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| Edgar Lopez |
Lopez Contributed Over $50,000 to Richardson
Driessen: Oil and Gas Subsidy Nonsense
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| Paul Driessen |
Townhall - The petroleum industry does not receive "subsidies" to produce oil and natural gas. It doesn't even get "special tax breaks" or outright tax credits. What are falsely described in these terms are actually tax deductions for costs incurred by companies in the process of exploring, drilling, producing and refining the oil and natural gas that energize this nation's economy and living standards. These tax deductions are equivalent or similar to deductions claimed by every US business, large and small, for things like facilities depreciation, equipment, utilities, payroll, and research and development. They are intended to ensure that businesses, like individuals, recover their costs and get taxed only on their net incomes. For oil companies those deductions include:
* Geological and geophysical costs, for exploration to assess prospects prior to drilling; * Expensing "tertiary injectants," water and chemicals injected into older wells to keep them producing;
* Domestic manufacturer's deductions of up to 6% of income earned from extracting oil and gas (farmers, manufacturers and other producers can deduct up to 9% of earned income);
* Percentage depletion allowance, allowing for gradual recovery of up-front investments in a petroleum (or iron, gold, limestone, et cetera) deposit that is gradually extracted and depleted. The allowance is not available to "integrated" companies that produce, refine and market oil. Read full column here: News New Mexico
Americans Love the "Underdogs"
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Projecting the appearance of being in the corner of the "underdog" works like a charm in American politics. And in America, the old saying in U.S politics goes something like this: "Anything worth doing, is worth OVER-doing." And why not? What kind of heartless person could possibly come out in favor of denying the helpless some sorely needed help? Unfortunately, when it comes to managing the fate of many American businesses, our culture has become polluted with false notions about how many underdogs we actually have in this nation. Not surprisingly, many of our most successful politicians have turned underdog support into a growth industry. And sadly, those who have never operated a business are the most likely to be susceptible to having their perceptions of the realities of the competition corrupted. Clearly, duplicitous politicians claiming to be merely serving the interests of the "underdogs" in our society are in charge. It has not always been this way in our country. 
Early in our nation's history Americans were committed to our business. We were hungry for success and wanted to be competitive and prove ourselves as a nation. Our businesses were seen by the vast majority in our society as global underdogs competing on a tough stage. Instinctively Americans knew that when this nation's businesses were successful, national wealth was created. What happened to our attitudes that recognized the importance of following the lead of business? The explanation is pretty simple. The seeds of failure grow rapidly when the complacency of success creeps into the psyche. It happens to sports teams and it happens to nations. For several decades Americans have allowed the effects of a progressive disease to grow on economic attitudes of our once competitive culture.
Slowly but surely, the size of the "underdog" tent that ambitious politicians argue must be embraced and protected, has been expanding. And these days many of our most successful businesses are very popularly portrayed as nothing more than ruthless exploitation machines. Leading companies like Intel, Wal-Mart, and Microsoft along with all domestic drug companies fortunate enough to have funded a successful R & D program are easy political targets. Politicians are successfully arguing that all businesses must be held in check, less they run roughshod over the scores of underdogs in our society. Fast forward to May of 2011. With all that government purports to do for us, less than half of all American households are called upon by our elected officials to contribute federal income taxes into the collective pot to pay for what can best be described as a sophisticated political "protection racket." As we face astronomical federal budget deficits, the majority in control of the U.S. Senate and an anti-business White House begin each day with the idea that more than half of all American households are "underdogs."
And it is in this expensive state of national self-delusion, this very false sense of widespread victim hood, that we have finally crippled and tethered our once revered and robust business community. Don't look to progressive anti-business candidates to ever say it, but America is headed down a dead end road. We will never re-accelerate national prosperity with a national self-image that begins every economic policy discussion with the premise that less than half of all households should be required to contribute to the costs of all the wonderful things our government does for us. It is a false premise. Those of us who work and pay taxes cannot possibly get our arms around that many "underdogs."
Unions Spending to Promote Spending
Real Clear Politics - Lobbying the Legislature usually means picking up the tab for dinners and receptions for lawmakers, but a union representing teachers and other education workers took a different approach this year by focusing on voters. The American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico spent $361,000 on an advertising campaign to promote an early childhood education proposal an amount that nearly matched the combined expenditures by lobbyists for food, drinks, gifts and entertainment for lawmakers, their staff and other state officials during the first four months of the year. The union and its political committee used mailings, radio ads and newspaper advertisements to try to build support among parents and other voters for a proposed constitutional amendment to increase state money for services to children under the age of 5.
The measure had the backing of a coalition of religious groups, unions, child-care providers and social advocacy organizations. It would have increased the yearly payout from the $10 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund and earmarked a portion of the money for early childhood programs. Union President Christine Trujillo said statewide marketing was done "to ensure that people who are normally not involved or engaged in the political process would understand that this is a very basic request. We want to provide funding for kids who desperately need it." Money for the lobbying campaign came from a grant from the national union and Trujillo hopes the local chapter can get another allocation of money to renew its push for the early childhood education initiative in next year's Legislature. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Protectors of "Desert Pupfish" Drug Cartel's Best Friend
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| A Desert Pupfish |
Human Events - Desert Pupfish Forces Border Agents to Patrol on Foot - by Audrey Hudson - Federal agents must abandon their vehicles and chase drug smugglers and illegal aliens on foot through 40 acres near the Mexican border because of a pond that is home to the endangered desert pupfish. It’s part of the agreement between the Homeland Security and Interior departments on how best to protect the ecosystem, frustrating lawmakers who say it also prevents agents from conducting routine patrols.
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| Unidentifed Supporter of Pupfish |
Drug cartels and other criminals could care less about these so-called memos of understanding, or whether they are trampling through a protected species' habitat, Rep. Rob Bishop (R.-Utah) told HUMAN EVENTS. “They would just as soon eat an endangered species as protect it,” Bishop said. The two-inch, bluish pupfish lives in the Quitobaquito Pond and spring channel in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument west of Tucson, Ariz. U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) vehicles have been reported numerous times for driving over a berm that impounds the pond. Read full story here: News New Mexico
Gas Prices Rise, White House Clings to Empty Rhetoric
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| Steve Pearce |
The average price for a gallon of gas was up to $3.97 last week, more than double the $1.84 national average when President Obama took office. In New Mexico, gas prices continue to rise, people struggle to make ends meet, and unemployment continues. But in Washington, the White House seems unaware of these challenges, saying one thing and doing another. We hear the President talk about domestic energy and American jobs, but we see his policies putting Americans out of work and sending prices still higher. He has proposed tax after tax on our domestic energy industry. He has advocated drilling in other countries while imposing a moratorium on our drilling jobs at home. In fact, his policies stray so far from his rhetoric that one must wonder what’s really going on. After all, we can’t forget that the President’s own words contradict his supposed agenda. When running for president, he advocated higher oil prices as a means to different energy sources.
Months later, we saw this policy confirmed when President Obama selected Steven Chu for Secretary of Energy. Secretary Chu summed up the Administration’s energy agenda when he stated in an interview, “somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”
Soon after taking office, President Obama advocated cap-and-trade, a policy that would have had devastating consequences for domestic energy. The Wall Street Journal called the program “a tax on the working class,” and cited a bipartisan Congressional Budget Office study to suggest that cap-and-trade would cost the poorest 20% of Americans about $680 per year. Again, this Administration doesn’t seem to be putting its money where its mouth is in terms of energy policy.
Then there’s the gulf oil moratorium, which has continued for almost a year now. The moratorium has reduced domestic oil production by 240,000 barrels a day, and has put 12,000 Americans out of work. Those aren’t just numbers—that’s more than the population of Artesia, suddenly wondering where their next meal will come from. And if things don’t changes soon, five times that number—another 60,000—will be left without a job. Some estimate that the moratorium will leave 100,000 people out of work. Soon after it was introduced, a court overturned the ban.
Then, in February, another court held the U.S. in contempt for continuing the moratorium. Over the last few weeks, the House of Representatives passed several bills to end the moratorium. Recently, the White House indicated that it will take action to return some of these jobs to the gulf and promote domestic drilling, but if the President is really interested in restoring our energy jobs, he could have done so all along. It should not take an act of Congress to get him to do so.
Call the White House and hold the President accountable to keep his promises and protect America’s energy jobs. Call your Representatives and Senators and tell them that you do not support any plan designed to raise your costs at the pump. Write your newspapers and tell them that higher gas prices and fewer American jobs is not a policy that’s good for any American. You have the power to lower gas prices, protect American jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But to be heard, you have to speak out.
Governor and Legislature Heading Back To Court
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| Susana Martinez |
NM Unemployment Gradually Improved in April
The Money Grubbing Government Among Us
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| Michael and Conrad |
1,000 Attend Job Fair Hosted by Pearce
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| Steve Pearce at Job Fair he hosted in Las Cruces |
“It was exciting to be a part of bringing together employers and job seekers today” said Pearce. “Jobs and job growth have been my top priority in Congress, and today’s event was one more way to find jobs for people in New Mexico. Everywhere I go, I hear from people who tell me they need jobs. Today’s event was a great success, and I look forward to more like it in the future, in other regions of southern New Mexico.”
He then spent much of the morning visiting with attendees and personally helping employers connect with job-seekers. By noon, over 700 job-hunters had already attended the event. In addition to the large number of employers present, seminars were also offered on résumé writing and job interview skills. Since returning to Congress in January, Mr. Pearce has made jobs his top priority, and he has stated that he is constantly on the lookout for new ways to help put New Mexicans to work. In light of the success of today’s event, Congressman Pearce’s office has already begun planning for future job fairs in other areas in Southern New Mexico.
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