True. They shouldn’t have to spend so much to keep Congress from stealing from them. At its heart, a lobbyist is one who speaks for others. Their existence is guaranteed in the First Amendment in The Bill of Rights under redress for wrongs. They point out the wrong of stealing from them. Regrettably, some congressmen only listen if they get kickbacks. Or so we are told.

“My point is simply they are private companies deciding what they want to charge at the pump. PRIVATE companies.”

As they should. They don’t exist in a vacuum. If they charge more than others or produce an inferior product, people will buy from others and they will go broke. Free markets tend to yield the best balance of quality and value for all things.

“The irony is that if Biden were to use executive orders to prevent the prices from rising, all the conservatives would lose their minds with claims of “government overreach”.”

Which it would be. Also a violation of his oath of office since he would be making laws rather than enforcing them.

And it would be harmful to the nation. You might remember that we had wage and price controls during World War 2 which froze how much a man was allowed to sell petroleum from his property for. Those controls remained in place up until President Carter. As a result, oilfield developments happened in other countries and we became dependent on tyrants, thugs, terrorists, theocracies to keep our equipment running. They were also unreliable sources.

President Carter realized free people would not expand exploration and development of petroleum reserves unless they were rewarded. But he hated to let those already providing oil make more money. He considered it a windfall profit and taxed accordingly.

We suffer from what he did and all before him even though he improved the bad quite a bit. (In the other hand he also tried to get us committed to coal.) Think how many have died due to the wars financed by our cheap domestic supply encouraging foreign suppliers.

David for nuclear energy

I appreciate the comment/opinion.

Per e360.yae.edu

“Coal, oil, and natural gas received $5.9 trillion in subsidies in 2020 — or roughly $11 million every minute — according to a new analysis from the International Monetary Fund.“

Call it what you want, but the fossil fuel industry is not fueling (pun intended) their endeavors alone. The amount of money spent lobbying that takes place to further their self interests is also appalling. My point is simply they are private companies deciding what they want to charge at the pump. PRIVATE companies. The irony is that if Biden were to use executive orders to prevent the prices from rising, all the conservatives would lose their minds with claims of “government overreach”. Some people are just born to be victims I suppose.

FROM MY BUDDY WIKI
“The oil depletion allowance in American (US) tax law is an allowance claimable by anyone with an economic interest in a mineral deposit or standing timber. The principle is that the asset is a capital investment that is a wasting asset, and therefore depreciation can reasonably be offset (effectively as a capital loss) against income.

“The oil depletion allowance has been subject of interest, because of the relationship of big oil with the US government, and because one method (percentage depletion) of claiming the allowance makes it possible to write off more than the whole capital cost of the asset.”

Anyhoo, the idea is that you are selling an asset, depleting your supply of something valuable, in this case petroleum or natural gas, but it applies to other assets as well. Every well goes dry in time since the contents are not replaced.

So it is not that the government is giving them money, which is what a subsidy would really be, but that it is not taxing it as income like it would be if they were not selling off an asset they own which will cease to exist because they sold it.

(Somehow this also applies to geothermal which I have not figured out yet, but don’t understand governmental thinking at times. Not that I begrudge geothermal power supplies.)

Regardless, for the oil and gal industry, calling it a subsidy is actually a lie. But BIG OIL is obviously a monster to be killed even as it heats our homes, powers our homes and hospitals and emergency vehicles.

What will we do when BIG OIL is dead if we haven’t provided a replacement for it?
We are only getting a taste of that accomplishment — an expensive taste.

David for nuclear power