Economics: Practice, not Theory

Big corporations and executives and rich people - to cover all bases - are given tax subsidies because of a simple theory. Its called the trickle-down effect. These people - the bourgeoisie - are the backs upon which the rest of society is carried upon in a Capitalist society. So if they do well, then the rest of society will benefit...or so the theory goes.

But, the simple reality of the matter, for some reason or another, is never thought up by these economic gurus. If money is saved by these rich people, it is assumed that they would put it back into their business to do things like hire workers, resulting in a lower unemployment rate and economic boom and bang for the rest of the Nation. This makes good sense, except the government's coffers would be empty...or relatively empty as compared to the bank accounts of these multi-million and billionaires. Therefore, the politics of this economic issue rests on the hope that businessmen will make decisions to better others over themselves - both of which are mutually exclusive and, as we know, never going to happen. On the other hand, governments - especially our Democracy - are accountable to the People. In other words, it is better - for the benefit of the whole and without all the confusing arrows and cause-and-effect bullshit - for the government to remain stronger - economically, in this case - than these individuals.

I would trust the guy I put into office far more than some greedy nut-job. Thus, Obama's removal of big oil subsidies is a progressive development that we should all be proud of.

President Barack Obama used his weekly address to the nation to reiterate his call on Congress to stop granting tax subsidies to oil and gas companies.
“When oil companies are making huge profits and you’re struggling at the pump, and we’re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren’t right,” Obama said Saturday. “They aren’t smart. And we need to end them.”
Despite recent signs of economic recovery, families across the country are experiencing “real pain” from soaring gas prices, Obama said. He pointed out that even as people were struggling to fill their gas tanks, some big oil companies reported more than $25 billion in earnings in the first few months of this year, far surpassing profits from the same period the year earlier.
As much as he supports the business successes of energy firms and lauds their entrepreneurialism, “I do have a problem with the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies we’ve been handing out to oil and gas companies,” Obama said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53977.html#ixzz1L2PA42KV