The Dems may be threatening windfal profit taxes, expanded fuel reserves and even price caps, but most of these measures will probably fail. I would not bet against a windfall profit tax if push comes to shove, given how angry lots of folks seem to be. But the rest are dead letters.
What the GOP wants is much more subtle and insidious. Essentially, GOP leaders are telling the oil industry, “we streamlined regulations for you and gave you tax incentives, subsidies and loan guarantees. Now, you need to take the heat off of us. Do something, or look like your doing something, or we won’t be able to hold back the barbarians.”
And poof! Congress is trying to “nationalize” the oil industry. It will be interesting to see which companies jump on command, and which ones don’t.
6:05 am on October 26, 2005
