I know I'm kicking a dead horse here, but until we (the State) start turning a profit selling a half a million barrels of oil a day, we're going to have this problem. Last year, the State paid out 3/4 of a billion dollars more to this industry than we generated in revenue, and the latest forecasts I've heard is that we're on track to pay over a billion this year.

Most businessmen would shut down an enterprise that was taking those kinds of losses, and the State would be wise to shut down this enterprise until it can turn a profit (or at least a break even situation exists) selling its natural resources. But there are those who champion the notion of "free enterprise" and " capitalism" who don't seem to understand (or choose to be willfully ignorant) that corporate welfare hurts the State and its citizenry. It does however benefit London and Houston based corporations.

To say that multinational corporations have undue influence on our government is an understatement.