As I have been reading reports of the current debate over the pending energy legislation, it occurred to me that there is a fundamental problem with the approach to CAFE standards. The Washington Post reported on the issue in today’s edition:
Senate, House Turn Focus to Energy Bills
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said after [...]
Windfall Profits,Windfall Profits >
The Problem with CAFE 
Barack Obama Panders
He’s got my vote. He doesn’t take money from oil companies, and is going to punish them for their “windfall profits.” For some reason, Oil Watchdog does show him as having taken $157,390 from oil companies, and I still haven’t heard anyone define “windfall profits.” Of course he does take money from ethanol companies, but [...]
Rebuttal to “A Gouging Market”
Introduction
I have been aware of Matthew Rothschild’s essay “A Gouging Market” (1) since it started making the rounds a couple of months ago. At the time, I decided not to respond as the article is largely one big whine. However, someone at The Progressive, a magazine that I occasionally enjoy, has deemed it fit to [...]
Windfall Profits: A Lesson from the U.K.
Regardless of your position on windfall profits taxes on oil companies, one thing has been demonstrated again and again. Governments consistently fail to accurately anticipate the consequences. As oil prices have increased, governments have seen tax revenues from oil and gas grow significantly. But they apparently believe they know how to deal with a goose [...]
Democrats and Big Oil
Yesterday I participated in a blogger conference call with the American Petroleum Institute. The topic was Industry Earnings and Recent Oil Prices, and the audio and transcript may be found here.
My question was a political question regarding the seemingly permanent hostile relationship between oil companies and Democrats. My question, and comments that followed:
24:15 MR. RAPIER: [...]
Comments on Senate Hearing on Gas Prices
On May 15th, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources conducted a hearing entitled Short-Term Energy Outlook Summer 2007: Oil and Gasoline. You can listen to the web cast here. I have done so, and this essay will be about my impressions of the hearing.
You can find the testimony of the various witnesses at [...]
Taxing “Windfall Profits”
I have a few essays in the queue (including a nifty biodiesel story), but I thought I would comment on an article in today’s Deseret News out of Salt Lake City. The article was entitled “Will U.S. Slap Tax on Big Oil Profits?”. (1) A few excerpts from the article, followed by my comments:
Republican Sen. [...]
