4-28-03
by Elena Steier
"By the looks of the recently passed House energy bill, apparently so. The legislation includes some worthy provisions such as opening up a corner of the Arctic to oil drilling. But larded alongside are $19 billion in corporate tax goodies and another estimated $47 billion in spending, which add up to the biggest federal meddling in energy markets in decades. And this is from the more conservative House; wait until the Senate gets rolling.
More than two-thirds of the tax breaks will reward traditional fossil fuel companies for doing what comes naturally. Some $8.6 billion will go to oil and gas companies for daring to produce oil and gas; $2 billion to utilities for generating electricity; and $1.5 billion to the nuclear industry for dealing with nuclear power."
This is from the opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal(4-28-03). I have to grit my teeth when I read the editorials in the WSJ, but they do something that the regular press doesn't do: They present real current events not covered elsewhere if only by railing against them.
This is the first I'd heard of the House energy bill. While Bush is pushing for tax reductions, we find that huge multi-national corporations dealing with energy are set to get billions in government hand-outs. Meanwhile, if anyone watched 60 Minutes last night, a Syrian official accused the United States of destroying Iraq simply so American based multi-nationals could rebuild it. This was the segment after the part about Halliburton and Bechtel contracts to rebuild Iraq. Mike Wallace was incredulous. What a thought. Destroying a country just to rebuild it.
Conversely, if anyone read today's new York Times, there's a huge article on deep cuts in Medicaid. Our own state of Connecticut alone is kicking something like thirty-four thousand people off the rolls. Other states, including Texas, are doing the same.
These are larger issues at work when a talented cartoonist like Kirk Anderson gets the heave ho. A corporation the size of Knight Ridder ought to be able to support many cartoonists, and writers. Instead, it supports lobbyists, stock options and very hefty corporate packages. I have nothing against being rich. However, when I hear that guys like John Snow, our secretary of the Treasury, took 24 million dollars from his own company, I just want to scream. Likewise, Dick Cheney left Halliburton with a lovely 34 million dollar package. Does one human being really need that sort of money? Me, throw me half a million, I'll be perfectly content. I think Iraqi salaries average something like seven bucks a month.
You don't find the media dwelling on these issues the way they dwell on the Laci Peterson murder. However, it doesn't mean these issues don't exist. They simply stay hidden until someone you know gets fired, or loses an investment, or finds there's no pension upon which to retire nor any health care coverage should they get sick. This is my biggest frustration with the media. What decides that a murder story gets such extensive coverage when issues affecting a whole country get barely any mention at all?
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