There was this thing recently . . . something called the Energy Bill with approximately $20B in incentives and subsidies? Corporate welfare at it's finest. Considering that energy companies are suffering from embarassing (literally) record profits . . . isn't it like giving Steve Case, Bill Gates, or Warren Buffett food stamps?

The benefits include the ability to write off some of the costs of exploring for oil -- a provision that will cost taxpayers $974 million over two years -- as well as another $406 million in tax write-offs to expand refineries. Industry officials say the tax incentives are needed to look for oil in places where it may be hard to reach or of uncertain quantity, but critics, including some free-market Republicans, say the oil industry should be putting its own, record-high profits into finding more energy sources.