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Oil Companies Voting With Their Feet
IBD Editorials ^ | December 12, 2008

Posted on 12/12/2008 5:41:13 PM PST by Kaslin

Energy: Another day, another oil company fleeing the country. No, this isn't Ecuador, the banana republic that just defaulted on its debt after chasing out investors. It's the United States, and what we're seeing is self-defense.


Much political hay has been made in Congress about "unpatriotic" corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets. But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the U.S.

In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it's no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As a pattern emerges, America's global standing diminishes, in part because it's based on the willingness of companies to invest. It's an especially bad sign when domestic companies flee.

"The U.S. is an important market," Weatherford CEO Bernard J. Duroc-Danner told the Houston Chronicle Thursday. But, "it's just a market. It's not the primary market."

How does that sound for a loss of global leadership? If that's not clear enough, try this: "In the hierarchical pecking order, (Houston's) not going to be Rome anymore."

What accounts for this vote of no confidence in the U.S.?

Start with the demonization of oil companies. Executives have been hauled before Congressional star chambers, held up to abuse and ridicule, and then blamed for high oil prices as if they wanted to kill their markets. Rising global demand, nationalizations and Congress' failure to open the country to drilling go ignored.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
KEYWORDS: biglabor; capitalflight; energy; nationalsecurity; oil
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Like I have said so many times, anyone who thinks the democrats are good for the economy needs their head examined
1 posted on 12/12/2008 5:41:13 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Thanks, good article.....here is another one.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=313892109107330

It seems funny to talk about a $1 trillion taxpayer- and debt-funded “stimulus” plan when there’s something we could do right away to boost the economy, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, shrink our trade gap and secure our energy independence: Drill for oil here, and drill for it now.

October’s trade data tell why. Despite a record plunge in oil prices from the late summer and into fall, the actual volume of oil we imported went up. Oil still accounts for nearly half our trade deficit (see chart) compared with less than 30% two years ago.


2 posted on 12/12/2008 5:43:42 PM PST by roses of sharon ("No socialist system can be established without a political police.", Churchill -1945)
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To: Kaslin
In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it's no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland.

Let them all leave. They're all evel anyway. We don't need them. /s

3 posted on 12/12/2008 5:48:07 PM PST by umgud (I'm really happy I wasn't aborted)
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To: Kaslin
headquarters from Houston to Switzerland

No problem, go rip the Swiss off!!!

4 posted on 12/12/2008 5:51:57 PM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: Kaslin

Same principle applies to taxing the wealthy. Tax them enough and they’ll just leave.


5 posted on 12/12/2008 5:54:34 PM PST by TheWasteLand
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To: Kaslin

It’s a Republican thing too. How many companies were chased off with Sarbanes-Oxley?


6 posted on 12/12/2008 5:54:48 PM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: roses of sharon
Yeah, I posted it yesterday

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2147288/posts

7 posted on 12/12/2008 5:55:34 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

So when do we start building walls to keep the selfish capitalists dogs from fleeing the socialist paradise of America?


8 posted on 12/12/2008 6:06:29 PM PST by Nateman (Welcome to the United Socialist States of America .)
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To: Kaslin
Redomestication has some tax issues that are not for amateurs, but after the pain, the tax burden can be lower, a lot lower. But why Switzerland? Their lowest tax canton is still higher than the tax havens like BVI.

Before anyone complains about a company abandoning the US, the camel can carry only so may straws. The ability to domesticate your business where it best suits the shareholders is a basic liberty issue. Keep in mind that since the US does not tax foreign persons on their US-based capital gains, it is the largest tax haven in the world, that is except for US Persons.

The last time too many people and firms fled for the exits, Congress reacted not be attempting to lure them back, but by increasing the tax penalties for leaving. Lovers of liberty note this: if a citizen leaves, he is still liable to report and pay US taxes for another 10 years. Congress has made us tax slaves.

9 posted on 12/12/2008 6:20:31 PM PST by theBuckwheat
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To: Kaslin

Is socialism good for America? Take a look at the stock market. Unemployment is beginning to move too. The clock started ticking when Democrats took control of Congress. It’s ticking faster now that BHO has been elected.


10 posted on 12/12/2008 6:30:18 PM PST by ChessExpert (The Dow was at 12,400 when Democrats took control of Congress. What is it today?)
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To: umgud

“We don’t need them.” ?????

Who says we don’t need them? We do not need to run any industry offshore. We need to deal with over-regulation, over-taxation, and idiot re-distributionist politicians.

I personally do not want the U.S. to become a Marxist paradise like Cuba. That is where we are going. I have seen to many examples of the wonders of Central Planning. Death, Desolation, & Misery.

The Totalitarian Collectivist will absolutely kill the essence of this country.


11 posted on 12/12/2008 6:34:52 PM PST by Texas Fossil
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To: org.whodat
headquarters from Houston to Switzerland

No problem, go rip the Swiss off!!!

By paying taxes to the Swiss? I'm sure the Swiss will be crying about that. LOL!

12 posted on 12/12/2008 6:35:00 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (This is morning, that's when I spend the most time, thinking 'bout what I've given up...)
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To: Texas Fossil

You obviously didn’t see or undersatand the sarcasm tag (/s) at the end of my comment.


13 posted on 12/12/2008 6:41:47 PM PST by umgud (I'm really happy I wasn't aborted)
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To: Kaslin
It's about damned time. The "rich" (ie. the productive) are being punished by the parasite class to the point where they are going to, *gasp*, escape their tormentors. America needs a good cull. If the last election is any indication, about half the voting public needs to starve to death in a puddle of its own whining-induced urine.

The productive will, Ayn Rand-style, evac and produce elsewhere. When the commies here die off (which should take about 2 weeks given their historical productivity statistics), the productive will return and re-establish the Constitutional Republic which gave them birth.

In the mean time, F these parasites, and F their leaders and enablers. Let famine, plague, and war take them in a cannibalistic frenzy.

We owe future generations a clean gene pool, free from this dross.

14 posted on 12/12/2008 6:42:24 PM PST by TonyStark
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To: Toddsterpatriot
That is one of the great things about this country you are free to leave. Sorry you don't support the concept.
15 posted on 12/12/2008 6:43:29 PM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: org.whodat
That is one of the great things about this country you are free to leave.

Absolutely.

Sorry you don't support the concept.

I do support the concept of freedom.

I'm just laughing at your claim that paying taxes to the Swiss is somehow ripping off the Swiss.

16 posted on 12/12/2008 6:55:52 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (This is morning, that's when I spend the most time, thinking 'bout what I've given up...)
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To: Kaslin

these libera/communist/socialist/progressive democrats are becoming very tiresome indeed.

IMHO


17 posted on 12/12/2008 6:57:44 PM PST by ripley
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To: org.whodat
No problem, go rip the Swiss off!!!

We'll still use their services, they just won't be here where they aren't welcome.

18 posted on 12/12/2008 6:58:48 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: org.whodat
"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands."

Judge Learned Hand

In fact, given the current spend-a-thon our Government seems to be on, I would argue it is actually PATRIOTIC to pay as few taxes as possible (which is well-accomplished by moving your assets and company overseas), so as to provide some sort of limit on the absolute level of funds that will be squandered in this latest round of deficits.

19 posted on 12/12/2008 6:58:56 PM PST by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the sting of truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: Kaslin
The Democrat "No Domestic Energy Policy!"

All of that puts the U.S. in a position that war for oil or
complete economic collapse will be our only choices.
You can't frustrate every source of domestic energy
without consequences. Our enemies will blackmail us
to the extent that we are vulnerable to blackmail.

The Democrats are leading us into a real war for oil.
A war we won't have the energy to fight. A war we don't need to fight because we have our own resources.

20 posted on 12/12/2008 7:09:17 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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