prices. The gas industry is a very generous industry for politicians and in turn very prosperous in reaping the benefits. In the '98 election cycle, gas companies gave over $22 million in soft money contributions. This huge contribution gave gas companies a long list of tax breaks created by a Congress that is supposed to be the best money can buy. One of their tax breaks is a "percentage depletion" deduction. It allows companies to deduct a flat percentage of their gross revenues but because this is not based on actual costs for their property, companies will often deduct more than their actual costs. In all, these tax breaks cost over $3.2 billion a year, according to Citizens for Tax Justice. Wow! When will these gas prices go down?This is just only a small portion of the pie. The mining industry, the computer industry, cable companies, phone companies, the list goes on and on. Money coming from these groups risking the chance of using that money in order to maybe build up their company instead donating it to political parties reaps a greater benefit from their opportunity cost. As college students, money is probably the most sought after necessity. So who takes advantage of our dilemmas? Credit card companies of course. Now the way they get to you is often by paying off your college or university. One example is MBNA American Bank, one of the credit card giants, funded a career center at Georgetown University and has also funded a grant for a cultural arts center. End result leads to MBNA getting a list of student names to market their cards. In politics, that's the whole idea with the process of soft money and how special interest groups get what they want. By "showing them the money," candidates are able to have the necessary funds to win their election. With the money pouring out from these credit card companies to these congressmen and women, these same companies end up benefiting from their opportunity cost with credit laws and...
