Having a Democrat controlled Congress means a lot of things to different people. One thing it should mean to all of us is that there is a high price to pay for their insatiable thirst for more tax dollars and their devotion to Gaia as reflected in their refusal to seek energy independence.Democrats in Nancy Pelosi's Congress not only refuse to deal with the high cost of foreign oil, they're also averse to even discussing options. That's evident in their rushing to recess in order to prevent Republicans from calling for a simple up or down vote on an energy bill. Because of the dynamic caused by rising fuel costs with a stable tax base, Democrats have the best of both worlds -- a boundless supply of money to misappropriate and an issue to exploit in the fall.
The tragedy of their recalcitrance is in the numbers on the chart below. Consumers are at the mercy of foreign oil suppliers who can belch their hatred and cause speculators here to drive the costs of oil even higher. As long as people have to go to work, shop and live their daily lives, the demand will remain somewhat stable and the tax coffers will continue to fill up. Oil companies on the other hand are taking the brunt with hysterical claims about "obscene profits" and unnecessary subsidies. To be fair to the oil companies, their costs for refining and profits combined has been less in real dollars than the toll Democratic tax levies have cost in ten of the last twelve months.
Congressional Democrats and their Fearless Leader know that the public would turn them out in a landslide if the cost of their energy policies were widely known. So they turned out the lights and killed the cameras in the House chamber to prevent Republicans from both the educational process of hearing two sides of the issue -- and from the threat that progress could be made toward an energy policy that is not dictated to us from countries that have committed acts of terror against our citizens.
For more than a decade, when Republicans have sought to relieve the oppressive Democrat regulations and restrictions so we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the Democrat response has been obstruction and obfuscation. Their favorite canard is the notion that it would take more than ten years to develop the refining capacity and drilling capability to extract and process domestic crude. Had they been turned out ten years ago, we would be operating new refineries and drilling off our own shores and we would have found ourselves well on the way to developing alternative energy sources.
Next time you fill up, just remember that as much as 75% of the cost of your tank full of gas is a direct result of the failure of one party to recognize the economic, national security and moral implications of a failed policy that preserves their largess without offering any real energy solutions. Now, as the American public clamors for a Drill Here Drill Now policy, the Democratic Congressional leadership is telling us that the problem can be solved by merely targeting the oil companies' profits. Can we agree that if profits (which are often invested in job creating research into alternative energy) are cut that taxes should also be cut by the same amount? With 75% of the cost coming from the acquisition costs associated with foreign oil, the most our Democratic friends could save if they repealed all federal, state and local taxes and nationalized the petroleum industry is $1.00 a gallon off the current $4.00 price tag.
Perhaps Barrack Hussein O'Bamma could save us from ourselves. He'll have to come up with a different policy than "inflate your tires and get a tune-up" though. I inflated my tires every day last week and the price of a gallon of gas only went down three cents.
For a more detailed explanation of how fuel costs are affected by cost of crude, refining and profit, distribution and other factors, visit the Department of Energy Website where we found the graphics in this post.
