Obama says he would impose oil windfall profits tax

Yahoo ^

[Sub-Driver]

Obama says he would impose oil windfall profits tax

33 minutes ago

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday he would impose a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies as he sought political gain from Americans' pain over high gasoline prices.

Launching a two-week focus on the economy after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama drew a sharp contrast between his economic policies and those of John McCain, his Republican rival in the November election.

"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills," the Illinois senator said.

[TexanByBirth]

People like me, who have oil companies in their 401k holdings will be taxed.

Thanks for saying this! Most people have no clue the reason their 401K holdings haven't tanked is because many mutual funds have investments in oil companies. No to mention the number of employee retirement funds that are invested in oil companies.

If Barry Obama has his way, you can kiss your retirement funds goodbye!

[albie]

So basically, there isn’t 1 policy he has spoken of that any person with any knowledge of economics or history could agree with.

He is out to destroy America as quickly as possibly. Within his 1st month it looks like.

[Sub-Driver]

Well you could look at it this way. If you make over XXX he’s going to raise your taxes so that essentially is a wind fall profits tax on your wallet........

How dare you keep any of your money...

[businessprofessor]

The reality is, a windfall profits tax will cause shortages, (why sell where you’re taxed heavily, as opposed to somewhere else, like China?)

The tax will lead to less domestic production of oil, not necessarily to shortages. There will be shortages if the rats impose price controls, not an unthinkable reaction by the rats to less production and higher prices.

Windfall profits taxation is quasi nationalization. The tax will not be assessed if the companies invest in technologies approved by the rats. The oil companies will divest over time from the domestic oil business. I am not sure about the scope of this bill as it applies to oil businesses. If it applies to any business involved in oil development (exploration, refining, transportation, ...), it could have devasting impacts on domestic fuel markets.

The bill may also have international trade ramifications. The major oil companies have substantial international operations. I am not sure how this bill will separate the domestic and international part of their operations. I could envision a trade complaints that the US is confiscating international assets. I see strong shades of Hugo Chavez in BHO.

[MinnesotaLibertarian]

So they get a rebate on windfall losses, right?

[kempster]

Is he going to do this by Executive Order?

From the looks of things now he will have whatever number of votes he needs in both houses. If he doesn't have them I'm sure he could get Lindsay, John and his gang of morons to switch over.

[cake_crumb]

"Obama says he would impose oil windfall profits tax"

Which will drive the price of fuel up even more. Great idea, Jimmy.

[Political Junkie Too]

Well, when they name the sizes Large, Extra Large, and Jumbo, instead of Small, Medium, and Large, what do you expect?

-PJ

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

OH come on....

Even Democrats have 401k’s. If they try this, (And survive the public outrage.) it will become such a landslide victory for Conservatives in 2010, we’ll have to add on more space and chairs on the Right in the halls of Congress.

Have some spine here. We aren’t exactly helpless little children without our mommies, are we?

[CarryingOn]

Obama-nomics. Let's see if you bring down “big gasoline” then the masses don't need energy-bates because there's none to be had. Maybe it's Chavez-a-nomics, or just pure old communism. Obama is clueless or devious, or both.

[cake_crumb]

"O’Bama is losing it. Don’t know if he ever had it, but if he did he is losing it now."

IMO, he never had it. Rush had a clip on of Obama attempting to make a coherent statement off the cuff, without the aid of a teleprompter or speech writer...and it was the worst thing I have ever heard. If President Bush were to refer to an inhaler as a "breathalyser" and then as an "inhalator", the media would have been sneering at him for MONTHS. They're keeping quiet about Obama.

[Miss Didi]

O’Bama is losing it. Don’t know if he ever had it, but if he did he is losing it now.

And they say W can't speak:

Obama Gaffe

[Dems_R_Losers]

What about Citgo? Betcha Obama doesn’t want to tax his pal Hugo Chavez.

[politicalwit]

Well, when they name the sizes Large, Extra Large, and Jumbo, instead of Small, Medium, and Large, what do you expect?

I thought those terms "Large, Extra Large, and Jumbo" were reserved for the description of the male penis.

[rockinqsranch]

I read that headline and immediately flashed back to the wonderful Carter years (/s if necessary).

[bosshog]

Windfall Profits Tax on Harvard?
Posted: 09 Jun 2008 02:32 AM CDT

The economic illiterati are waging war on the oil companies. It’s easy to understand why... multi-billion dollar profits as gas prices creep toward $5 a gallon do seem outrageous. Until you get down to fundamental accounting. Many of us have been banging our heads against the wall for a couple reasons: first, no company truly pays tax. The shareholders pay for part of the tax via decreased dividends and share value coupled with reduced investment in the future, and the customers pay most of the tax via higher prices. Secondly, and most importantly, oil company profit margins are actually rather low. But thanks to the monstrous capital investment required to play in that industry, the companies have to be huge, and huge times a small margin still turns into a lot of profit dollars.

I just came across a rather interesting page on Yahoo! Finance that presents updated industry profit margins better than any other I’ve found. You start out with broad industry groups like “basic materials” from which you can drill down to “major integrated oil and gas” from which you can drill down further to individual companies.

Wow... Chevron’s profit margin is all of... 7.99%. Let’s go back and look at some other companies in other industries:

Gannett, publisher of USA Today, makes 11.44%. I guess some publishers are “raking it in” (compared to...)

Proctor and Gamble makes 13.22% with Colgate-Palmolive close behind in consumer goods

Anheuser-Busch makes 12.46%... I guess people still like Budweiser

Coca-Cola does 20.33%

Abbott Labs makes 13.86%

General Electric: 10.32%

Yahoo!: 29.83% with Google close behind at 25.20%

Microsoft: 30.36%

Yep, let’s nail the evil oil companies with their average 7.5% profit margin... and yes, that is as of June 5th. 2008.

But let’s take a look at another interesting piece of news:
Paced by Harvard University’s staggering $34 billion stockpile, 76 colleges now boast endowments over $1 billion after robust returns on their investments over the past year, according to an annual study being released today. Harvard’s endowment rose by nearly $6 billion over the past year, a nearly 20 percent increase. Yale University’s endowment, the nation’s second largest, rose to $22.5 billion, a 25 percent increase.
20% for Harvard, 25% for Yale.

Which has some of our fellow bloggers talking, with many of them wondering why Harvard won’t spend the money, and giving some ideas where it should. Similar to the article in the Washington Post a few years back,
The $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids.

Well guess what... the endowments of the Ivy League schools could build several new campuses around the country and educate over 60,000 additional kids... every year.

Who should get nailed with a windfall profits tax? An organization making 7.99% that reinvests in new energy sources and provides dividends to many grandmothers? Or an organization making 25% that is just sitting on an increasing pile of cash?

[Cobra64]

"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits..."

Like all liberals, The Magic Negro can't even read an income statement so therefore, he does not understand the term "profit."

His "prophet" is allah or muhammud, or whatever evil entity they worship.

[LadyBuzz]

it gets even better

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/09/news/economy/obama_economy_changetour/index.htm?section=money_latest

[cake_crumb]

"Does anyone here remember the 70s? Gas lines? Odd/even days? Leisure suits? Okay, there’s no chance of the latter coming back, but the first two are on the way for a return engagement. Cue 'Disco Duck'."

Ah, those were the days, weren't they?

[BlueNgold]

It’s redistribution ... not communism .. really ..
Idiot!