Obama's war against Texas

Houston Chronicle:

President Barack Obama’s newly released budget deals a political blow to two pillars of the Houston economy — the energy industry and NASA.

The 2010 spending blueprint, released with great fanfare at the White House on Thursday, targets the energy sector with higher taxes and increased regulation. And it does not extend the life of NASA’s space shuttle beyond next year’s retirement.

Obama proposes to raise $2 billion in the 2011 budget year by ending what he describes as “oil and gas company preferences” ranging from depreciation of oil and natural gas wells to tax deductions for intangible drilling costs such as repairs and hauling supplies.

The president’s budget outline also seeks to impose a new excise tax on Gulf of Mexico drilling leases, create a use-it-or-lose-it fee on existing leases, add new user fees for processing oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands, and end manufacturing tax deductions for oil and natural gas companies.

Energy producers would fund much of the cost of the administration’s “cap-and-trade” system to cut greenhouse gas emissions, an estimated $79 billion in 2012.

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It appears that Obama is setting out to destroy the economy of the state that has the best job of avoiding the current recession. It is the state that produced over half the new jobs in the last two years. Obama's policies will make it more difficult for Texas businesses while money will be given to liberals who have screw up their states.

Instead of taking advantage of the economic boost from increased energy production, Obama is trying to punish existing production and he is blowing off the jobs and revenue that would be generated by increased domestic production.

Trading real energy for "magic" energy is a good way to waste time and money. The environmental energy hate groups appear to be in charge of the Obama asylum.

If you were serious about a stimulus, NASA would be a good investment. The spin offs from the space program have been much more beneficial than the spin offs from sinkhole investments in the welfare state.