Subsidies Not Needed

The managers and investors in BP Corp. are very disappointed. The disappointment springs from the fact that their profit (and yes, I said profit -- not gross sales) for the second quarter of 2011 is a paltry $5.6 billion ($11 billion in profit for the first half of 2011). I guess this is why they have spent $2 million lobbying Congress this year and made $40,000 in political donations (93% of which went to Republicans). Obviously they can't be expected to pay taxes on such a tiny profit.

The five biggest oil companies (BP, Exxon, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips) have made over $900 billion in PROFIT the last decade -- almost a trillion dollars! And these are the corporations that the Republicans think need to keep their tax subsidies and even get further tax cuts. Frankly, I think even the idea of giving them further cuts and protecting their subsidies is obscene. How much money are they going to have to make before we expect them to pay taxes?