Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) was interviewed last night by Sean Hannity on Fox News:
Palin: We are the only state with a negative tax rate where we don't have any income, sales or property tax statewide, and yes we have a share of our oil resource revenue that goes back to the people that own the resources. Imagine that.
Hannity: And it went up higher since you've been the governor and you negotiated with the oil companies. That all went up so people get a bigger check.
Palin: There was a corrupt tax system up there and we had a couple of lawmakers end up in jail because of the tax system that was adopted so we cleaned it up and said we wanted a fair and equitable share of the resources that we own, and the people will share in those resource revenues that are derived.
Not long after that Palin made her famous “socialism ... that’s where we’re headed” remark.
Umm .... Someone needs to take the Governor aside and tell her what socialism is. Looks like you guys have a taste of it up in Alaska.
In the meantime, why don’t we nationalize our oil companies the way socialist countries like Norway do. Like Alaska, Norway believes oil revenues belong to the people, not a corporation. Except in Norway, it belongs to all the people, not just those who live near the oil platforms.
Of course, in this country these royalties--when they are collected--are supposed to go to the Dept. of the Interior. However, Houston, we have a little problem:
WASHINGTON - June 9 - The U.S. Interior Department is wrongly withholding information that will reveal whether taxpayers are being ripped off in a controversial oil and gas royalty program, according to a lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Interior claims that disclosure of bidding and contracting information about its Royalty-In-Kind sales would reveal oil company trade secrets.
Oh, whah. That would just be too fucking bad, now wouldn't it. Geez, what is it with the graft at the Interior Dept.? Must be too many loyal Bushies still left behind.
Why don't we natonalize the oil companies and get rid of the middle man. And in the meantime, we can create the dream socialist state that the wingnuts are saying we already have?
I"m not serious of course, but I think it's funny that people like Sarah Palin can have their socialism when they want it, and then can call for drilling "our" oil. It's not "our" oil. It's ExxonMobil's. The government gets a royalty but half the time the energy companies are paying someone off with hookers and blow and Toby Keith concert tickets.
