Why is Big Oil still receiving tax breaks? I’m fine with giving tax incentives to help create green energy (except not for ethanol) but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why the oil industry is still receiving welfare from Americans. As the industry sets historical profits, there should be no reason whatsoever to give them a penny. When oil was $10/barrel and Congress was too stupid to think about the future, perhaps. But today? Are you kidding me? The same GOP Congress that never believed in helping individual Americans during times of need and the same people who now want rebate checks for wealthy Americans can surely appreciate this issue, right? While it may make sense to help an industry during troubled times, oil is now setting new records quarter after quarter and can surely function on their own. If they can’t, they may need to get out of that business and shut the doors.

Moving forward, Congress and our next President should look closer at how we can help businesses that are building the energy for the future. If we can afford to give Big Oil handouts, we surely can find money for green energy. Besides helping the country move away from oil, this will be a fast growing sector that will add jobs. The GOP should put aside the silly argument over the reality of global warming and just understand that this is an emerging market. Growing this industry means new jobs, new business and new money for everyone. All of this is dependent on the US getting started now, not in 10 years when the market is already set. Is that such a hard thing to understand?