Thoughts on Windfall Profits from Paul Greenberg:
"What about the millions of Americans whose retirement depends on their mutual funds, in which oil stocks are heavily represented? How many of those pension funds are dependent on the oil companies' profits, and what happens to those pensions if the profits evaporate? Don't the pensions shrink, too? Instead of talking about laws against price-gouging, shouldn't Congress now be holding impassioned hearings, complete with widows and orphans, to ask how it can help increase Big Oil's income to help those dependent on it? Worse news could still be ahead: The price of gas, which hovered around $3 a gallon on Labor Day, now has dropped some 80 cents and could dip below $2 a gallon by Christmas. Oh, the humanity! Shouldn't Congress act before it's too late? Disaster impends!"
Can't we all agree on this?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Can't we all just agree? Did you say agree or a greed? I'll have to ask the oil companies. In the mean time I think I'll have to Exxon out of this Marathon Shell game and buy a bicycle.
- Clia Toris IV
http://www.dungtongue.com
Please...the post about ANWR may not have been perfectly clear, but surely this one is clear. It's not about subsidies; it's about the silly postureing of the pols when they scream about price controls and windfall profits taxes. C'mon, the disatrous policies of the 70s are not that far in the past.
Scooter- Here's the flipside of the situation. We may not have price controls and stagflation of the 70's in place but we are enforcing are own kind of control of the marketplace. I wouldn't give a damn if young lives weren't being lost on a daily basis. (Yea, I know it's an all volunteer army but come-on. There are better reasons to die then this.) O.K. Gulf War II may not have been directly motivated by oil but Gulf War I most certainly was. The U.S. was never going to let Saddam add to his percentage of world oil production. Laissez faire is nothing but a pipedream. Everything that Eisenhower warned about regarding the military industrial complex is true. Why should my tax dollars go toward inflating the profits of of companies?
er... that's Oil companies.
If you're talking about the title of the post, I'm with you...we shouldn't be involved in subsidizing oil, sugar or anything else. It's just about economics for me. Just used the headline to, I thought, highlight the ridiculous about price controls and "windfall" profits. I need to work on my sarcasm for those who don't know me.
I'm not a 100% laissez faire guy...I admit, for instance that monopolies need to be broken or regulated...but when there is genuine competition, I'll take capitalism over any other system. Feel the same way Churchill felt about democracy.
Post a Comment