Metadish, Fresh from NYC

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Well, you got fucked at least.

Mr. Barton’s claim had a long history. For more than a decade, lawmakers and administration officials, both Republicans and Democrats, have promised there would be no cost to taxpayers for a program allowing companies to avoid paying the government royalties on oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf.

But last month, the Bush administration confirmed that it expected the government to waive about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years, even though the industry incentive was expressly conceived of for times when energy prices were low. And that number could quadruple to more than $28 billion if a lawsuit filed last week challenging one of the program’s remaining restrictions proves successful.

“The big lie about this whole program is that it doesn’t cost anything,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who tried to block its expansion last July. “Taxpayers are being asked to provide huge subsidies to oil companies to produce oil — it’s like subsidizing a fish to swim.”

Kumbaya, my lord. Kumbaya…

Of course allowing oil companies to drill freelyl for oil in publicly owned waters without paying the government anything wouldn’t come back to bite the average taxpayer in the ass. We’re never the ones burdened with the government’s sweet corporate deals.

If these kids today wise-up and start realizing the power and money these special interest groups and lobbyists are throwing around, you can forget about a cop or a firefighter, or even a doctor or a lawyer for that matter. Pretty soon you’re going to hear a kid proudly declaring that when he grows up he wants to be a corporation!

Vague Law and Hard Lobbying Add Up to Billions for Big Oil [NYT]

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