forwoodenboats

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

Good, informative response, Saul.
Thanks

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

Thanks for the links, Saul.
It appears there was, during times of war - 1st enacted in 1863 by the Confederate Army (Slave Owning Southern Democrats, what a surprise!) - and the government later experimented with taxing companies who were either profiteering off the war(s) or at other times when an entity was making in excess of a set standard, neither of which are relevant in this case.
The government has not set a standard for excess profits, so they have no standing to use that as a reason. Indeed, there are many companies and individuals which operate on a much higher margin - look at the gain in income percentage for the Obamas and Clintons lately - Both O and Ms O had their income increase over 100% in one year, Mr. C suddenly made 20 million for God knows what in Dubai, and where in the world did Ms C pop up with 5 million to lend her campaign on her salary?
In short, the Excess Profit Tax did not set a precedent for attacking one industry whilst leaving other, more profitable industries alone when it was in effect (AFAIK), and there is no EPT in this country at this time.
I look forward to the rest of your answers - especially if you care to address the obvious market manipulation factors.
Whether this market manipulation is strictly for political power plays, fame or for fortune could be considered irrelevant, as it is without a doubt intended to interfere with and harm the oil companies, and the American Citizens (and maybe even some Citizens of the World) who own them.

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

Saul, while I appreciate you taking the time to explain yourself, I am still completely at odds with your position on "windfall taxes", or whatever you want to call them.
The context the term is being used in by Hillary, Obama, and the vast majority of the Democrat party is one of confiscation of capital and of nationalization of refineries.
This is exactly what Communist leaders like Hugo Chavez and totalitarian dictators such as Saddam Hussein have done. I don't know if Castro had an oil well or refinery, but he "freed" his people of their possesions as soon as he had the political power to do so.
If you want to take the time to give a dissertation on the semantics of the name these politicians have affixed to confiscating personal property, have at it.
You say "Windfall profit tax" is an incorrect term, yet it is the one you used, and in the same context as the one the D candidates and both D sides of their respective houses of congress are using to demonize American companies, affix the blame for the current crisis on these companies when it is and was clearly the fault of the democrat leadership that caused this shortage, then add insult to injury by trying to raise political capital from this heinous deceit by confiscating American Investor held funds, and redistribute them as political gifts to potential voters in the heat of a presidential election.
Can you not see where arbitrarily suggesting that one oil industry company might be ripe for a windfall profit tax in the heated environment caused by these 2 pandering candidates and thier majority collegues might result in a clubbing?
BTW, please quote your source for "excess profit tax being reserved for wartime, etc."

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

Saul, you wrote what you wanted to say, which was

"Pundits are likely to conclude that there is room here for a windfall tax and I would be inclined to agree. Obviously, there is not enough competition in the rig business."

By your OWN words, you clearly buy the "windfall profits tax" scam, AND state a sample of the criteria by which this confiscation would be found agreeable.

There's nothing opaque with your writing, you're just in the wrong country is all. You should be writing for Pravda, or some other government nationalized rag.

Houston to Obama: Smell the Oil

Saul, you start off with some good points, but then you pick a company that you do think would be eligible for "windfall taxes", i.e., confiscation of personal property without just compensation.
WTH gives you the right to judge who's property gets confiscated, the right to arbitrarily concoct a formula based on your personal whim, and the authority to discern it's relative morality?

We know why the odd couple of Hillary & Obama (for clarity purposes, we'll just refer to them as "HO") want to confiscate money from the shareholders of energy companies and gift it to people who didn't earn it --> HO wants to buy voters with other people's money.

This isn't anything new, and if HO can get away with it now, HO's tentacles will pillage any company, anytime, for no other reason than the company these shareholders invested their hard earned after tax dollars survived the competition, the military attacks on equipement and personel such as those ongoing in Nigeria & the ME, and the childish whims and pandering of Democrat Socialists in Congress.

Were you to be put in charge of deciding which shareholders to attack, who would be the next 1,000 or so companies would you deem meets your criteria to pillage after RIM?

If HO is going to send a gift wrapped $1,000 to every middle class & below resident paid for by a shareholder, you're going to have to extend this out WAY past the oil industry.

For instance, Chevron (CVX), of which both my son and I are investors in, only has 215,000 shareholders. They had a relatively good 2nd quarter, even if they are down 15% since the talk of confiscating - or in the words of Maxine Waters - "Socialising, Nationalizing" gained steam. If you confiscate 1 HO present from each shareholder, that's going to be a drop in the bucket!<p>

Why, for HO to be successful, you'd need 1,000 compaines the size of Chevron, and there's only 3 in the US that are larger - what are you going to do? What ARE you going to do?

Just do me a favor, Saul. When you and HO decide how many vote buying HO gifts my son and I are going to have to pay for, can you at least send me a little picture of where my HO gifts went, what country they're from, and which HO member campaigns they donated my HO gift to?