June 15, 2008 6:00 AM

New Bedford Standard Times [1]

While Republicans in Congress and the White House are probably right that a tax on windfall profits earned by the big oil companies won't do anything to boost oil production or reduce the cost of oil, they miss an important point: Billions of dollars generated from the tax could be used to do something good for ordinary people who live in cold climates and who may be facing crippling heating oil bills next winter.

Some of the tax money could be used to fund research into renewable fuels, conservation and tax credits for people who buy more fuel-efficient cars or heating systems. A lot could go directly to people who otherwise will have to choose between freezing or starving.

But that is not how Republicans, particularly in an administration like this one stocked with oil men, do business. Business interests always come first because of bedrock belief in smaller government, lower taxes and a marketplace free from government interference whenever possible. And if you're poor, well, that's probably your own fault.

The problem is that the markets are not particularly fair; are subject to manipu-lation that is against the common wealth of entire nations; and have been skewed by lobbyists of every stripe in favor of moneyed-special interests.

That is why the taxpayers can be expected to bail out the banks when they make hundreds of billions in bad loans while the individual homeowner can expect to be hung out to dry when he or she can't make the mortgage payment.

So big oil gets tax breaks and rewards its friends in Congress and the White House who are content to watch the evisceration of the middle class without concern about the political and social upheaval that might cause.

If that doesn't make you angry, then consider Republican opposition to extending the duration of unemployment benefits by 13 weeks as the country sheds jobs. Their reasoning is that, in other downtowns, the unemployment rate was higher before Washington took similar steps to help the unemployed.

This must be the "compass-ionate conservatism" that somehow convinced U.S. voters that the George W. Bush branch of the Republican Party knew what it was doing in running the economy. Take care of U.S. business interests, and they'll take care of the country. That was their motto.

Look where it's gotten us.