Democrats – Lets Confiscate Big Oil Profits

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Here is Hillary speaking about the big bad oil companies recently. She tells us that she wants to confiscate the profits of the oil company and put it towards greener energy sources. Nothing Communist about confiscating profits right?

Here is the messiah on the same subject:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama called for a windfall tax on oil company profits Friday, as pump prices in the United States hit a new record high.

“For the well-off in this country, high gas prices are mostly an annoyance. But to most Americans, they’re a huge problem, bordering on a crisis,” he told reporters at a gas station in Indiana, where he is campaigning.

According to the automobile association AAA, the average price of a gallon (3.78 liters) of gas reached a record 3.58 dollars Friday.

Obama proposes oil companies be taxed on windfall profits from oil sold at or above 80 dollars a barrel, and the revenue be used to help relieve the burden of rising prices on working people, according to his campaign.

But lets look at those profits….those evil profits in this capitalist society. Ed Morrissey:

The industry did make $150 billion in profit, but that came from more than $1.7 trillion in sales. Their profit margin came to a whopping 8.3%, which underperformed the entire manufacturing sector as a whole. For investors in the oil industry, and 8.3% return on investment doesn’t exactly equate to screamingly fabulous growth, especially when looking at pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverage makers (19.1%).

An 8.3% profit margin is something to scream about? Are you kidding me?

But it sounds good to the nutroots, it gets the enviro nuts hopping mad and out to the street to drum up signatures….its all politics.

Investors Business Daily did a editorial the other day that tackled the Socialist twins ideas:

Congress seems almost constantly at war with the oil companies — slapping them with taxes and pillorying their CEOs while ignoring the fact that higher profits lead to more exploration, drilling and development.

If anyone is to blame for our current energy mess, it’s Congress. At least 20 billion barrels of oil sit untapped in Alaska and another 30 billion lie offshore. Such sources that could help satisfy U.S. demand for years to come. Yet, Congress has put them out of bounds.

Instead, Congress scapegoats oil profits. In reality, according to Ernst & Young, from 1992 to 2006 the U.S. oil industry spent $1.25 trillion on long-term investment vs. profits of $900 billion.

Truth is, oil industry profits are in line with the rest of American industry. In 2007, a record year, they earned 8.3 cents per dollar of sales. Beverage companies and cigarette makers, by contrast, earned 19.1 cents. Drug makers, 18.4 cents. Indeed, all manufacturers, 8.9 cents on average, made more than “Big Oil.”

Besides, we’ve tried windfall profits taxes before, in the early 1980s, and they were an utter failure. As the Congressional Research Service found, revenues produced for the government were nearly 75% below what was expected. Meanwhile, domestic oil output fell 8%, while oil imports surged 16%.

That’s just poor policy, and even worse economics.

Remember: Oil companies don’t really pay “windfall profit” taxes, anyway. You do.

Basic economics. A business doesn’t stay afloat without profits and if their profits are taxed even more they will pass that on to the consumer to ensure they make a reasonable profit. 8.3% is more then reasonable….except to the nutroots.

At least we know one guy who isn’t buying into the Communism:

Republican candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator, has no plan to raise oil and gas industry taxes, said his economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

Oil companies would still have ample reason to “continue to pursue production, while at the same time providing relief to consumers,” Grumet said.

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Wait a minute……..when does “the President” get to decide who can make money and how much? What Empire do these guys think they will rule? Any body knows that the only thing that will bring the price of oil down and will also bring the transportation of food down is more oil. Why won’t more people shout from the roof tops……the Dems are in control of the legislation that has caused this mess. More Dems will only make it worse. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

The number one company that is developing green energy is British Petroleum. The Democrats aren’t the best at green energy because the complain about wind and hydro energy. Also many so called oil companies have renamed themselves energy companies because that’s what there overall objective is. Some “oil” companies have gone into the alternative energy business in order to hedge their profits. If oil becomes too expensive resulting in fewer customers, their alternative energy line will be more profitable.

Here Texaco launched a plan to save oil (it took one barrel of oil to get three barrels out of the ground) by going solar.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn13948.htm

The updated story:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=6379

What frustrates me about all this is not so much that it’s being said, we all know what it means and the ones saying it, definitely know what they are saying (socialism).

Frustrating are the the minion who vote democrat a don’t even understand the difference between a free market and communism… that is the sad part and that is why this crap flies… it’s only 9 in the morning and I already need a drink….. *sigh*

It sure is a laugh when all of the problems of the country can be blamed on the Democrats having a slim majority in the Senate and a good majority in the House for all of 15 months.

You have it all wrong John
Everything thats wrong with this country can be traced to a slow erosion of our society by liberalism via activist courts and 60’s radicals….

“It sure is a laugh when all of the problems of the country can be blamed on the Democrats having a slim majority in the Senate and a good majority in the House for all of 15 months.”

Which has enabled them to grind any reasonable legislation to a halt. Now, let’s take a look at how things have been for the last 40 years.

1969 – Present
91st Congress Democratic majority, both houses
92nd Democratic majority, both houses
93rd – Democratic majority, both houses
94th – Democratic majority, both houses
95th – Democratic majority, both houses
96th – Democratic majority, both houses
97th – Republican House, Democratic Senate
98th – Republican Senate, Democrat house
99th – Republican Senate, Democrat house
100th – Democratic majority, both houses
101st – Democratic majority, both houses
102nd – Democratic majority, both houses
103rd – Democratic majority, both houses
104th – Republican majority, both houses
105th – Republican majority, both houses
106th – Republican majority, both houses
107th – Republican majority, both houses but then Senate became Democratic
108th – Republican majority, both houses
109th – Republican majority, both houses
110th – Democratic majority, both houses

Take note of the years that the Republicans gained control of both houses and what has been said about those years. That would have been under the Clinton administration. And I know I’ll “hear a yeah, but, what about after that?” There was this little thing that happened on 9/11/2001.

Should we talk about Jimmy Carter (D-GA) and things like nature preserves in Alaska, Hostage crisis in Iran, High inflation, Oil shortages, Panama Canal turnovers, SALT talks?

How many of those Democratic representatives have been around those 40 years accruing power? Don’t get me wrong, there’s enough blame to be spread around. If I had my way, I would tar and feather every one of them and run them out of town. The next thing implemented would be term limits.

(edit: I forgot to add in Carter’s Department of Education (how’s that working out?) and Department of Energy)

All those” evil oil companies making obscene profits”, yet not a peep about lowering the obscene taxes levied on a gallon of gas… The average tax on a gallon of gas (from July of last year, it’s more now) is .49 cents.

They should take the first step towards helping the little guy if they really mean it. Never tell someone to do something which you are not willing to do yourself!

http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/upload/Jan08MFTNotes.pdf

She tells us that she wants to confiscate the profits of the oil company and put it towards greener energy sources. Nothing Communist about confiscating profits right?

Actually this comes straight out of the NAZI playbook – Demand 14:

We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.

Hillary’s solution: Confiscation. It requires a legal basis to confiscate earnings, property, etc. And, the law, by definition, abhors confiscation and forfeiture. The last time any attempt was made to have the oil companies’ profit and/or earnings seized by confiscation ended up being a courtroom fiasco. The jury came back with the verdict in favor of the oil companies. Reason: did not meet the burden of proof.

Obama’s solution: Windfall profit tax. The last time Congress enacted a windfall profit tax on oil, guess who ended up paying that tax??? It was passed along to all of us. But, let’s go beyond this to Obama’s reasoning. He assumes the oil companies has tacked on an additional mark-up on oil prices above $80 a barrel. The current oil prices are result of gross speculation (can you say George Soros and Warren Buffet?), over reaction to weather events, over reaction to world events, etc.

Sounds like more of the tired, old solutions.

RedPlanetCartoons have the Dems pegged.

They quote Thomas Sowell from April 2006 as saying, …

“Ironically, the people who are making the most noise about the high price of gasoline are the very people who have for years blocked every attempt to increase our own oil supply. They have opposed drilling for oil off the Atlantic coast, off the Pacific coast, or in Alaska. They have prevented the building of any new oil refineries anywhere for decades.

They have fought against the building of hydroelectric dams or nuclear power plants to generate electricity without the use of oil. They love to talk about their own pet “alternative energy sources,” without the slightest attention to what these would cost in terms of money, jobs, or our national standard of living.

Even when one of their pet “alternative energy sources” — windmills — is proposed to be built near them, suddenly it is not right to spoil their view.”

And, it’s as true now as it was then.

Here’s a great summary of various facets of the problem.