DIRECTIVE 10-289 STRIKES AGAIN!

Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski has shown himself to be one of the most idiotic people in government today. As we have all heard, BP has shut down it’s Prudhoe oil fields because of concerns over the integrity of the pipelines that carry that oil to the Alaska Pipeline. In doing so, BP’s oil revenues have dropped sharply (hey, what do you expect when you’re not shipping any oil). Additionally, much to Gov. Murkowski’s chagrin, Alaska has also seen a drop in tax and royalty revenue from these lost sales. This from CBS News:

“The expected loss of 400,000 barrels per day at today's oil prices means the state is losing about $6.4 million a day in royalties and taxes, Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus said. The state receives 89 percent of its income from oil revenue.”

So, what is Murkowski’s great idea?

“The governor also said he would direct the attorney general to investigate the "state's right to hold BP fully accountable for losses to the state."”

“Losses to the state”? Murkowski seems to think it’s BP’s, a private concern, duty to continue to produce because the state is entitled to it’s “fair share” of the companies profits (in the form of taxes). That’s just patently offensive! Ayn Rand wrote about this in Atlas Shrugged over 50 years ago – it was called National Directive 10-289. Point 5 said in part:

“Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as is, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more or no less.”

Scary stuff, people, scary stuff.