Oil companies explore for oil deposits, drill for it, pump
it out, transport it to refineries, make it into countless products, then
distribute those to global markets. They have done this for over 150 years in
the United States
In earlier times oil supplies were plentiful. But as
manufacturers, nations and automobiles sucked up available supplies in dizzying
amounts, the world became aware that oil was a finite commodity. The earth
slowly produced oil from the decay of previous carbon deposits from decaying
vegetation. The process was so slow that engineers and scientists began
measuring potential supplies. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, we all understood that
oil sources would be used up at some point in the future.
Again geologists and engineers have found more and better
ways to locate oil supplies and make the best use of them. The day of oil
supply exhaustion has been pushed back many times. But the message is still
clear: oil is finite and we need to find other energy sources sooner rather
than later to keep our way of life humming.
So, in short, oil companies are now energy companies whether they recognize that or not. Their job is to produce energy for the global market. Along the way they will conserve existing oil supplies so that the chemical and by-product derivatives continue to be produced uninterrupted, and fuel supplies are kept adequate for our needs at affordable prices. The former is being managed handily; the latter is not.
World tensions affect market confidence in oil supplies and
reliable deliveries of same. If these are threatened, commodity prices for oil
and its derivatives rise. End result: we pay much more at the gas pump; but we
pay more throughout the economy in other ways as a direct result as well.
The issue is clear to me. Find more energy supplies. Not
oil, but alternatives to oil. New science and engineering discoveries will help
in this process greatly. But oil companies themselves need to invest their
ample treasuries to discover new forms of energy – for their longevity and the
rest of humanity. It is in their self interest and ours that they do this.
Along the way the oil industry has produced a lot of jobs
and economic activity. Commerce has been magnified incalculably due to energy
supplies and its related technologies. Chemicals, materials and engineering advancements
have transformed the global economy and quality of life.
Also, air, water and soil pollution has grown exponentially
from the use of oil and its derivatives. We are attending to these problems but
the job is far from over. We all pay for these problems, but also for their
solution.
All of these costs have been borne by public institutions
and government agencies charged with the responsibility to do something about
all of these matters. How do they pay for this work? By levying taxes of
various kinds. And yes the oil industry pays a lot of taxes, either directly or
indirectly. But don’t fear for them! Those taxes are loaded into the product
price and so the end user winds up paying the taxes! Not the industry. They are
just the pay-through channel.
And most of these tax collections support the work that
helps protect the earth from air, water and soil pollution from oil products.
The work includes injuries to workers and care for their families through
government sponsored health programs, insurance programs and pension and
disability programs. Distribution of oil products happen over taxpayer owned
roads and highways. They are used in taxpayer supported schools and hospitals
and countless other social agencies. The taxes are used to do the work that no
one else wants to do, or won’t do. Whether the products are oil or advertising
blather, there are secondary and tertiary costs incurred. The involved
industries don’t pay for these; the taxpayers do in their pricing structure.
And who subsidizes health care problems caused by product
use and pollution? The government. Who helps science and engineers study oil,
geology, chemicals and ecology to live better with the product or find new
products to avoid the dangerous ones? Or find ways to lessen the burdens of the
product? Universities and college and government labs funded to do this work.
And who pays? The taxpayer. And through which tax collecting channels are the
tax dollars collected? Manufacturing taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes,
pollution fines, ad infinitum.
But you only hear anti-government and anti-tax ideologues
mention taxes. As though
government is the enemy and its blood source is taxes; and all taxes are evil
and unproductive.
Need I remind you that regulation protects us from a lot of
problems? And even though many of the problems still exist, we are learning how
to live with the issues, lessen them, and eventually rid our culture of the
problems? The industries don’t pay this bill. You and I do in pricing, taxes
and social ills. These are the sidebars to our culture. They are the dirty
laundry of modern day commerce. It’s OK; we see it and work with it. But at
least let’s not condemn either the industry or the government for dealing with
the issues involved. They are doing our work!
The politicians seeking power and money will do and say
almost anything to get what they want. Don’t let their political lobbyists and
economic analysts posing as reporters fool you. Yes the oil industry involves a
lot of tax monies. But they don’t pay them for their work; only the result of
their work so we can all live. Period.
Jeesh!
April 26, 2012
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