Keltorttruth

Does Big Oil's Apathy Justify Proposals to Tax Windfall Profits?

"This is where the balance between the responsibility to shareholders versus the responsibility to national interest comes into play? Where is the balance?"

Vikram, this statement is not one of a free market capitalist. You seem to get upset at the notion that you might be a socialist. Well, if the shoe fits.... Socialism has a "goal of goal of creating a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community."

I think, perhaps, you are an accidental socialist (i.e. you don't even realize that that's what you are) and that is why you keep harping on the fact that so many of the responses are idealogical rather than numbers based. Socialism vs. capitalism is, at its very core, an idealogical difference; thus your many responses.

As for the content of your article, let's look at a hypothetical. What if oil were to go back to $40/bbl, or even $50/bbl? Not so hard to believe, it was there back in 2004/5. Let's also say that XOM did re-invest all of its profits into alternatives which require $70-80/bbl oil to be competitive. As a share holder in XOM, how would you feel about that? Would you be shocked and outraged that you lost a great deal of your investment b/c an oil company was unable to make money in an industry with which they are not familiar in a declining price oil price environment? Would you also suggest that the government give them back the windfall profit taxes they took along w/ an official letter of apology?

Also, it doesn't seem fair to only count the dollars spent by "big oil" on alternatives. If you are right and there truly is a cost-competitive alternative out there, then all of the dollars that were not spent by big oil have just left an opportunity for other, better suited companies to fill in the gaps and invest; which they have, in a big way.

"The MAC Global Solar Energy Index has a combined market cap of almost $100 billion. The solar sector is growing rapidly, with Melvin & Company reporting a recent annual growth rate for the sector of 47% with a projected growth rate of 40% for the next several years."

There are similar ETF's and such for other energy alternatives.

The point is, there is a huge amount of investment being made in alternatives by alternative energy companies. Rather than propose a socialist agenda, why don't you suggest that your readers invest in oil and gas companies and take the profits they earn and invest them in alternative energy companies?

I can not believe that, even you, believe that the government will be more adept at developing alternative energy than the private sector or that an oil company will be more adept than an alternative energy company at developing alternative energy.