Back To The ’70s?

Energy: With crude prices near record highs, oil companies’ profits have soared. Some in Congress have reacted by calling for a windfall profit tax or rebates to consumers. Don’t they remember the ’70s?

The oil industry has come under fire after reporting big jumps in earnings. In the second quarter alone, according to the Energy Department, profits for U.S. oil and gas companies surged 39% from a year earlier to $23 billion.

With profits on track to exceed a record $80 billion this year, Sen. Hillary Clinton wants to slap a “$20 billion-a-year tax on America’s oil companies” and reinvest it “in a better energy future.”

But such a tax would ruin U.S. oil markets — forcing companies to curb exploration, cutting into supply and driving prices up, not down. In short, a recipe for a ’70s-style energy disaster.

Investor’s Business Daily