WELCOME TO DICK CHENEY'S BUNKER:

Obama shelves oil company tax after price fall: aide (Jeff Mason and Tom Doggett, 12/02/08, Reuters)

President-elect Barack Obama is not planning to implement a windfall profit tax on oil companies because prices have dropped below $80 a barrel, an aide said on Tuesday.

"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an aide on Obama's transition team said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."

Too bad he's an idea-free pol, because now would be the ideal moment to impose a big gas tax (though on consumption, not profits).

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 3, 2008 7:07 PM