If this ever happens, the US is in serious trouble. Businessmen and women are the ones who create jobs. Without the incentive for profit, why start a business or develop new technologies? I don't like paying his gas prices but I 100% agree with Capitalism. Dang near anyone in the country with a retirement account owns a small stake in Exxon Mobil- as a shareholder I want them to make as much money as possible. You'll never hear Obama say that Exxon pays more income tax than the bottom 50% of American tax payers.
Give Oil Company profits to the people
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Originally Posted By: Brett Miller
Dang near anyone in the country with a retirement account owns a small stake in Exxon Mobil- as a shareholder I want them to make as much money as possible.
First question : where do they get the "as much money as possible" from ?
Second question : have you ever played "musical chairs" ?
Dang near anyone in the country with a retirement account owns a small stake in Exxon Mobil- as a shareholder I want them to make as much money as possible.
First question : where do they get the "as much money as possible" from ?
Second question : have you ever played "musical chairs" ?
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I don't feel we would be stealing anything from the oil companies. We would be getting back what they are extorting from us. We are a captive audience. We can really not choose to not buy oil as we need gas. We also can not chose to buy from a cheaper source as they are all in it together and the prices are all the same. There is no competition.
What is a fair profit? 12 billions dollars in a quarter is not way too much profit? Does it really matter if it was a 4% return or a 20% that got it that high?
What is a fair profit? 12 billions dollars in a quarter is not way too much profit? Does it really matter if it was a 4% return or a 20% that got it that high?
Sure you can. Drive a moped in the summer, ride bikes, walk, get a 45mpg car, take less trips, make your own bio-diesel..... and those do not seem like obscene profits, plus they paid 15 bil a year in taxes, plus created a trickle tax of billions thru employees, distribuors, cap gains.
Since the food, beverage and clothing industries are "extorting" us to, why not impose the same thing on them?
Government is the ultimate extortion, so why aren't you complaining about it?
Government is the ultimate extortion, so why aren't you complaining about it?
Once again Tempest. I can chose to buy cheaper food, cheaper clothes and no name beverages or go without. Where can I chose to buy cheaper gas?
I drive fairly fuel efficent vehicles now and work far away from home so I have to drive. (Car pool is not an option)
The problem is there is no competition!
I drive fairly fuel efficent vehicles now and work far away from home so I have to drive. (Car pool is not an option)
The problem is there is no competition!
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If people walked in the desert and were dying of thirst and came into a town that offered them water at double what it cost and no matter where they went in town the cost was the same would that be fair? Would it be morally right?
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Originally Posted By: ZZman
I don't feel we would be stealing anything from the oil companies. We would be getting back what they are extorting from us. We are a captive audience. We can really not choose to not buy oil as we need gas. We also can not chose to buy from a cheaper source as they are all in it together and the prices are all the same. There is no competition.
What is a fair profit? 12 billions dollars in a quarter is not way too much profit? Does it really matter if it was a 4% return or a 20% that got it that high?
No offense but this is a pretty good example how schools in the USA are all [censored] up.
As a side note, what does it matter how much any company clears? Is that the government's responsibility?
We are in some very deep yogurt. Be careful what you ask for as that law of unintended stuff will crop up in that swampy middle ground.
I don't feel we would be stealing anything from the oil companies. We would be getting back what they are extorting from us. We are a captive audience. We can really not choose to not buy oil as we need gas. We also can not chose to buy from a cheaper source as they are all in it together and the prices are all the same. There is no competition.
What is a fair profit? 12 billions dollars in a quarter is not way too much profit? Does it really matter if it was a 4% return or a 20% that got it that high?
No offense but this is a pretty good example how schools in the USA are all [censored] up.
As a side note, what does it matter how much any company clears? Is that the government's responsibility?
We are in some very deep yogurt. Be careful what you ask for as that law of unintended stuff will crop up in that swampy middle ground.
Originally Posted By: ZZman
If people walked in the desert and were dying of thirst and came into a town that offered them water at double what it cost and no matter where they went in town the cost was the same would that be fair? Would it be morally right?
100% mark-up? Maybe OK. (not applicable to oil)
The same everywhere? Sounds unfair, but maybe they all pretty much have the same source???
Morally right? Not enough information to judge.
If people walked in the desert and were dying of thirst and came into a town that offered them water at double what it cost and no matter where they went in town the cost was the same would that be fair? Would it be morally right?
100% mark-up? Maybe OK. (not applicable to oil)
The same everywhere? Sounds unfair, but maybe they all pretty much have the same source???
Morally right? Not enough information to judge.
You are not going to die from lack of gas..at least not directly.
Bad analogy.
You still need cloths, water and food. Unless you are able to produce all that is required to generate these on land you control, you are beholden to those that provide it for you. By your definition, they are extorting money from you for the basics of life at any price. That seems 10x worse than high gas prices.
Where is it written that you are guaranteed low gas prices and under what moral authority do you presume that you should be?
PS, the US has lower gas prices than Europe.
Bad analogy.
You still need cloths, water and food. Unless you are able to produce all that is required to generate these on land you control, you are beholden to those that provide it for you. By your definition, they are extorting money from you for the basics of life at any price. That seems 10x worse than high gas prices.
Where is it written that you are guaranteed low gas prices and under what moral authority do you presume that you should be?
PS, the US has lower gas prices than Europe.
There in lies a big problem Pablo. Not many in big business want to make a moral choice. It is all about the dollar. So what if we put 100,000 Americans out of work. Lets move our factories overseas so we can make more profit and more profit and more profit and make our shareholder happy.
Tempest: I never said I expected low prices. But I also don't expect paying high prices while they rake in huge profits.
And remember other consumer products have competition. Oil/Gas does not. I can buy a $ 100.00 shirt or a 10.00 shirt. I can buy a 5.00 coffee or a 1.00 coffee. I can eat steak or a hot dog. Where is a gas bargain?
And remember other consumer products have competition. Oil/Gas does not. I can buy a $ 100.00 shirt or a 10.00 shirt. I can buy a 5.00 coffee or a 1.00 coffee. I can eat steak or a hot dog. Where is a gas bargain?
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Not many in big business want to make a moral choice. It is all about the dollar.
Businesses exist precisely to make money. That is their function.
Not many in big business want to make a moral choice. It is all about the dollar.
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Well, Z ...you may just not be able to live that far from work. I'm sure you "made a choice" to live where you are ..or you "made a choice" to work where you do. No one said that you "needed" either. It was something (on one or both) that you wanted to do.
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If people walked in the desert and were dying of thirst and came into a town that offered them water at double what it cost and no matter where they went in town the cost was the same would that be fair? Would it be morally right?
Again, I'd ask the desert walker "Why are you here? No one held a knife to your throat making you walk in a desert without enough water. It's something you chose to do".
I'm sure the town doesn't just get water for free ..and they need stuff to keep the town viable. I think you should look into how island life is. I suggest it be a small island so you can embrace the more easily.
There's plenty of competition for oil. Oil is a global commodity and is traded as such. You're just too used to looking at supplier competition instead of demand competition. You can get back to "the good old days" if you also want to send all the nations that you've developed (with your purchase choices) back to the stone age ...put back all the factories that are closed so that more of our labor pool is accounted for in costs of living in the products that we all buy ...all the this and that ..or take a shovel to 1/3-1/2 of the planet that competes for these energy resources.
Then you can have all you want for $0.60+tax. It's a little hard to put that genie back in the bottle, however.
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If people walked in the desert and were dying of thirst and came into a town that offered them water at double what it cost and no matter where they went in town the cost was the same would that be fair? Would it be morally right?
Again, I'd ask the desert walker "Why are you here? No one held a knife to your throat making you walk in a desert without enough water. It's something you chose to do".
There's plenty of competition for oil. Oil is a global commodity and is traded as such. You're just too used to looking at supplier competition instead of demand competition. You can get back to "the good old days" if you also want to send all the nations that you've developed (with your purchase choices) back to the stone age ...put back all the factories that are closed so that more of our labor pool is accounted for in costs of living in the products that we all buy ...all the this and that ..or take a shovel to 1/3-1/2 of the planet that competes for these energy resources.
Then you can have all you want for $0.60+tax. It's a little hard to put that genie back in the bottle, however.
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But I also don't expect paying high prices while they rake in huge profits.
As a percentage, they are not making huge profits compared to what they spend on operation and taxes. That has been clearly demonstrated.
I'll bet you make a considerably higher wage than most of world's population. There for YOU have a wind fall profit that should be distributed to the world in the name of fairness. Those others cannot compete for your job, so you have an unfair advantage so the redistribution is justified.
But I also don't expect paying high prices while they rake in huge profits.
As a percentage, they are not making huge profits compared to what they spend on operation and taxes. That has been clearly demonstrated.
I'll bet you make a considerably higher wage than most of world's population. There for YOU have a wind fall profit that should be distributed to the world in the name of fairness. Those others cannot compete for your job, so you have an unfair advantage so the redistribution is justified.
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