Mo’money, mo problems baby
but I don’t care! I’m taking my $1k and buying me my flatscreen! Obamania baby!
Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Friday announced an “Emergency Economic Plan” that would give families a stimulus check of $1,000 each, funded in part by what his presidential campaign calls “windfall profits from big oil.”
Details are in this six-page policy paper.
The first part of Obama’s plan is an emergency energy rebate ($500 to individual workers, $1,000 to families) as soon as this fall.
Oh joy, Obama’s found a way to legally buy votes.
“funded in part by what his presidential campaign calls “windfall profits from big oil.”
And “windfall profit taxes”…. boy he’s sure channeling his inner Jimmy Carter. I love this notion of “Change” Obama brings to the table. It didn’t work under Carter, but since he’s the one proposing it this time around it’s “change we can believe in.”
Wait, a politician just promised something to voters?
I thought he was a “new kind of politician” who was going to “do away with the politics of old?”
That was his message when he started campaigning wasn’t it?
Six page policy paper?!
What an elitist thing to do.
Isn’t promising to elimate estate taxes and reducing captial gains taxes in the same league? As DV said, this is hardly shocking, yes?
That said, it’s another dipshit idea. I must admit.
“Isn’t promising to elimate estate taxes and reducing captial gains taxes in the same league? ”
NO. There’s a fundamental difference because in your examples we’re allowing people to keep more of the money they’ve earned.
Obama’s “plan” is promising people “stimulus checks” paid for with someone else’s money.
But yes, it is a dipshit idea, and not surprising.
Oh Dear!! I’m with Mike W on this. Whatever will ExxonMobil do without 11 billion in quarterly profits??!!
It would be ridonkulos to think that they could get by on 7 billion is quarterly profits.
Jason – It doesn’t matter how much they make. If they made 100 billion / qtr. that wouldn’t justify imposing “windfall profit taxes”
Where the hell does the government get off telling anyone they need to pay “windfall profit taxes” because the profits they make are “unreasonable?”
mw, how about we calll it an “excess profits tax” which has been impletemented during times of war.
Nemski – We haven’t done that since the Korean War.
Jason – It doesn’t matter how much they make. If they made 100 billion / qtr. that wouldn’t justify imposing “windfall profit taxe
uhhmm…yes it would numbnuts. Are we at war or not? During WWII corporations paid a patriotic 75% tax rate. Why is ExxonMobil exempt from doing their part for freedom baby yeah!
Mike, you can’t win this. ExxonMobil’s profits are indefensible. It is a plain fact.
Nemski – We haven’t done that since the Korean War.
So that makes the idea invalid?
Unfortunately the idea is a combination of good and bad. Money for infrastructure will help state governments and the public sector avoid cutting jobs. Any money given to the public should be specified to only go to taxpayers who are within a specific income bracket (under $250K would make sense) that would use the money to pay down debt (thereby helping to slow the meltdown at all of the banks) or spending the money in the economy (spurring jobs.) Taxing Exxon Mobil and others would be a useful way to pumpt money into the economy with the caveat that ExxonMobil and others can instead choose to put whatever the amount of the windfall tax would be towards independent development of clean energy. What should really be proposed are extensions for unemployment and greater government projects to create jobs and experience.
The fiscally smarter play (but politically not as fun a soundbite) is to remove all oil company tax credits.
ALL of them. These companies pay fairer taxes on a business that has not needed a subsidy for a really long time.
Windfall profits taxes are stupid, but easier to explain. Take away all of their tax credits. Tell them NOW that the era of subsidizing stuff that burns is over.
Since I can’t sit here all day and response I apologize for the tardiness, but I must clarify something. See commet #6. Did any non-taxpayers get stimulus checks a few months age? Is Obama proposing to give a grand to non-tax-payers? then they earned it too, it’s their own money, yes?
I knows as much abouts corporit profits as I doos abouts niggosheeayting wit terrists!
If there really is 64 million acres under lease that are not being drilled. And i checked and there are. then we should do what Libya did in the 60 when the Oil Giants refused to drill in that country and just wanted to hold on to their leases. Kadify revoked them and took all their rights away. Sure wish some of our leaders would have the balls to do that. But when your company makes 11 Billion dollars in one quarter it’s tough for any poll to buck them . what a bunch of wimps we have elected.
TT – You’re kidding right? Let’s be more like LIBYA!? Why not just go ahead and nationalize the whole oil industry while we’re at it, after all, several Democrats have already called for it.
“Mike, you can’t win this. ExxonMobil’s profits are indefensible. It is a plain fact.”
Jason, how the hell is that a FACT? I don’t care if they make $100 or $100 billion their profits are their profits. They retrieve a product from the earth, refine it, and sell it. The risks, costs, and profits are theirs, not the governments. The government has no right to take them because they consider them “obscene.” Hell, the Gov. sits back and makes billions already taxing the oil companies without doing anything, taking any risk, or providing any product/service and yet the oil companies are the bad guys? Give me a break.
And apparently basic economics has been lost in all of this. When has increasing the tax on a product ever reduced it’s price?
“what a bunch of wimps we have elected.”
TT – Quite the ironic statement considering you want to elect Obama….
‘Whatever will ExxonMobil do without 11 billion in quarterly profits??!!’
Why don’t you ask yourlordandsavior Barack O’Christ? He voted for the Cheney Energy Bill, after all.
I actually agree with Cassandra. I wonder if that makes her a silly, bitter shrew.
I’s chaaynged my minds!
Yoo ken drille off da coast now!
an’ no mo’ bortions kneedur!
The government should nationalize the oil fields. There, I said it. I’m a fucking Communist. The thing is, it’s working for the Russians. The oil should not be a corporation’s. It should be the country’s. It’s OUR natural resource. The government should mine it, refine it, and use the funds to do some fucking good.
The worst part is all these pansy Republicans want to open up ANWR, but most of that oil will be going to overseas folk! Anything to turn a buck. The least patriotic groups in this country are the corporations. Don’t believe me? Google “tax holiday.” And I’m not talking about the BS “gas tax holiday.” I’m talking about the tax holiday that Bush has done several times in the past few years where he allows AMERICAN corporations who keep BILLIONS of dollars offshore to REPATRIATE those funds and not pay a FUCKING DIME in taxes.
You fucking lunatic conservatives want to call into question someone’s patriotism? Go to those corporations who don’t pay their goddamn taxes and THEN you can question the patriotism of an 80-year-old granny holding an anti-war sign on the corner.
dude, that was worthy of a dwa post. just sayin’.
It must be part of Obama’s “economic justice” strategy. Now, if the Messiah can only get plantation owners to pay reparations, he’ll get my vote.
What happened to Barack Around Da Clock’s comment? You guys aren’t getting over-zealous and deleting comments, are you?
Which comment? The ones above are still there. And there is nothing in the spam filter.
I’s brings da komments agins:
I seds…
Weez all reddy gits dem reparations!
Menthols beens cheeeper for years!
Thanks Marboro and Newport!!!!
I saw that comment as well. I don’t know what happened to it.
And speaking of comments… Mike, I agree with Dom. Comment #24 is post worthy!
Well, who knows what happened. But there it is.
so now any company that posts a profit of greater than 8.5% is showing a “windfall” and should pay more taxes?
so
Bush’s $600 stimulus check was a bad idea
BUT
Obama’s $500 stimulus check is a brilliant idea….
Both were/are bad ideas. My $600 check didn’t stimulate shit except a portion of the thousands in student loan payments I owe.
Robin Hood, bitches!
Reading the conservative arm-flailing is hilarious! It’s like 6 year-olds trying to play the Dozens. 😛
“It must be part of Obama’s “economic justice” strategy.”
“Economic Justice” – Well there’s a communist term for ya.
tax holiday… several times by Bush…
well not exactly
American Jobs Creation Act:
this law gave U.S. companies a one-time chance in 2005 to repatriate profits made overseas and pay only 5.25 percent tax on them rather than the standard 35 percent.
legislation that Congress adopted and that President Bush signed
Exxon Posts Record $32.36 Billion Tax Payment
Maybe Obama should go after big earners like:
Yahoo (a 45.5% profit margin),
Citigroup (33.4%),
Intel (24%)
Apple (22.7%)?
The more you liberal pricks “get from the government, the more the pricks in government can take away”… Are you so lazy & spine-less & stupid as to think or want something-for-nothing?? NOTHING IS FREE!!
This country was founded on the idea of personnal freedom & responsibility & small, controlled government! That is why they left their home-countries to start with, was because of dictators & no hope for real-freedom!!
Liberal communistic bastards are trying to over-run & steal OUR country! They ARE doing a great-job!
We have a hard enough time with so-called conservatives! We sure as hell don’t need an American hating Muslim liberal democrat in our country, little-less, in the White House!!
Come on dumb-asses. Try real hard to see the ‘light’!
Oil Co’s. earn about 9% profit. Check out the profit margins for other companies, actors,tv personalities, sports figures, etc. The politicians suck & steal about 50 cents of EVERY gallon pumped & they do NOTHING! That is called 100% profit!
I know, let’s put a Windfall profit-tax on the damn government!
Well, Steve wins for overuse of exclamation points and capital letters.
Da taykaway heah is
Don’ts bee sucksexful!
Wee will tacks yo butt!
Steve and Snark are right on about Big Oil and their profit margins. They may make billions, but there profit margins are terrible compared to most other industries.
Government, not Big Oil, are really fleecing the American consumer, levying taxes on every gallon of gas just because they can.
Government, not Big Oil, are really fleecing the American consumer, levying taxes on every gallon of gas just because they can.
Yeah, those federally funded highway projects are a bitch, aren’t they?
There profit margins are not so terrible that they aren’t buying back their own stock (to push up its value, naturally) and still providing dividends to their shareholders. They are certainly spending way more in dividends and stock buy backs than they are in new drilling ops. And if they’d fix the refining end of their business their margins might actually be better.
“Where the hell does the government get off telling anyone they need to pay “windfall profit taxes” because the profits they make are “unreasonable?”
Because we have spent a half-trillion dollars in Iraq mainly for their benefit. What “American interests” did you think we were protecting there?
Taxing people a half-trillion dollars — something this ball-less government still hasn’t done — to benefit corporate interests isn’t communism, it’s fascism. Name your poison, gentlemen.
Keep in mind, offshore drilling plays no role in either oil supply or gasoline prices for a decade, half a generation. Why do it now?
Because oil stock prices depend on reserves in the ground. With reserves declining, oil stocks are languishing, despite the record profits. And, despite what some here think, finding new oil resources is expensive. So Exxon buys back stock to buoy its price, and it wants access to new oil fields for the same reason.
All the bullshit about gas prices is just that, bullshit, and anyone who knows anything about the industry — and that includes the lobbyists pushing for this and the GOP whores, er, politicians pushing it. But nobody ever went wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
This Bud’s for Belgium (Corporate Tax Rate Uncompetitive)
Wall Street Journal ^ | August 3, 2008
Politicians and Wall Streeters are starting to ask why the Belgian beer company InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch and not the other way around. Anheuser-Busch is an iconic American firm and some find it almost unpatriotic that Anheuser CEO August Busch IV allowed the “King of Beers” to relocate across the Atlantic — though shareholders were the big winners here with a $50 billion-plus takeaway.
But here’s the real question: Was the takeover basically financed by the savings Anheuser expected from escaping America’s increasingly uncompetitive corporate tax system? According to the Tax Foundation, Belgium’s corporate tax rate is 33%, but the effective tax rate can be half the nominal rate thanks to adjustments for something the OECD calls a “notional allowance for corporate equity.” Bottom line: InBev was paying around 20% of its profits in corporate taxes, compared to Anheuser-Busch’s rate of 38.4%.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com …
A Windfall Profit Tax?
Why would a sane person propose such idiocy (it basically lets companies know that making too much money may be made illegal – don’t be successful!). All these firms will do is find ways to defer profits and to move off-shore. It will hurt tax revenues and distort their business practices to adjust to regulations rather than to maximixe shareholder value.
Why don’t we just fix the myriad of issues with the tax breaks and sweetheart deals given to petroleum exploration/production/refining firms so they pay their fair share of taxes and have to pay a fair percentage of the revenue produced by their drilling rights so we can put it into the treasury that way (it is OUR oil, not theirs – there should be a fair revenue share)? Also, why do we not change the way we issue drilling leases so that there is no incentive to sit on reserves – have the rights expire and get auctioned again if not used.
Oh… wouldn’t sound as good on a campaign commercial, would it?
Aside from his obvious race/religion baiting , even an inbred xenophobic retard as the Steve charachter above seems to understand something that is a truth – can’t put a tax in place like that and maintain a fair market. What you can do is stop having wars to support the oil firms getting sweetheart contracts, stop with billions in tax breaks, stop taxing gasoline at a low, fixed rate (to provide a disincentive to consumption and to properly fund infrastructure and help compenste the government for the enviornmental and health impacts of petroleum fuels), and start pursuing realistic tax strategies that compliment a fair market (rather than distorting it).
The alternative is a world where we make economic policy because if feels right regardless of whether it makes any sense. Everyone (including the poor and middle class) looses in that scenario.
All I know is I want to puke because yesterday I was actually excited to see gas at $3.72/gallon.
JFC. I don’t care how it happened, I just want it to change. I want gas at $2.00/gallon. I don’t give a shit how much they pay for it in Europe or anywhere else in the world. All I care about is how much I pay for it. Selfish? Maybe, but it is what it is. And to all you environmentalists, I won’t drive more if it’s cheaper. I’m certainly not driving less now that it’s costing a fortune. I’m a work to home to work to home with the occasional trip to pick up groceries or go out to dinner kind of girl. I’ll just save myself a little bit of money.
“And if they’d fix the refining end of their business their margins might actually be better.”
I can’t believe a liberal democrat just said this.
I think Tinkerbell just died.
Quick, clap your hands and say “I do believe in NIMBYS….I do believe NIMBYS”
Who do you think has handicapped the upgrading of refineries in the USA?
Thanks to greenf.cks, we have the best refineries 1975 can offer!
Send your address to me Pal Joe and I’ll tell XOM in the AM that you want a refinery next to your house.
Fixing the refining end of their business does not necessarily mean adding more refineries. Which they aren’t especially restrained from doing — there are places who might want those refineries. Those places are likely to be expensive and oil companies have suckered people like you to plead their case to make it so much easier for them to ask for taxpayer funds to actually get their new refineries.
And $2.00/gallon gas?
That is not going to come back any time soon — if ever.
I said “upgrade” sweetie. That means it’s already there. Just trapped in 1975 thanks to burlap wearing granola eating kumbayas.
And I said “fixing”, idiot. Which has a broad range of solutions. And they can still expand their capacity and upgrade their operations — they are subject to the same environmental requirements and other plants would be. The cost of those upgrades are not nearly as much as the companies say they are — they just want taxpayers to pay for them.
Perhaps getting your hands out of the Cheetos bag will help you follow the conversation.
pj,
are those blinders prescription or did you get them at walmart?
the profit margins of big oil are small b/c of the executive pay levels….