The Vote in November 2006 had to do with ALL the Bush/GOP policies which the majority DOES NOT WANT! If you think the public is happy when they see the obscene profits by Big Oil and know it is because they are paying too much for the gas they need, think again.

Sorry, but you're an idiot! The vote in Nov had NOTHING to do with President Bush's policies. What it had EVERYTHING to do with they didn't like the way CONGRESS was being run! Grow at least 1/2 a brain will ya?

And BTW...they said SOCIALISM NOT COMMUNISISM! Don't you know the difference?

They create supply problems

Big oil does NOT create supply problems! What creates supply problems is the DEMOCRAPS and GREENIES not allowing them to build any more refineries! If you would "bother" to do a "little" research once in a while....you'd already know that ALL present refineries are running at 100% capacity! So if they're all running at 100%, just "how" are they creating a supply problem?

This is a perfect example of someone arguing a point based on emotional hatred and talking points.  I notice col doesn't advocate this for any other industry, but since "big oil" is hated so much by the far left it's todays target.

drmiler

Since Congress was a rubber stamp of the Bush policies, I guess the people voted against both Bush and the GOP in Congress!

IslandDog

I hate what Big Oil is doing to the people of this country. So far as I am concerned the welfare of the people is MORE important that what a few greedy oil companies want. That however is not the feeling of Bush, the GOP and YOU!

I hate what Big Oil is doing to the people of this country. So far as I am concerned the welfare of the people is MORE important that what a few greedy oil companies want. That however is not the feeling of Bush, the GOP and YOU!

LOL.

Big oil doesn't affect your life col, get over that.  Once again you are over-dramatizing this, and arguing with emotion.  You have lost this argument AGAIN and shown that you are a true socialist at heart.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're deranged, Gene. There's no talking sense with you.

drmiler Since Congress was a rubber stamp of the Bush policies, I guess the people voted against both Bush and the GOP in Congress!

WRONG answer fool! The US oil companies have not been allowed to build a new refinery in over 20 YEARS! And if you can't do the math that was 14 YEARS BEFORE Bush! Now care to try again?

#30 by Daiwa Sun, February 04, 2007 1:50 PM Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're deranged, Gene. There's no talking sense with you

You can't talk sense to a fool.

I'm still waiting for Col Gene to explain what he means by Greed.

If I sell a product for $1.00 that costs me $.20 to make and thus make 80 cents profit, are they less greedy than someone who makes a $10 product that costs $9.00 to make thus making a dollar profit?

I realize Col Gene is openly a socialist these days but it's hard to even have a basic conversation if we can't even agree on what "greed" is.

It would come down to suffering, I think. If you look at the standard of living of the American poor, you'll find very little suffering. You could say that the people who built the western railroads on the dead bodies of Chinese were greedy. You could say that the people who run sweatshops full of illegals who live in fear and poverty are greedy.

The average person, heck, the average poor person that pumps some gas into their car? Nah. The price is higher than they WANT to pay, but it is obviously not so high that they don't CHOOSE to pay it. If it was you'd see rural people carpooling instead of putting a four barrel on their big block so that it gets ten miles to the gallon.

As per usual, when he's losing the arguement and has no other recourse. He cuts and runs!

I'll be blunt about it. Col, you are a moron. Here you are complaining about the profits of a company that does not calculate in the hundreds or thousands but millions. You really need to stop looking at straight numbers and realize that people have the right to make a buck in this country and if others are dumb enough to pay the prices they come across then they are the ones who are idiots.

How come you don't have a problem with homeless people who beg for money on intersections? Ever wondered how much money they make asking for money? Let me give you a small idea. Say a homeless man stands in a busy intersection that has 3 lanes heading in all directions. The average time for the light to turn is 2 minutes. That means he has 2 minutes to ask for money. Now imagine if he got 4 cars to give him a quarter. That would be $1 for every time the light turns green, which happens every 2 minutes. So in an hour he makes $30. So if he did this for just 4 hours, that would be $120 tax free. Do this 4 times a week? $480. Thats more that I make with 2 jobs 14 hours a day, 5 days a week. Which BTW is a little over $1600 a month. Now that's what I call profits, but I don't see you making a big deal out of this. he pays no taxes. Hell, he pays no bills. What say ye'?

Well, as you like to say Col gene. I'll take your silence as agreeing with me.

Charles C

We are not talking about the homeless. We are talking about every single person and business that is being charged more so a few can be filthy rich because they make something that we all need. My solution is to have another tax rate of 50% for any income over let say $500,000 per year. End the tax credits to big oil since there is no justification for such a tax credit. Place surtax on companies that abuse their market power like the oil companies. I have not heard one person claim that the oil companies are examples of competition. These companies are so large and powerful that THEY control the supply and therefore the price and their profits. There must be some reason returned to America. It is just like the facts that CEO’s of large companies have scene their compensation go from 50 times the average workers wage to 450 times the average workers wage. What possible justification could there be for this change? It is GREED pure and simple.

Why does it need to be justified? They are selling a product for a price people will buy, and making the wage their company gives them. Why do YOU believe that YOU should have any say in the process? If you don't like doing business with them... don't.

How much people make, Gene, is none of my business nor is it any of your business.

The fact that you don't understand why people make 50 or 500 times what the average worker makes demonstrates the same lack of basic economic understanding as your whining about Exxon making a whopping 11% profit.

The people who own a thing have control over that thing. Not "the people", comrade Gene.

When you can show me a company that does not charge me more so that they can make more money than they need, then I will follow your words. All you are doing is complaining about something that every company in this country does.



And what do you think they will do if they get taxed, pay it and stay quiet about it? You really are a moron. You complain that they charge more than they should and your solution is to charge them more which will most likely make them charge us more to make up the difference and the only one that will benefit here is the Gov't. Well I got 2 words for you Col Hack, F_ck You. The Gov't does not need more of my money, they just need to learn to spend it more wisely.

I gotta wonder what is your beef with companies that make a lot of money. Microsoft is exploding with money, Apply can't make enough Ipods, Toyota is literally putting American car makers to shame. Why is it that the "Big Oil" companies are the only ones you care about? And how about the fact that every time you put gas in your care you are aiding the same people who hate us and want us dead. I don't see you rushing to get an electric or solar powered car. All this crap about make Big Oil pick up the tab on creating better technology when we already have Electric and Hybrid vehicles. Where is you Earth friendly car? You hypocrite.

Waste of time, Col Gene doesn't understand basic economics.



It'll never happen. Government is all about waste because they have folks like Col Gene focusing on stupid crap they don't actually understand like this instead of on real problems like pork.

When we punish people for creating wealth, they oblige by not doing it anymore.  Europe has really high tax rates. How's that working out for them?

Well, here it's around 2.65$/gallon (last time i checked). So, considering that prices used to be closer to 2$ months ago, and 1.75$-ish many years ago, that's higher prices. (Just saying/giving an example, no need to jump me. M'kay?)

Again I call bullsh*t! Gas here in Pittsburgh is running from $2.05 at Sheetz to $2.15 at SUNOCO! Now explain how that's a "higher" price?

Well I sure as hell hate to clue you in but....gas was $2.98 per gal a little over 4 months ago. So again I ask how is that a "higher" price?

Draginol

What I am suggesting is not punishing people for creating wealth. The BIG Oil companies are as far from people as you can get. They are powerful corporations who have placed their objectives above and at the detriment of the average person and small business with higher energy prices so a few fat cats can receive unjustified salaries and the stock holders more dividends. The profits they were making were more then reasonable. When you read about the CEO's and top management receiving hundreds of millions you can bet that money came from millions of average people that were paying for that excess. Surtax on the companies and another tax bracket for people that extract high salaries can be used to help our country pay for the security we need, health care, and education. This will pay big dividends to millions of people every day. I am not talking about Bums with their hands out but in helping people that go to work every day and still can not afford heath insurance, education for their children. NO one is worth millions of dollars per year. When you get to hundreds of millions the idiocy just goes off the scale. For people like this I would increase the tax rate to about 50%. Even after that higher tax rate they will still have outrageous after tax incomes compared with the VAST MAJORITY of Americans. Please do show your ignorance by telling me that will deter people from making big bucks. If you receive $50 million and pay 50% in tax you have $25 Million remaining. That poor sole that received $200 million would have $100 million after my higher taxes. HOW WILL THEY MANAGE TO LIVE!!!!!

Here's the thing Col. I live quite comfortably on less than 50k a year. I have neighbors that make in excess of 100k. By your rationale, I should be demanding that they be cut to the level of my existence.

Sure, I can't go take extended European vacations, but GOD man, there are hungry people out there, social security is in TROUBLE!!!! We're bleeding interest on the national debt!!!! How DARE anyone want to go on an extended European vacation when there are all these problems???

Sorry, Brad, no more high-end trips to Disneyworld for you and the kids, we're taking everything but 50k. Forget buying a new car this year, too. Sad for the people who work a Disneyland and make cars, but hey, fek em, we've got social problems to fix.

Oh, but then... they will become a social problem, won't they? Where do you draw the line, then? Why $500,000? Why not $100,000? How do you decide what is going to do the most damage?

I read recently that the people you are talking about, the 500k and up folks, employ 70% of the nation's workforce. I wonder how many more social problems you'll create once you give them no reason to continue their entrepreneurship? Who'll feed these people when they lay back on their wealth and stop paying any sizable amount of taxes at all, or move somewhere else?

BIG oil are people too. It's just business.

If I were a stock holder, I'd be a bit annoyed that given the gas price surges last year, that the profit margin was only 11%.

It is not up to you or me to decide what a "reasonable" profit is.

The money they make does not belong to anyone but the shareholders of Exxon. They are not the "people's" money.

Bakerstreet

No my proposal would not bring a person with 50K equal to a person with a 100K income. I am not talking about salaries in those ranges. I am talking about people making above $500,000 per year for an increased tax bracket.

The employment of that 70% of workers by people making above $500,000 will continue. That is the only way they will be able to keep getting those high salaries.

Yes we are bleeding interest on the staggering debt Bush and his fiscal policies have added. 40% of the interest paid on the national debt held by non federal Government agencies (SS and Medicare) goes to Foreign Investors and is REMOVED from our economy. Most of the 40% of the interest being paid to China! That is a GREAT accomplishment!!!!
We can not balance the budget and STOP the growth in the National debt without BOTH cutting spending ( and I do not mean cutting spending that helps low and middle income Americans or the retired) without added tax revenue.

But WHY aren't you? I can live just fine on about 40k a year. Why they hell should you need 100k? If you make twice as much as me, I deserve the benefit of the other half, right?

OH, BUT WAIT. YOU get to nail the people who make twice as much as you, but the people who make half as much as you can't dig into YOU. Interesting perspective. I live comfortably, pay for health insurance for my family, plenty to eat, cable to watch, broadband internet, etc. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer.

So no one really NEEDS more than me, right? Why stop with the 500k people? Why do you get to say? You think you are "reasonable", but there are radical folks at my level that would slap the level down a lot lower. You'd better not start, or you might find the level of forced equality being lower than you can stomach.