Headlines

GOP attacks Harris over tech ties

Amazon cuts more than 1,200 delivery contract jobs, even as that part of its business booms

Flashback: Kamala’s support for gun confiscation

Schweizer: Kamala refused to prosecute priests’ sex abuse after church’s lawyers funded campaign

US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz

Coronavirus updates: U.S. records more than 1,500 new deaths for the deadliest day since May

Twitter’s face of censorship was Kamala’s press secretary

Kamala Harris: Young people are ‘stupid,’ ‘make bad decisions’

New unemployment claims fall below 1 million for first time in five months

Empty apartments in Manhattan reach record high, topping 13,000

Budget deficit explodes to $2.81 trillion due to pandemic related spending

Fauci ‘seriously doubts’ Russian coronavirus vaccine is safe & effective

STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Headlines

Senate may pass new trade deal before impeachment trial starts

Boeing posts negative commercial airplane orders in 2019 for the first time in decades

Pelosi moves ... Senate doesn’t have votes to dismiss

Mike Lee co-sponsors Sander’s bill to limit unilateral Iran action

Warren promises to cancel student loan debt using executive powers

Tesla rally sends Wall Street analysts scrambling to catch up

Poll: Biden moves to top in Iowa ...

DHS chief admits will not build 450-mile border wall by November

European powers trigger mediation over Iranian violations of nuclear deal

Apple refuses government request to unlock Pensacola shooting suspect’s iPhone

USA budget deficit running 11.8% higher this year ...

Chinese media: ‘No excuse’ for Iran to shoot down Ukrainian airplane

Headlines

Democrats brace for massive primary clash in Texas

Amazon reportedly has thousands of people listening to snippets of Alexa conversations

[Barr] Says spying on Trump campaign by Obama Admin. DID occur ...

Kris Kobach details plan to immediently end Catch and Release policy

GOP eyes ‘Medicare for All’ vote to highlight Democrat splits

Herman Cain’s Fed board bid is in danger as three GOP senators plan to vote against Trump’s pick

Budget deficit 15% higher than year ago ...

Pentagon awards nearly $1 B in border wall construction contracts

Wikileaks Assange arrested at Ecuador embassy in London

Cryptocurrencies are ‘clearly shaking the system,’ IMF’s Lagarde says

Scientists put human genes in monkeys to make them smarter ...

Candice Owens at House hearing: Blacks are not owned by the Left

Headlines

Democrats plot ways to force release of Mueller findings

Trump sends top officials to Beijing to continue China trade talks

USA posts record budget deficit ...

Imam suggests Muslims arm themselves after Christchurch

Pompeo says ‘it’s possible’ Trump was sent to save the Jewish people

Special Counsel Mueller has no sealed indictments as Russian probe ends: NBC News

Bond market signaling big recession sign ...

‘Fatal decision’ — Macron deploys armed soldiers against Yellow Vests

U.S.-backed Syrian forces declares victory over Islamic State

Euphoric IPO market might be a troubling sign for stocks

Bloomberg mocks Beto ...

UMASS-Amherst: Conservative student rejected from serving on student gov’t

Energy Independence

I have written in the past about "oil industry subsidies." Rather than using a hyperlink, I will just reproduce my 2011 blog entry text here:

Semantics are wondrous things.  Many politicians, including some Republicans, are now calling for the elimination of oil industry "subsidies" as one small way of closing our heinous budget deficit.  These subsidies supposedly total $4.4 billion per year (see: Oil Industry Subsidies.) This is a very small amelioration (less than 0.3%) considering that our budget deficits are now running around $1.6 trillion per year.

Now, I am old enough to remember what these oil-industry "subsidies" really are.  They used to be called "oil depletion allowances."  These allowances were meant to equate to "depreciation" in other industries.  In other words, as an oil company either purchased or leased the mineral rights to a piece of land ... and then extracted the oil, there was a reduced value to this land since the oil was being extracted.  Thus oil companies were allowed to "depreciate" this depleted oil deposit to allow them to then go and buy or lease other land to look for more oil. 

Can we thus call the ability of General Motors to depreciate the machinery (robots, machine tools, etc.) it uses to make cars an "auto-industry subsidy?"  If we did, all hell would break loose.  Now maybe the formulas used to calculate oil depletion allowances need to be reformulated given the new technology used in oil extraction.  But to eliminate these oil-industry "subsides" entirely is but another step in our tree huggers' attempt to emasculate the United States' energy-producing capabilities.  This is a little like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in your six-shooter.

I pretty much said what needed to be said back in 2011, but now Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is using this same demagoguery against Scott Brown in their Senate race up there. If we are ever going to achieve energy independence in this country, it will not be by eliminating this valid accounting process for oil exploration companies. Machinery wears out and is obsoleted ... and needs to be replaced. That is why depreciation is a valid accounting entry for manufacturing companies. Such is also the case for oil in the ground. Once it is gone then the high prices paid for this resource is lost unless it was allowed to be depreciated like any other income-producing asset. This is not a "subsidy" ... it is simply a logical accounting rule ... something that seems continually to be lost on liberals ... and naive voters

Why the media, accounting professionals and university professors don't come to defend this age-old accounting practice is beyond me.  Oh, yes ... I think I just answered my own question.

Oily Proposal

Semantics are wondrous things.  Many politicians, including some Republicans, are now calling for the elimination of oil industry "subsidies" as one small way of closing our heinous budget deficit.  These subsidies supposedly total $4.4 billion per year (see: Oil Industry Subsidies.) This is a very small amelioration (less than 0.3%) considering that our budget deficits are now running around $1.6 trillion per year.

Now, I am old enough to remember what these oil-industry "subsidies" really are.  They used to be called "oil depletion allowances."  These allowances were meant to equate to "depreciation" in other industries.  In other words, as an oil company either purchased or leased the mineral rights to a piece of land ... and then extracted the oil, there was a reduced value to this land since the oil was being extracted.  Thus oil companies were thus allowed to "depreciate" this depleted oil deposit to allow them to then go and buy or lease other land to look for more oil.

Can we thus call the ability of General Motors to depreciate the machinery (robots, machine tools, etc.) it uses to make cars an "auto-industry subsidy?"  If we did, all hell would break loose.  Now maybe the formulas used to calculate oil depletion allowances need to be reformulated given the new technology used in oil extraction.  But to eliminate these oil-industry "subsides" entirely is but another step in our tree huggers' attempt to emasculate the United States' energy-producing capabilities.  This is a little like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in your six-shooter.

A Bold Prediction

Today at 1:30 President Obama will present his plan to the American public on how his administration intends to reduce our annual budget deficit and eventually our crippling national debt.  This content of this speech has not been leaked to the press, so I, here, will go out on a limb and predict exactly what he will say ... verbatim:

"Yada, yada, yada ... extremist Tea Party ... etc., etc., etc. ... we only raise taxes on billionaires ... blah, blah, blah ... we eventually must eliminate the Bush tax cuts ... yada, yada, yada ... we must invest in America ... blah, blah, blah ... Thank you and God bless America and the American taxpayer."

After the speech:  I forgot to include: "Paul Ryan is a demon" and about twenty more "blah, blah, blah"s