— Bloomberg News has a good story on how taxpayers subsidize Chesapeake Energy’s profits and executive compensation. The beleaguered company has made $5.5 billion over its history but has paid out just $53 million in taxes. That’s a tax rate of less than 1 percent.
The company and other U.S. oil and gas producers can thank a century-old rule that allows them to postpone income taxes in recognition of the inherent risk of drilling wells that may turn out to be dry. The break may be outdated for companies such as Chesapeake, which, thanks to advances in technology, struck oil or gas in 99.6 percent of its wells last year…
When production from old wells outstrips the expense of drilling new ones, companies that postponed taxes will have to pay up. Chesapeake had a deferred income tax liability of $3.4 billion as of Dec. 31.
“If they’re a growing company, that deferral will get pushed out a long time,” said Michelle Hanlon, an accounting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the 2007 study. “If you defer forever, it’s an exemption.”
Stephen Moore is not only a ridiculous ideologue, he's also just not very smart. He's an embarrassment to conservatives and particularly to the Journal's editorial page.
#1 Posted by Jane, CJR on Fri 6 Jul 2012 at 04:03 PM
You know what Steven Moore should be talking about? ('nothing' is an acceptable answer, since he's an idiot) This.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/04/12561717-no-easy-fix-for-eastern-us-storm-power-outages-as-heat-wave-persists
"It's a system that from an infrastructure point of view is beginning to age, has been aging," said Gregory Reed, a professor of electric power engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. "We haven't expanded and modernized the bulk of the transmission and distribution network."The ongoing outage meant no July 4 holiday for thousands of utility workers who scrambled to restore power across the region. "
In an environment where there are plenty of unemployed workers, new technology of the shelf, cheap financing for government, an existing system that has deteriorated to crisis level, a need for a smarter system so that alternative energy production can be efficiently brought online...
Can we spend a little something on infrastructure already? I mean damn, this was a problem a decade ago:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
If we're looking to point fingers, blame the war hawk austerity junkies who can only justify infrastructure spending if it's happening in the Middle East "We'll build it over there, so we don't build it over here!"
I mean jeez, at some point you've got to stop blaming environmentalists, for problems that aren't remotely occurring "rolling brown outs are coming, thanks to the radical environmental movement", and start blaming environmental mismanagement for the problems which are occurring under your feet (as plane wheels sink into treacle-like runways at Ronald Reagan airport).
What kind of society do we have when being stupid pays so well and grants you op-ed space?
#2 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Sun 8 Jul 2012 at 02:45 PM
For more conservative stupid, let's hear from George Will, 'the reasonable conservative':
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/07/08/george-will-climate-scientist-explains-the-weather-its-just-summer/
Ps. Is this a good time to start talking about
EnronJP Morgan?http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-03/jpmorgan-probed-over-potential-power-market-manipulation-1-.html
#3 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Sun 8 Jul 2012 at 02:56 PM