Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer - Cut Head Start but keep subsidies for Big Oil? – Earth to Boehner…Come In!
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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:05:40 -0500 (EST)
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Cut Head Start but keep subsidiesfor Big Oil? – Earth to Boehner…Come In!

     Earth to Boehner…come in!  When you look carefully at RepublicanSpeaker John Boehner’s spending proposal for the rest of 2011 you’d think theseguys must have been hanging out on one of those newly-discovered exo-planets insome other solar system. 
 
     The Republicanproposal, HR1, actually proposes cuts in the Head Start program that wouldmean:
 
·     218,000 children from low income families willlose Head Start/Early Head Start services;
·     16,000 Head Start/Early Head Start classroomswill close;
·     55,000 Head Start/Early Head Start teachers andstaff will lose their jobs;
·     150,000 low-income families and their childrenwill lose assistance in paying for child care.
 
      They say theyneed to make these cuts because we must “tighten our belts” to cut spendingbecause “America is broke.”   But at thevery same time they voted to cut Head Start, the Republicans voted to continue $4 billion worth of subsidiesto Big Oil.  That’s right, they want tocontinue to hand over $4 billion of the taxpayers’ money to companies likeExxon-Mobil, the most profitable company in human history.
 
     These subsidiesare suppose to provide an incentive for them to produce more oil – as if theprice of oil that closed yesterday at $105.02 per barrel does not do the trick.
 
      In the lastquarter of 2010, Exxon-Mobil’s profits surged 53% to $9.25 billion on thestrength of rising oil prices and increased demand for petroleum products. Thatmeans Exxon-Mobil is earning profit at a rate of about $37 billion peryear.  
 
     How much is$37,000,000,000?  It’s what 740,000average American families make for working all year long.
 
     So while theRepublicans have proposed to cut back on providing a critical educational boostfor the future generation, they have voted to have a tag day for the mostprofitable company that has existed since the dawn of humanity.   Now I’d call that seriously out of touchwith the priorities of everyday Americans.
 
     Of course that’s not all. The Republicans inthe House voted to cut Pell Grants, that help middle class kids go to college,by 25%.
 
     They voted tokill a program that helps low-income families weatherize their homes andpermanently reduce their energy bills. Guess we just have to tighten our belts!
 
      They voted to cutfunds for employment and training service for jobless workers – so much for“jobs, jobs, jobs.”
 
      They voted tocut funding for clean, safe drinking water by more than half, to cut fundingfor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 10% and to cut funds  for the Food and Drug Administration byanother 10%.  All the while handing outbillions to the oil companies.
 
     And remember,they are giving handouts to the oil companies at the same time that oil and gasprices have been skyrocketing. 
 
     Increases in gas prices siphon money fromthe pocketbook of ordinary families.  TheNew York Times reports that someeconomists calculate that, “each $10increase in the price of a barrel of oil knocks 0.2 to 0.3 percentage pointsoff the growth rate of the economy.” According to a report by Morgan Stanleyinvestments earlier this month, “… a US$1 sustained increase ingasoline prices will act like a US$120-130 billion tax hike, equal to 1.1% ofdisposable income.”  
 
     There are, however, two big differences inthe “tax hike” caused by gas price increases and a real tax hike.  First, most of the money comes from thepockets of ordinary middle class Americans. Second, it all goes into coffers of Big Oil companies instead of payingfor things like education, public safety, roads, bridges, subways and healthcare. It goes instead into the pockets of these huge companies and theirshareholders – who are overwhelmingly the wealthiest people on the planet.   
 
     Then, of course, Exxon-Mobil has to beable to afford to pay its CEO, Lee R. Raymond, who last year made $25.7 milliondollars.   In case you’re counting, Mr.Raymond earns 514 times the salary of the average $50,000 per year worker.  He is paid $12,355 per hour (for a 40 hourwork week).  Which means he is paid asmuch as a minimum wage worker makes all year long in the first hour and half ofhis first day of the year.
 
      Mr. Raymond made more moneybefore he had a coffee break on January 3rd this year than many momswho get on a bus at 5 AM every day, take no vacations, and scrub floors foreight hours every day – and repeat that drill for 260 work days all yearlong.  
 
      And with all of that, the Republicansthink the taxpayers should reach into their jeans and hand over yet anothersubsidy from the federal treasury, while at the same time they are cuttingslots in Head Start because, Boehner claims, “America is broke.”  I guess unless you happen to be an oil company– or a Wall Street speculator.
 
     Increasing oil prices not only benefit oilcompanies – whose reserves of oil skyrocket in value with every increase inworld oil prices.  They also benefit WallStreet speculators who are the proximate cause of current world oil priceinflation.  
 
     At the moment, the supply of oil isadequate to meet world demand.  We arenot experiencing an oil shortage.  Theprice of oil has gone up because Wall Street speculators are betting theturmoil in many Arab counties will disrupt oil supplies and make oil scarcer inthe future.  It’s their bets – and theirtrading strategies -- that are making world prices rise, not short-termfluctuations in supply and demand.
 
     The influence of speculators on oil pricescould be limited if the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) were tovote to impose position limits that restrict the ability of speculators toinfluence oil prices.  The CTFC wasmandated by Congress to set those limits by the first of this year, but havenot yet done so.  They have dragged theirfeet because Republican Commissioners and Republicans in Congress oppose toughposition limits since they would also limit the amount of speculative profitthat can be made by the base of the Republican Party: Wall Street.
 
     The latest spike in oil prices shows usonce again, that our dependence on oil is a grave danger to our economy and ournational security.  That uprisings half aworld away can threaten our economic stability– at the same time they enrichoil giants – should send a clear signal. America has to free itself from our addiction to oil.
 
     It also demonstrates the danger posed toour economy by failure to effectively regulate Wall Street speculation. 
 
     But the Republicans not only want to givesubsidies to the oil companies, their spending plan would cut our investmentsin clean energy that would allow us to throw off the yoke of foreign oil.  H.R. 1 slashes key Department of Energy (DOE)programs that promote clean energy by about $1.7 billion – approximately a 23percent decrease from current levels. What’s more, they have included non-budget “riders” that gut the cleanair act.
 
     The Republicans are not only endangering oureconomic security.  They are endangeringour national security by guaranteeing we are held hostage by whoever happens tocontrol the oil fields thousands of miles from our shores.
 
    In fact, a good case can be made that theRepublican Party should register with the Justice Department as an agent of aforeign power: international oil companies that operate across the world’sborders, owe no allegiance to any country – and are perfectly happy tocompromise America’s economic and national security so they can continue tomake more and more money by siphoning dollars from the pockets of America’smiddle class.
 
     Boehner’s Republican Party is certainlyout of touch with everyday Americans – and its spending priorities endangerAmerica’s future.
     
Robert Creamer is a long-timepolitical organizer and strategist, and author of the book:  Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win,available on Amazon.com.

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