Last Stop On The Gravy Train

Joe Doakes from Como Park writes:

Ah, political season, and the start of neutral, objective, even-handed news reporting in the Minneapolis paper.

The Strib’s headline reads “Oil refineries seek huge tax refunds that could force schools to give back money”, and as Joe notes…:

They couldn’t have been any cruder if they’d said: “GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry taking money from schools to give to oil companies.”

It’s the perfect Progressive attack headline.

Naturally, the story is written in modern techno-thriller style: start with an explosive scene, randomly jump around introducing characters without any context, play up the human tragedy about to unfold unless a hero steps in, blame the usual villains.

It does read a little like someone who didn’t make the cut as a writer for “24” is slumming as a journo…

The story is much less compelling if laid out in a logical format.

  1. There’s crude oil under the ground in Texas.
  2. Crude oil must be refined to be useable as gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.
  3. Hauling crude oil to the refinery is expensive, so
  4. Oil companies built refineries in Texas near the oil fields
  5. People who wanted good-paying jobs came to work for the refineries
  6. Merchants who wanted to sell things to high-paid oil refinery employees built stores near the refineries
  7. Refinery employees, merchants and merchants’ employees built houses near the refineries and started raising kids
  8. The kids needed to go to schools, built near the homes that were built near the refineries
  9. Schools are expensive and are paid for from local property taxes
  10. Property taxes are based on local valuation and refineries are valuable so they paid huge property taxes
  11. Huge property tax payments by refineries meant lower property taxes levied on homes, paid by employees
  12. School districts got used to funding schools with huge property tax payments by refineries
  13. Merchant and employee property tax payers got used to living large on the refineries’ dime
  14. But federal law requires refineries to invest in pollution equipment
  15. And state law gives a tax refund to refineries that invest in pollution equipment
  16. So refineries that did invest in pollution equipment, filed for refunds
  17. Refunding money to refineries would reduce their huge property tax payments
  18. The money refunded to refineries cannot be given to school districts
  19. School districts will have to cut spending or raise local property taxes to make up the shortfall
  20. The state, knowing this, denied the refund claims, which were appealed
  21. The governor appointed a commission to study the problem
  22. The governor is Rick Perry, Republican candidate for President
  23. The governor’s hand-selected commission is leaning toward giving the refunds; therefore
  24. Rick Perry is taking money from schools to give to oil companies

It is a lot more mundane.  It’d sell fewer papers – or get fewer people inflamed against the GOP, whichever.

Well, I guess, in a way, the headline is half-assed, sort-of-true. Good enough for the Star Tribune.

But the entire thing could have been summed up more succinctly as:

“Gravy train ending, women and minorities hurt worst.”

Hell, that’s not news.

But it is campaign material.

5 thoughts on “Last Stop On The Gravy Train

  1. I have a friend on FB who commented on this very story with grand amounts of liberal snark:

    “Ah, c’mon you whiney Texans. They’re just school kids, and what’s a little toxic waste and unbreathable air gonna hurt? Seriously, major corporations like oil refineries and tobacco companies wouldn’t lie. . .

    Better start the bake sales tomorrow. I hear the Turtle Creek area of Dallas has a ton of new oil money coming in soon.”

    I’d reply to his comment with Doakes’ outline, but we’re working together in my son’s cub scout pack and I don’t want to bring our vehemently opposing politics into that mix. 🙁

  2. WOW, Bill. I’m surprised that liberats even particpate in Scouting. After all, those American institutions represent our country at its’ finest, which is contradictory to their beliefs.

  3. Yeah, even more ironic: The scout pack meets at the Catholic school that both his and my kids attend. From what I can see from his FB profile, he considers himself a fairly committed and staunch Catholic. If we do ever get into a philosophical discussion, I’ll have to ask him how he squares something as seemingly personal as his religion with his political beliefs, specifically being pro-choice and supporting anything and everything gay (including gay marriage), both of which the Catholic church has DECADES of official statements condemning. Also belonging to an organization that expressly prohibits gay men from serving in it.

    I’m expecting the typical interventionist response of “hoping to change the knuckle-dragging from inside the church/bring it into the 21st century”. etc. etc.

  4. St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg has come out with a Crunch Index for measuring the impact of taxes on driving down the economy. He is right on!

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