George Will on "Windfall" Profits

George Will offers this pocketbook argument against the tax:

"They [Robert J. Shapiro, former undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton administration, and Nam D. Pham, an economist] calculate that 41 percent of oil company stocks are owned by pension plans and individuals' retirement accounts. Hence much of the tax's burden would have fallen on current and future retirees, reducing both the market value of, and dividends paid by, those stocks. The cost to all the oil companies' shareholders, in forgone stock appreciation and dividends, would have ranged -- depending on oil prices and inflation -- from $21.3 billion to $121.8 billion per year."

I know I'm the only person on the planet who cares about this stuff but actions have consequences and our representatives have to consider them while they preen.