With oil trading at below $50 bbl and OPEC apparently unwilling to cut production very much, the Obama team is quietly shelving one of the cornerstones of their economic program - a "windfall profits tax" on the oil companies.Do the math. Obama was expecting hundreds of billions of dollars from this tax to fund his social welfare schemes. He either must shelve almost all of his program (the rest of the money was going to come from increasing taxes on the "rich" - another plan shelved for the moment) or raise taxes on everybody - substantially.From 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...(Read Full Post)