Taxing Big Oil

From RedPlanet and Thomas Sowell from April 2006: Oily Politicians.

 

Ironically, the people who are making the most noise about the high price of gasoline are the very people who have for years blocked every attempt to increase our own oil supply. They have opposed drilling for oil off the Atlantic coast, off the Pacific coast, or in Alaska. They have prevented the building of any new oil refineries anywhere for decades.

I love this cartoon as it succintly describes the lack understanding of economic theory.  Are you all familiar with Supply-Side Economic Theory?  Here’s a small tidbit from James D. Gwartney, a professor of economics at Florida State University and previously chief economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

Supply-side economics provided the political and theoretical foundation for a remarkable number of tax cuts in the United States and other countries during the eighties. Supply-side economics stresses the impact of tax rates on the incentives for people to produce and to use resources efficiently.

Time to send our Politicians back to school…