I wish I owned all the oil companies in the world. I’d go on TV tomorrow to announce my retirement;
Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a “Reasonable Profits Board” to control gas profits. […]
The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding “a reasonable profit.” It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.
The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members “shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board.”
But that’s all just crazy talk!
Looks like the community organizer-in-chief is working for the global economy. Just look at the latest US military contract that went to Brazil.
Right out of “Atlas Shrugged”. Ayn Rand was SOOOOO right.
Because Jimmy Carters windfall tax scheme worked out so well…
According to CNN Fortune (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/performers/industries/profits/), Crude oil production ranks 9th on return on revenues and refining is down at 36th. Clearly out of wack, if only there where like the software industry and made double what the O&G companies do, oh wait…
Attacking the successful is easy, fixing the problems why more are not successful is a lot harder.
Wesley Mouch is the person you are looking for.
Democrats are fascists….as are all leftists.
Seems that things like this have been tried before.
“Most cruel joke of all, however, has been played by Hitler & Co. on those German capitalists and small businessmen who once backed National Socialism as a means of saving Germany’s bourgeois economic structure from radicalism. The Nazi credo that the individual belongs to the state also applies to business. Some businesses have been confiscated outright, on other what amounts to a capital tax has been levied. PROFITS HAVE BEEN STRICTLY CONTROLLED. Some idea of the increasing Governmental control and interference in business could be deduced from the fact that 80% of all building and 50% of all industrial orders in Germany originated last year with the Government. Hard-pressed for food- stuffs as well as funds, the Nazi regime has taken over large estates and in many instances collectivized agriculture, a procedure fundamentally similar to Russian Communism.”
(Source: Time Magazine; January 2, 1939.)
Watch for this to be added – companies which don’t meet the threshold will be fined for being incompetent.
“Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a “Reasonable Profits Board” to control gas profits. […]”
Lenin would have agreed, as well as Hitler with both initiatives.
If Mobama gets re-elected, be afraid. Be very afraid.
What a bunch of thugs.
Fuel and energy from for profit companies costs the average low to moderate income family ~10% of their income. They can drive less or buy a more fuel efficient car if the price is to high. That same low-moderate income family pays 25% of their income for health care coverage and another 10% for out of pocket medical expenses in the US. Which of these two is the bigger financial burden for that family? Which of these two did the Dems legislate that the family must purchase as a consequence of being a citizen of the USA?
I was against SOPA until I heard the part about throwing Justin Bieber in jail.
Tax the h@ll out of the oil companies and they will just put the prices up. That’s good right?
Yes to Ayn Rand’s prescience in Atlas Shrugged! I won’t use the left’s wussy word “scary”. How ’bout Spooky.
I’m reading two bibles at the moment. The Bible Bible at night and in the morning, for a second time, the bible of “austrian” economics, Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action which is probably the very best thing you can do for your mental health in this MAD era.
As LvM might have dismissively put it, there is no need to offer an economic analysis of this absurd proposal.
I wonder how the board would define excess profits. A percentage? The average is around 9% now isn’t it? That’d strike everyone as reasonable so it won’t be a percentage. Perhaps they’ll assign an upper dollar limit on annual profits for each company. That’d be best because companies that reach their limit by, say, October, can just shut down for the rest of the year. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is now a recognized way of saying “insane legislator”.
Considering that only 7% of the world’s oil supply is controlled by Companies the other 93% is controlled by State Governments, I think the higher up the tree the monkeys climb the more we can see their ass.
Let’s me see if I have this straight…
With the Alberta oil sands, Marcellus and Attica gas shales, and Bakken formation, America has a golden opportunity to sever their dependency on middle eastern oil. Not only would this be a financial boon, but it would lessen the need to prop up despotic regimes and might even keep America out of a war or two.
And American politicians are seemingly doing everything they can to prevent it.
Kate’s right. Certifiably insane.
The Democrats have become hard watermelon as this proposal demonstrates but I doubt that even the Democrat-controlled Senate would pass that bill.
Dennis Kucinich should move North, take a few French lessons, and run the NDP. It would be like going back to the days of James Laxer vs David Lewis but with Laxer as the victor.
what a good idea. they will have to get a few Saudi’s on the commitee. sarc off.
I suggest as a tradeoff a “Reasonable Salary Board” to control politicians’ wages and benefits. Such a board will be independent and contain no politicians past or present to avoid any conflict of interest.
What are the chances of that passing?
The Dems aren’t smart enough to think these things up so quickly on their own. I suspect they are using “Atlas Shrugged” as a manual of instruction.
Because governments have proven themselves so adept at managing economic progress…
A little preventative blame game…Now that Obama has killed the Pipeline any price increase will be dumped on his ass…He can only hope that pricing doesn’t spike, but why not start the deflection just in case.. When you reach Dennis Kucinich you are very low in the barrel
Of course, having “no financial interest” means selling all the shares they hold in all energy and energy-related companies, right?
Like steel, construction, transport, financial houses…
Speaking of Atlas Shrugged, I just received my copy from Amazon.ca in the mail. When I finish watching that I can begin reading Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln”.
Communists “r” US
The answer to this, if it were enacted(not too likely), is for U.S. oil companies to move their head offices to Calgary and re-incorporate as Canadian companies.
Presumably there will also be a “reasonable losses” and “reasonable risks” board. While we’re at it let’s burn heretics at the stake and accuse people of witchcraft when it suits. I mean, if we’re going to be run by the mediaeval church . . .
I wonder if we could get the same thing for Hollywood films and actors?
What I would do (and I can’t see any reason why a company wouldn’t do this) is calculate the day on which we are making to much profit for the year and shut down operations. Pay everyone as if they were working, but don’t do any work. Don’t refine any Gas, don’t sell any in at the retail locations.
SHUT IT ALL DOWN.
The companies will end up no worse off than they otherwise would, HR becomes a LOT easier because everyone gets the same 4-8 month paid vacation.
From:
http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-billion-dollar-campaign-did-fundraising-hype-backfire-103200867.html
“Obama raised a “staggering” $250 million in 2011— but did the perception that Obama is on his way to $1 billion dissuade Dems from giving more?”
============
Reason is in the eye of the beholden.
What a great way to force oil stocks into the toilet!
Where is John Galt when you need him…
I wonder if we could get the same thing for Hollywood films and actors? The same can be said for professional sports players.
Where is John Galt when you need him…
…alive and well in Galt’s Gulch.
Don’t support things you believe are wrong, the choice is yours.
Another regulatory body doing what nanny does best. Insuring our economic demise. Excess profit to go to “Earth friendly” endevours. How noble. Shareholders in these energy companies must be jumping with joy and we can expect new Solynrdras to start lining up to help save Gaia with all the approval fast tracked by Omama. I smell Hope and Change in the making. Smells like full diapers but I’m sure that can be masked. Go Democrats. Keep coming up with these great ideas until November.
I am having a running argument with a guy at work. He gets all his news from the networks and PBS. He blames high gas prices on the greed of the oil companies. When I point out that only 7 cents or so of the price per gallon of gas is their profit, that other countries pay much more for their gas than we do, and that state and federal taxes take out a big chunk, he just gets mad. He now has a theory that the oil companies should just “drop” the price of gas by a dollar a gallon to see if it helps the economy. Oh yeah, he voted for Obama.
only 7 cents or so of the price per gallon of gas is their profit
Yes that’s the profit margin for local retailers where competition is high. The oil company profits are much greater, and what’s wrong with that. Oil keeps a lot of families fed with a roof over their heads in these tough economic times. The oil refineries running on Mexican and Canadian crude feedstock are not paying ‘world oil price’ for that crude, yet the price at the pumps is tied to that fictitious ‘world oil price’. Crude oil supplies in the US are at an all time surplus and the refineries are selling petro-products offshore at handsome profit margins. Oil companies know exactly how much they can charge and exactly how quickly they can increase prices before people reduce consumption. Of course you’re being ‘hosed’, that’s how capitalism works, get over it or use something else for transportation.
Have to agree with North of 60 on this one. Always amazes me how quickly the price at the pump will jump and how slow it comes back down. Long weekend coming ? Jump. Refinery shut down for any reason, anywhere. Jump. Opec talks about anything, related or not. Jump. Iran talks tough. Jump. On and on. Any excuse to crank the price. Eight gas stations in our town, all same price to the penny. Up and (seldom)down in harmony. I dont’t have the slightest doubt that we get screwed royally, but hey, we stay quiet and take it. We complain to each other instead of picking on one and boycotting them. We are the consumer and have the power but choose not to use it. Free enterprise means whaterver the traffic will bear and all the big oil companies know it.
“Considering that only 7% of the world’s oil supply is controlled by Companies the other 93% is controlled by State Governments”
That is the precise reason for the volatile and unpredictable nature of today’s oil and gas industry. When an industry falls into “unsafe hands” the result never favours the consumer of the good produced.
We complain to each other instead of picking on one and boycotting them. We are the consumer and have the power but choose not to use it.
I doubt that boycotting any specific retailer has any effect other than hurting our neighbor who runs that station. A few oil companies own the distribution, refineries and most of the wells supplying them. If we boycott one retailer and buy from another the refinery and distributor [where most of the profit is made] are not affected. The only effect we can have is if we use less and cut into their profit. Of course, as we see in the US, when domestic fuel consumption dropped the oil companies simply sold the surplus fuel to an international market for a higher profit margin. They’ve got us over a barrel and they know it. What we can do is use less and use it more efficiently, and invest in oil companies. That won’t affect the oil companies, but it does cut our out-of-pocket cost.
The other thing we can do is find out were our fuel comes from and where those refineries get their crude. It gives me a small amount of satisfaction knowing that all the fuel I use comes from N. American wells and refineries. No terrorist oil in my tank.
“Eight gas stations in our town, all same price to the penny.”
Would you expect anything else in a free competitive market environment?
All the fuel retailers in our town charge the same price. However the SuperStore gas bar gives a 3 cent per liter ‘credit coupon’ with card payment, that can be used in the store. That’s smart competitive marketing.
When I said boycott I did not mean as much at the local level as possibly on the provincial or even national level. Take Shell for example. If we all had support to boycott Shell (or pick any other) I’m sure they would pay attention and take it as fact that we are pissed off and have had enough. If they drop the price all others would follow. The one we should really go after is our governments for taxing the hell out of fuel. Everything in this country moves on wheels or wings and when the cost of moving same becomes prohibitive , the cost of living moves up accordingly. Ontario and BC carbon tax just adds insult to injury. A tax on nothing.
Interesting chart pertaining to the cost of fuel related to income.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/76802342/11-Trends-Over-Last-11-Years
In a small town with eight gas stations, each of them is keeping an eye on all the others. If one drops his price, the others quickly follow suit or lose customers.
Those gas stations don’t make money off the gas. They make pennies per sale on things like cigarettes and newspapers. They make their money selling coffee and candy bars at a steep markup, and only stock the rest of the stuff in the store to get you inside and keep you inside shopping longer.
The one we should really go after is our governments for taxing the hell out of fuel.
…and get the tax revenues from what other source, like increase income tax?
Fuel taxes are one of the most fair taxes. If you don’t use fuel or use less then you pay less tax. User pay taxes are the only fair way to tax people.
When I said boycott I did not mean as much at the local level as possibly on the provincial or even national level.
As I commented before, they don’t care if you buy their fuel or not, the rest of the world will buy what you don’t. The rest of the world pays more for fuel so it’s actually more profitable for the international oil companies.
Ontario and BC carbon tax just adds insult to injury. A tax on nothing.
That’s what happens when people vote LIB or NDP. Work to change the government.
Hollywood produces boring, unwatcheable dreck these days. Dreck, I say! I don’t care if it goes under.
As for this latest plan to bankrupt the nation and destroy its energy supply, well, I think it’s a fine idea. Why not?
Now if the taxpayer would fund all the marginal failed attempts oil companies risk while trying to make an honest buck off an economic success to pay the bills. I doubt there’s a government cheque in the mail anytime in my lifetime for that. This is the new Kyoto protocol to limit supply – kneecap the oil & gas companies before they can drill.