of the standard of living. Briefly, this is the Obama Economic Plan which is maintaining the high unemployment rate.
9. The TransCanada Pipeline (already in existence and operating) carries oil from Canada to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma. Why has the Obama Administration rejected the Keystone XL pipeline? Probably for support from the environmental left.
10. As noted at Congressional Hearings the Obama Administration wants higher fossil fuel energy prices. Is Obama’s intent to lower the standard of living in the United States to create “fairness” with the rest of the world? You may recall that prior to the 2008 election the President said many times that he wanted to shut down the coal industry in the United States.
11. Is Obama trying to stop “Global Warming” he says is caused by the use of fossil fuels? Consider that one major volcanic eruption lasting about a week would produce more alledged “greenhouse gases” into the earth’s atmosphere than the total of all industries, airplanes, automobiles, etc. over the past 200 years. About 50 major volcanic eruptions occur every year.
12. Obama’s “Affordable Care Act” has 20 new taxes. Tax increases caused by the Affordable Care Act will apply to 35% of those persons/families earning less than $250,000 per year. Obama, at a recent news conference, was promoting his “Millionaire Tax” fairness program. If you were listening carefully you will remember him saying “if you make less than $250,000 per year your income tax should not go up.” The operative words here are “should not.” Also, how does the “Millionaire Tax” apply to persons earning less than one million dollars per year?
l3. Consider that the Federal Government has developed tax legislation in the recent past to make sure that the rich pay their fair share. This was the ‘Alternative Minimum Tax’ which was created to properly tax 150 rich persons. Twenty years later the Alternative Minimum Tax now affects thirty million middle- income taxpayers (comments from a U.S. Senator). The President’s ‘Millionaire Tax’ which ‘shouldn’t apply to those persons earning less than $250,000 per year’ – the Presidents own words – is really a ‘Trojan Horse’. The President, by appealing to class warfare by promoting his ‘tax the rich,’ hopes to raise taxes and further increase federal spending rather than reducing the national debt.
The Alternative Minimum Tax (form 6251) provides that a married couple filing jointly will pay income tax on income and deductions which exceed $150,000 (deduction items such as Schedule A taxes, business operating loss, excess home mortgage interest, depreciation on business equipment (called ‘loop-holes’), research and development, tax refunds, interest from some bonds, etc. are examples of items which add to taxable income).
14. The ‘Millionaire Tax’ will raise about $4.7 billion per year (federal spending is about $5 billion per day). Reducing federal spending by 1% would save $35 billion per year. Get the picture?
V.A. Ciliberti
Hamilton