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Big Oil: $135 Million -- School Children: 0
When is it not enough to have too much? Apparently, when you're a giant oil corporation.
Big Oil's avaricious honchos are always searching for another dime they can slip into their corporate pockets, no matter whom it hurts. A crude example of their ceaseless money grab is presently unfolding in Texas.
Led by Valero Energy Corp., one of the nation's largest petro-dealers, at least 16 huge refiners are trying to poke a lucrative loophole into the state's tax laws. Since 2007, these refiners have been required by the EPA to help cut the deadly air pollution spewing from America's vehicles by installing "hydrotreater" equipment that removes toxic sulfur dioxide from the gasoline they sell.
They did — but they're petulantly demanding a retroactive refund on property taxes they've paid since then on the hydrotreaters, claiming that any industrial equipment that reduces on-site pollution is tax-exempt. Nice try, but the professional staff of the state environmental agency points out that this reduction in air pollution doesn't occur on-site, but in people's cars. Indeed, the air around the refineries is actually more toxic now, because the corporations are simply burning off the sulfur dioxide they remove from the gasoline.
However, Valero appealed to the agency's political appointees, all named by Texas' corporate-hugging governor, Rick Perry. Sure enough, the politicos are expected to hand out some $135 million in tax refunds to the oil giants. Where will that money come from? Nearly half would be ripped right out of the local school budgets that were already decimated by Perry's $4-billion cut this spring in state funding for local districts.
It seems to me that the schools should require oil executives to take a remedial course on the American concept of the common good.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllNot a surprise.
The "Corporation" wants poorly educated people with few options other than enlisting and becoming killers for the global imperial energy wars.
In the immortal words of Robber Baron Jay Gould, "I can always hire half of the poor to kill the other half."
Politics in a nutshell.
ErnestineBass''''I have read many quotes by the superrich.... like this one........when I read them, I get so angry......I want to do something to bring them down to their knees.....take away all that they have......make them feel ........poor.....lost.....afraid..........this is what I feel.........I know that by putting this on this site, it may get me in trouble.....but I have to say how I feel...... I'm not saying I'd do it....
From their pov their good is the common good. Remember America, what's good for GM is good for America. Just like what's good for Goldman Sachs is also just as good as what's good for GM...
Oh, right. nvm
I do not believe the author is correct here.... Governor Perry would never ever allow such a thing to happen,
Rick Perry is a "Christian". I believe the author should check his facts and apologize for writing this article... Perry prays too... I saw that happen and he definently believes in the death penalty for anyone who ends up on death row. So don't try to tell us Perry doesn't care about the citizens of Texas.
He's also a candidate for the presidency and he could win, so there,.. Think about that,.. Lord almighty, God help us, think about that.
Violins playing...Christians and hypocrites abound in history. Thank God that He will weed the hypocrites out!
God doesn't do stuff like that, if indeed there be such a being. One of the most common kinds of mental illness, schizophrenia with command voice hallucinations, is the one that provides inner voices saying God wants them to do murder and mayhem.
If there really was a God who cared about people the least he could do is put another voice in these people's heads to say; "That voice you're hearing telling you to do stuff, that isn't me; that's your craziness talking; get some help."
A no brainer that Big Oil is doing this. We probably attacked Libya because British Petroleum had a 16,000,000,000-Pound investment there. Who knows what crappy deals were made because of the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...that we would invade Libya for BP if that company paid out for their negligence off the shores of Louisiana? It is a ridiculous scenario, this world in which we now live!
It is almost like the scenario when Iran nationalized its oil fields. World oil producers stood to lose a lot. What happened? We Americans subsidized Big Oil losses by paying 20% interest for mortgages under Jimmy Carter's regime.
But, amazingly, bailing them out at 20% interest rates was probably the better route. Today, we stand to lose our entire economic system because the FED will not raise interest rates!
The 20% interest rates repaid the banksters which financed Big Oil and their losses...
Oil is the Wall Street Casino's surest bet. "Good" Xtians now believe that if they're rich, they were blessed by God.
But they're afraid that a bunch of poor and working class people could undo God's blessing, over rule the Lord of Creation. Somehow methinks that their belief in their blessedness isn't as firm as they'd like to think and that's why they're so scared and hostile.
Only if they're the 'chosen' people...alas, that's self chosen.
Health and education make a healthy educated people. Get the picture here?
These rich bastards want to kill public schools, but they want your working class tax dollars to support their private charter schools, in other words fuck the poor and working class, the republican way!
Jim Hightower for President!!
Jim Hightower for President!!
Butt..what else could we expect ?
Texas is the global epicenter of ignorance.
Perry is Bush III and heir to the Nazi tradition
including a very evil Christian mutation
only to be found in Amerika.
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