So gas prices are up again and I am wondering if President Obama is going to keep a campaign promise and install a windfall profits tax to the oil companies cause everyone knows that it is profit taking.
Robert has a valid point that if you tax the windfall profits of oil companies, they'll just pass the cost on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Those bastards are clever, and they'll always find a way to avoid paying any additional taxes and fees out of their bonus pool; no, they'll make the little guy pay for it.
The real solution, which other countries have done successfully, is to nationalize the oil industry. Regrettably, President Obama is not a socialist (Robert's prior claims to the contrary), and has no intention of taking the step that would truly fix the problem.
I believe that if Obama could nationalize the oil industry, he would. He has already done that to the auto industry so what makes you think he'll stop there?
For whatever reasons you think this is a good idea, you'd also have to consider that if you believe that nationalizing the oil industry is a good idea, then nationalizing all business must be a good idea. This wouldn't be America any more.
You praise other countries for nationalizing. Gee the last time I looked, gas prices in America were much, much less than these other countries. Think again.
I'm not sure when the last time Robert "looked" was, but it wasn't very thorough. Oil producing nations, which the U.S. is, that have nationalized their oil industries have lower prices than the U.S., even with the falling value of the dollar. The danger with a producer nationalizing the oil industry isn't that the prices will be too high; it's that the public gets so used to low oil prices that tremendous political pressure comes to subsidize them over time, which is bad for budgets and makes it harder to convert to other energy resources.
As for nationalizing all industry, that's absurd. For industries that are "too big to fail," though, it's inevitable. They'll either be nationalized or face fierce regulation, and nationalization is less harmful. There's an alternative solution to reducing the swing of boom/bust cycles that I'd fully support instead: expansion and aggressive enforcement of antitrust regulations. But conservatives decry all solutions, without suggesting any of their own except maintaining the status quo, which ain't gonna happen no matter which party is in charge.
So Tom, in your world where only industries "too big to fail" should be nationalized, who gets to define "too big to fail"? What's the tipping point? If a company is just below that tipping point, aren't they going push for the tipping point to be lower?
What does this argument have to do with oil companies anyways? They aren't exactly failing. In fact, they should be perceived as beacons of successful industry.
The truth is: No company or industry is too big to fail. Personal and corporate responsibility in a free society is what is necessary to keep it free. Less government, not more.
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So you're basically saying you want gas prices to go up even more.
Sure they will that is as usual typical Republican fear mongering. I expect no less from you.
Robert has a valid point that if you tax the windfall profits of oil companies, they'll just pass the cost on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Those bastards are clever, and they'll always find a way to avoid paying any additional taxes and fees out of their bonus pool; no, they'll make the little guy pay for it.
The real solution, which other countries have done successfully, is to nationalize the oil industry. Regrettably, President Obama is not a socialist (Robert's prior claims to the contrary), and has no intention of taking the step that would truly fix the problem.
Tom,
I believe that if Obama could nationalize the oil industry, he would. He has already done that to the auto industry so what makes you think he'll stop there?
For whatever reasons you think this is a good idea, you'd also have to consider that if you believe that nationalizing the oil industry is a good idea, then nationalizing all business must be a good idea. This wouldn't be America any more.
You praise other countries for nationalizing. Gee the last time I looked, gas prices in America were much, much less than these other countries. Think again.
I'm not sure when the last time Robert "looked" was, but it wasn't very thorough. Oil producing nations, which the U.S. is, that have nationalized their oil industries have lower prices than the U.S., even with the falling value of the dollar. The danger with a producer nationalizing the oil industry isn't that the prices will be too high; it's that the public gets so used to low oil prices that tremendous political pressure comes to subsidize them over time, which is bad for budgets and makes it harder to convert to other energy resources.
As for nationalizing all industry, that's absurd. For industries that are "too big to fail," though, it's inevitable. They'll either be nationalized or face fierce regulation, and nationalization is less harmful. There's an alternative solution to reducing the swing of boom/bust cycles that I'd fully support instead: expansion and aggressive enforcement of antitrust regulations. But conservatives decry all solutions, without suggesting any of their own except maintaining the status quo, which ain't gonna happen no matter which party is in charge.
So Tom, in your world where only industries "too big to fail" should be nationalized, who gets to define "too big to fail"? What's the tipping point? If a company is just below that tipping point, aren't they going push for the tipping point to be lower?
What does this argument have to do with oil companies anyways? They aren't exactly failing. In fact, they should be perceived as beacons of successful industry.
The truth is: No company or industry is too big to fail. Personal and corporate responsibility in a free society is what is necessary to keep it free. Less government, not more.
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