A new report by Oil Change International…demonstrates the huge and growing amount of subsidies going to the fossil fuel industry in the U.S. every year. In 2013, the U.S. federal and state governments gave away $21.6 billion in subsidies for oil, gas, and coal exploration and production.
The value of fossil fuel exploration and production subsidies from the federal government have increased by 45 percent since President Obama took office in 2009 – from $12.7 billion to a current total of $18.5 billion – a side effect of his Administration’s “All of the Above” energy policy that promotes the U.S. oil and gas boom and amounts to nothing less than climate denial.
President Obama has repeatedly tried to repeal some of the most egregious of these subsidies, but these attempts have been blocked by a U.S. Congress that has been bought out by campaign finance and lobbying expenditures from the fossil fuel industry.
In addition to exploration and production subsidies to oil, gas, and coal companies, the U.S. government also provides billions of dollars of additional support to the fossil fuel industry to lower the cost of fossil fuels to consumers, finance fossil fuel projects overseas, and to protect U.S. oil interests abroad with the military.
Finally, while the fossil fuel industry enjoys record profits, U.S, taxpayers will pay the bill for external health and environmental costs from local pollution and climate change impacts.
Big Oil is an equal-opportunity purchaser of political loyalty. It doesn’t matter which of the two TweedleDee or TweedleDumber parties you belong to. Show the least inclination to favor fossil fuel anything and you will be awash in campaign contributions, “independent” supporters and PACs.
It’s the American Way.
Thanks, Mike
Eideard 
Oil drops $2 to five-year low on oversupply http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/08/us-markets-oil-idUSKBN0JM03P20141208
(Reuters) – Brent and U.S. crude oil each fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday to a new five-year low amid a rising number of predictions that oversupply would extend well into 2015.
OPEC member Kuwait said Monday it expected prices to remain in the doldrums for about six months.
Prices continued to decline following a Morgan Stanley report that revised its oil price forecasts lower. In a report dated Dec. 5, Morgan Stanley said oil prices could fall as low as $43 a barrel next year. The U.S. investment bank cut its average 2015 Brent base-case outlook by $28 to $70 per barrel, and by $14 to $88 a barrel for 2016.
“Without OPEC intervention, markets risk becoming unbalanced, with peak oversupply likely in the second quarter of 2015,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Longson said.
Somebody Made an Absolute Killing by Shorting Oil http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-12/zowie-somebody-made-an-absolute-killing-by-shorting-oil Brent crude was at $60.44 a bbl on Friday – care to make a bet on a $20 to $50 trading-range based on competitive market pricing or $50 to $120 based on resumed OPEC dominance?
12/17/14: U.S. Oil Prices Rise Off Multiyear Lows : Rebound Attributed to Traders Betting on Lower Prices to Close Out Positions http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-prices-skid-on-russia-output-plan-1418784516 Oil prices have plunged nearly 50% since June to the lowest level in more than five years. Once the contract rose Wednesday to trade above $57.15 a barrel—Tuesday’s intraday high—the price rose sharply, indicating that algorithmic traders may have used that as an indicator to buy. Analysts agreed that concerns about ample oil supplies and tepid demand continue to dominate the market and that this rally could be short-lived.
“With oil prices plunging at an ever-quickening rate, producers are beginning to slash the number of drilling rigs around the country.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/business/us-oil-producers-cut-rigs-as-price-declines.html “Wednesday’s announcement from Helmerich & Payne, the giant contract rig company, that it would idle up to 50 drilling rig in the next month, was cited by analysts that the oil industry is entering the latest bust cycle.”
July 31st: Tumbling oil prices slam profit at Exxon Mobil, Chevron http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/31/us-usa-oil-results-idUSKCN0Q51Y520150731 “…Shares of both fell about 4.6 percent in morning trading. Still, the two companies benefited from their refining divisions, which make gasoline and other fuels. Refining units tend to be far more profitable when oil prices are low, providing Chevron and other integrated energy companies with an internal hedge during times when core operations, such as oil production, are weighed down by weak prices.”