Posted on 04/07/2008 4:34:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
I’m a Conservative Republican like you, Austin…”
The voice resonated through my headphones during the final minutes of my radio program, at AM 630 WMAL in Washington, D.C. The caller to the program - - we’ll call him “John” - - paused mid-sentence, and I sensed that there was a “big but” coming next.
“But,” he continued, “we’ve just gotta do something to reign in these excessive profits from the oil companies.” Oil industry executives had been questioned by members of Congress earlier in the day about why their profits, and prices, have been so high. The inquisition on Capitol Hill, which was quite a spectacle in itself, was still top-of-mind for many.
“What is excessive?” I asked.
“Oh, please, you don’t think they’re excessive?” he replied.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Commercially operated businesses are supposed to produce the greatest level of profit that they can; they are beholden to their stockholders to do that. What do you mean when you say ‘excessive?’”
“I mean over forty billion dollars in profits last year for the Exxon corporation is excessive.”
“Okay,” I said, “how much profit would be reasonable for Exxon to make?”
“Oh, I don’t know, that’s not my point” he replied. “I’m just saying that $3.29 a gallon for gasoline is outrageous, and we need to do something.”
“That’s a pricing issue” I said, “not a profits issue. Prices won’t decline until demand for gasoline decreases, or the supply of oil increases, or both. But forget the oil companies for a moment and let’s talk about you. How much profit did you make last year?”
“That doesn‘t concern you” he replied, sounding irritated.
“No, no, it concerns me a lot John. You’ve made it your concern to attempt to regulate the profits of oil companies - - ”
“Because gas prices are outrageous” he said interrupting me, “and they’re unfair.”
“Right, and you might have made more money last year than I did,” I replied, “and that would be unfair for me. We may very well need to regulate your excessive profits.”
“And you’re a pathetic hack for corporate America” he shouted at me. And then my conversation with John, and my evening radio show, ended.
It’s alarming to me how often I encounter people who are self-described “Conservatives” or “Conservative Republicans,” yet are quite comfortable with ideas and principles that are the antithesis of the “conservative,” “limited government” vision that has been the apex of the Republican Party for nearly all of my life.
More money taken away from private individuals in taxes. More governmental regulation of private affairs. More governmental intrusion into the lives of individual citizens. More of my “needs” being met by the government. At an increasing rate, ideas such as these are just fine for Republicans, so long as the expansion of government makes one feel better.
I understand John’s frustration with gasoline prices. But the U.S. Government that he seeks to harness so as to “reign in” oil company profits is the very same U.S. Government that has restricted or forbidden the development of many of our domestic oil supplies, and that requires oil companies to produce and sell both region-specific, and season-specific “blends” of gasoline, in varying parts of the country.
In short, the government that John believes can “save him” from the injustice of high gasoline prices has, by its own well-intended meddling, driven the price of gasoline upward.
And John is not alone in his questionable “conservatism.” During the Republican primary election process, the only presidential candidate to receive an endorsement from the ranks of social conservative leadership was a politician who raised taxes and opposed children’s educational choice initiatives while he was Governor of Arkansas - - Mike Huckabee.
Apparently “big government” politicians are just fine for some Republicans, as long as the candidate is sufficiently “pro family” and attends the right church.
In my home state of Arizona, the Republican-led legislature has ushered-in a whole new level of government “snooping” into the lives of private individuals, requiring all employers in the state to participate in the collection of personal background information of employees. The goal was to enable employers to verify the citizenship status of their workers, and to crack-down on the hiring of “illegals.”
Yet the collection of citizens’ personal background information - - facilitated through a federal government database - - forms the basis of a “national I.D. card,” an idea that Republicans found to be abhorrent only a few years ago.
No matter how uncertain or “unfair” the private sector economy may seem; no matter how comforting politicians’ promises of “free healthcare” may feel; no matter how “right” it may seem to vote for candidates who share common faith commitments; all Americans would do well to develop a healthy sense of skepticism about the government’s ability to “fix” our nation’s problems, and to reject politicians who promise such “fixes.”
And “Conservative Republicans” would do well to recall Ronald Reagan’s words of nearly 28 years ago: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”
I assume you were being facetious and you actually know the answer to that.
If not:
McCain has promised to use an Executive Order, if necessary, to put ANWR, ALL the coastal and near offshore areas, and several interior areas off limits for oil and gas exploration and extraction FOREVER.... Much like clinton did to the huge and incredibly valuable Escalante coal deposits.
Of course, Clinton did it for a good reason: Millions of dollars in bribes from the Riadys who control the next best coal reserves in the world.
McCain doesn't get any money out of his destruction of the American economy.... He just believes completely that America causes "GoreBull Warming", and wants to stop it.
People are frustrated. My family shells out anywhere from 2-300.00 per week for gas, it’s ridiculous and it is cutting into all other aspects of our spending. My food costs have gone up as well and it seems to be rising weekly.
However I know it’s the government that has put me in this situation. Just like you said, taxes, lack of refineries and lack of drilling our own oil. Look at this stupid ethanol bs, wait till that hits the fan. We haven’t built a refinery in 30 years. 30 years of technology, imagine how efficient and clean they would be. But NO, we’ll just keep chuggin along with our antiquated system. All the while the government and the media will be screaming at the top of their lungs it the oil companies ripping us off, riling us up. If the truth was screamed as loud as this nonsense many of those elitists in our government would be out of a job next election. Keeping us stupid is what keeps them in power.
1. Oil company eexecutives do not set their pricing, commodities traders set it.
2. Oil executives are not greedy and evil, the politicians who set the rules and regulations and make 5 times more off a gallon of fuel than the oil companies do are the greedy corrupt individuals.
The politicians then strut and shout and posture themselves before an uninformed public about how they will "demand" explanations from oil companies for the high prices they have caused by their self-serving legislation.
Now compare that to your wheelchair company and imagine everytime someone drove by your store they cursed you for your pricing over which you have no control and have been made the scapegoat for greedy popliticians whose only ambition is to placate their voters and shift the blame for their abominable actions solely onto your shoulders.
And every election cycle they are going to call you to come explain yourself to them about how you dared to make money in spite of their actions, obfuscations and mendacity.
In the last 24 hours, there’s been about seven other FReepers who have asked for the MSWord file emailed to them. Would you folks like it, too?
If I was a radio talk show host and someone called up saying they were a conservative republican I would immediately be wary. Just by the fact that this guy wants to “stick it to the oil companies” should be the tipoff this guy is a liberal who can’t admit on the air he’s a liberal.
Liberals don’t want to discuss an issue based on the merrits. They want to decieve. I’ve called some local lib radio shows. I never tried to deceive them by saying I was a liberal but... I argued the conservative/libertarian viewpoint.
The whole point (total economic ignorance) of this article is summed up in this post, thanks BP rarely does someone hit the nail on the head as you have/sarc.
FRmail
Hi John, I see you found Free Republic.
Now go away, you stinkin' commie.
What profit margin do you think the oil companies work on?
“I forget, was McCain against ANWR drilling? If so there is another issue he can’t use.”
Yep, he was against it. The RINOS are also responsible for high gas prices because they’ve voted with the democrats to prevent drilling. I agree with everything you said in your post.
Well, quite frankly, it's because the rich guys hold a firm vision in their minds that they are going to get richer in the future while the poor guys constantly think about negative outcomes and turn them into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But no politician ever got elected by telling the public that. ;)
“You can’t have a US economy without gas! If people can’t afford it to get back and forth to work then what do we do?”
the higher the price of gas...the more we will get for our us as suppliers try to make PROFITS...
Supply and demand work when operating in a Free Market, just when alternatives such as oil sands become profitable...the Price of Oil will come way down to knock the legs out...
We have a politician here in Connecticut who recognizes that the price of oil is determined by commodities traders.
He had an unusual proposition. I’m wondering if you think it would have any effect.
He is suggesting that commodities traders would have to demonstrate that they are capable of accepting delivery of the oil that they purchased in order to be eligible to trade it.
Put the blame on the Bankers who gimmicked up the subprime mortgage mess and devalued your dollar.
Blame the Congress who requires ethanol as an oxygenating additive in fuel.
Put the blame on the Congress and various state legislatures who won't let the industry drill where it is highly likely to hit major finds.
But to blame the people who made the decisions to make the multibillion dollar investments in exploration, production, research, and infrastructure in a DOWN market for global demand and geopolitical unrest which NOW puts them in a position to make a profit is unadulterated moonbat crap.
To say those same people are unethical for making a whopping profit of 20% is nuts. Coca Cola does that in a good year, too.
The oil industry is a business, not a charity.
Oil companies are in one of the least profitable industries in the U.S. In fact, I made the case on a thread last week that if I were a professional investor I'd be selling a lot of Exxon/Mobil stock right now.
Now there you go again, inserting economic logic into a conversation based on ignorance and hysteria. Now you just cut that out......
When I explain this to my economics students I simply ask who owns "big oil"? As large stock corporations the oil companies are "owned" by pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, state and local governments and even little old ladies in tennis shoes. Many of my older students admitted to having 401k plans that invested in oil stocks hence they are part of "big oil". Remember too that corporate profits are already taxed twice. First they are taxed with a Federal corporate income tax at about 35% and then when dividends are distributed to stockholders we in turn pay taxes on our capital gains.
That would most certainly drive the price up to $10 a gallon in no time.
And someone should ask the politician to tell them where he would "allow" the commodities traders to build storage facilities. And how long after site surveys, EPA regs, endangered species regulations, zoning, inland/wetlands surveys, etc., etc. would construction begin? IF all those things pass AND the local town politicians accept it in their backyard, would the traders be allowed to trade while all this is going on?
And would the traders have to have over 50 different storage facilities for each blend of fuel?
Someone should suggest that this politician should just take his 60+ cents per gallon state tax on fuel and stick to things he understands like why ice is cold and water is wet.
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