The "Low Profit Margin Tax?"

[...] Here’s a great article (linking to a WSJ article) about the demagoguery related to purported windfall profits for Oil Companies. It’s ironic that household appliance makers (who almost doubled the profit margin of “BigOil”) aren’t being vilified by the Left. [...]

Do we live in a free market economy or in the former USSR? When the government starts deciding for us who should make a profit and how much of a profit private business makes, that is called communist socialism. I believe Abe Lincoln said the government should not be allowed to determine who can or cannot be rich. Yes we need alternative energy and to be better stewards of our environment but windfall taxes will only hurt the people purchasing any item because the companies being taxed will pass the costs on to the consumers.

This smells more like the "Socialist" profit tax than the "Windfall" profit tax. Okay Obamahood, steal from the rich to give the poor. Perhaps we can apply this to trial attorneys and those who are the primary for class action lawsuits?

I agree with Dr. Mike completely. I have to wonder what our world would be like if the Exxon's all said "Without a reasonable return for our investors (because of the onerous tax burden), we are going out of the oil business. We will be firing hundreds of thousands of employees, bankrupting many of our suppliers, stopping all capital investments and shutting down our production of the oil products which are heartblood of this industrial and consumer-based nation. We will no longer assume the financial risks of exploration and development or the headaches of production." Perhaps Obama can figure out how to supply the nation with oil but he will have to hurry because this nation will grind to an immediate halt without it. For God's sake, why doesn't he put a tax on motherhood as well? We cannot solve any of our problems by killing the goose which lays the golden egg. I am very frightened of our politicians, never moreso in my life!

A windfall profits tax will do nothing in the long-term to address the energy problem. Let's play a game and suppose that Obama and the Democrats implement a version of their plan. Let's err on the liberal side (ahem...) and say that oil's profit margin is 10% (I've seen lower estimates). Finally, let's take all of their profit away. What happens? My gallon of gas that currently costs $4.00 is now $3.60. Whoop-de-doo! It used to cost less than $2 a gallon a couple of years ago so I'm still paying significantly more than I used to even if you take away all of "Big Oil's" profits. This is an "energy plan"??? If B.O. (Barack Obama) planned to take all of this money and invest it in alternative energy, he might be able to mount a defense. But no, he wants to give it back to the people. I'm all for more money in my pocket and not in the government's, but again... this is supposed to be an energy plan! How does it solve our future energy problems? All B.O. could do at the most is take 40 cents off of each gallon of my gas and undermine the oil industry while doing so. I think I'll seek my answers elsewhere.

Obama is brilliant! If Big Oil wants to open up a bunch of our shorelines and public lands to drilling, burst they must share the wealth with the American working families who made them rich. ExxonMobile just had the best quarter of any American company ever. They made $90,000 a minute! You want to drill our fragile coasts? Share the wealth with those of us in the middle class who are hurting. Simple message. Now Obama truly has Republicans "over a barrel."

Quote: while we’re here, not only did the price increases that Big Oil dropped on the rest of us cripple our collective confidence and force us to make lifestyle changes, that industry will continue to be one of the largest contributors to climate change until every last drop of liquid gold has been extracted from the earth and burned. and climate change is the biggest risk factor that all of us face in making our day-to-day decisions about how to spend our money. legal action against that kind of business is appropriate, if you ask me. I am sorry but your lack of intelligence is appalling. It's obvious that you know Nothing about how oil is priced. It's market based not the oil companies pulling a number from their real ends to gouge us at the pump. Lastly, enough of pushing your religion of global warming fanaticism. Temperatures have not increased dramatically, and we are not going to be underwater from the so called melting ice caps. Please get over it already

people shouldn't be upset when the rise in the cost of oil (exacerbated by the excesses of Exxon's profit motive) put their lifestyles out of business? also, comparing Big Oil to pharmaceuticals is not valid, because Big Oil made an awful lot of money at the expense of practically every American's standard of living last quarter, where pharmaceuticals made a lot of money improving our collective quality of life. while we're here, not only did the price increases that Big Oil dropped on the rest of us cripple our collective confidence and force us to make lifestyle changes, that industry will continue to be one of the largest contributors to climate change until every last drop of liquid gold has been extracted from the earth and burned. and climate change is the biggest risk factor that all of us face in making our day-to-day decisions about how to spend our money. legal action against that kind of business is appropriate, if you ask me.

A main Democrat talking point is the 68 million acres the oil companies are not drilling. I'm sure they have found no oil on these lands, but that needs to be repeated, if true. Also, you need to break down the profit the oil comapnies make so the average person can see for theselves that the true profit is only 10%. Democrats have no idea of how markets work. You should remind readers that the oil companies take all the risks and produce the fuel for us. Gasoline is high but at least it is plentiful. I don't think the average person is going to "get it" until Obama is elected and the Democrats punish the oil companies with predictable results. Oil will become much more expensive. The oil executives, being much smarter than the average politician, are buying back shares of their stock. They must realize that the train wreck Democrats are brewing will mean higher share prices for their stocks along with very high gasoline prices for us. If the heat becomes too unbearable, why wouldn't the oil companies move to a more friendly country like Dubai?

Here is the real issue in my mind: Refineries. There is not enough capacity to refione oil here in America simply because the oil companies want to go with "just in time" delivery like many companies do. For any normal company this is fine, if the supply of product gets interrupted, there are other choices on the market and consumers can go with other choices. Our Nations economy is at stake, this is a national issue that affects our economy, and for us to even be in this position is an outrage and an indictment of the Bush administration and the 6 years he had a solid Republican House and Senate. If there is a pin hole in a tanker on the other side of the planet, prices go up imediately, this is because there is no reserve capacity to refine and store gasoline, and this is no aaccident and is by design. Off shore drilling will not increase the refinery capacity, it is a shill for an election year that may well play with the fed up public struggling with high fuel prices, but it will only buy us an election at best, and will not solve the problems we face as a country. This is a National Security issue, not a political gotcha game, an almost 12 Billion dollar profit taken from the backs of hard working Americans is obscene, and from the one energy source that keeps our country running and our economic engine going, to even be in this position is to acknowledge the complete failure of our Government and it's incompetence.