Obama ditches widfall profits tax on the oil companys

[badbullgator]

I suppose all the folks who wanted to impose a "windfall profits tax" when the price of oil was $140 a barrel are now willing to impose the inverse and give them a huge tax break since it's now $50 a barrel. Or not.

good point
I don't think that will happen, but at $1.59/gal I have been running my boat through enough to warm the earth....
still trying to do my part to offset the carbon offsets people are dumb enough to buy

[Hoosier]

One thing I don't get,is people wanting to rape the oil companies, when their 401k's probably have a lot of oil stock in them. Your stealing from yourself. I guess it makes them feel better to know some rich guy at the top had it taken away from him. Then it gets added on at the pump.

[Buzz]

Wrong answer, you can also do it 100% where your competition is also paying and passing on those taxes as well, if all the competition is domestic.

Then the are not truly in competition.

[Steve Amrein]

One of the key elements of this discusion is that even the billions in profit being made and at a record amount the percent of profit is whats missing. Just because they made billions in profit does not necessarily make the percent of profit high. I thought last quarter was arond 10 or 11 percent. BFD. I think wally mart and microsoft did around 20% .I made 13% profit last year so does that make me qualify to have a windfall profit tax levied against me as well. How about the years I did not make a profit unless I missed it I did not get a windfall loss check. I think that the oil companies have been made to look evil. Use oil or not its your choice but right now the world runs on gas and oil.

BTW how come every day when gas went up it was the leading story and now that its going down I never hear about it.

[Bruce MacPherson]

Yes, heaven forbid a leader make a pragmatic decision to change his mind based on a change in circumstances. I think Obama should just stay the course based on what he said during his campaign or what his gut tells him rather than take a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to leading this country based on reality. The record is clear that leading by ideology and your gut despite a change in circumstances is a far superior approach.

I will admuit that my post may have come across to some as sarcastic, it may have been although not totally. My concern about Obama was, and continues to be, the depth of his ideology.I did not drink the cool aid so I am not yet convinced that he has the depth of experience nor the business acumen to effectively lead this country during these trying times.
Some of his recent appointments and comments provide at least a glimmer of hope.

[IowaBayDog]

Then the are not truly in competition.

They aren't truly in competition because they are all subject to the same tax code

[Buzz]

They aren't truly in competition because they are all subject to the same tax code

No, I'm saying that if they would all pass 100% of a cost increase on to the consumer, and none of them is willing to eat some cost in order to increase sales, then that's not competition.

[Marvin S]

No, I'm saying that if they would all pass 100% of a cost increase on to the consumer, and none of them is willing to eat some cost in order to increase sales, then that's not competition.

You may not have competition in Brookings, SD but out here in a Blue state we have plenty of competition. It is not unusual to find a 40 cent difference in a twenty mile trip. We have a string of stations that are consistently less expensive than others which get our business.

[M Remington]

One thing I don't get,is people wanting to rape the oil companies, when their 401k's probably have a lot of oil stock in them. Your stealing from yourself. I guess it makes them feel better to know some rich guy at the top had it taken away from him. Then it gets added on at the pump.

People want to rape the oil companies because they claim that gasoline costs are beyond their control, post the highest net profits ever, and receive government tax breaks.

[Henry V]

One of the key elements of this discusion is that even the billions in profit being made and at a record amount the percent of profit is whats missing. Just because they made billions in profit does not necessarily make the percent of profit high. I thought last quarter was arond 10 or 11 percent. BFD. I think wally mart and microsoft did around 20% .I made 13% profit last year so does that make me qualify to have a windfall profit tax levied against me as well. How about the years I did not make a profit unless I missed it I did not get a windfall loss check. I think that the oil companies have been made to look evil. Use oil or not its your choice but right now the world runs on gas and oil.

BTW how come every day when gas went up it was the leading story and now that its going down I never hear about it.

I understand your argument on the percentage of profit and you are correct from my point of view. What seems to be missing in this discussion is what percentage of their profits is made from extracting a "public resource". Isn't most all the coastal oil, Alaskan oil, Gulf oil, etc. produced in the U.S. actually owned by us? Are U.S. citizens getting paid enough for the leases to extract our oil? Maybe we need to raise the lease fees or the lease cost should be indexed to the price of oil? The same goes for natural gas extraction. Maybe it is indexed already but I seem to recall that there is a flat fee????

I have seen gas prices on the news quite a lately. I was wondering why the price hasn't jumped. Isn't it this time of year that they are always "switching to a winter blend" which causes a price increase. I guess not this year.