Our party has no ideas and its really sad.
By the end of the week, Chuck Grassley will be singing the same tune.
Banks, big pharma, high tech and several other industries all make nearly twice as much per dollar of revenue as big oil. Why not the wailing for windfall profit taxes on these other industries (oh wait, scratch that thought!!!)?
I suggest a windfall 'profit' tax on elected officials. Any elected official who has an increase in net worth during his term, must pay a 70% tax on those increases!!!!
Last fall, Congress passed energy legislation mandating a seven-year ramp up in the amount of biofuel blended into the nation's gasoline stocks, beginning with nearly 4 billion gallons in 2006 and rising to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012. Ethanol is expected to fulfill most of this requirement.
Additionally, numerous states that use reformulated gasoline have banned the use of ethanol's only commercial competitor, methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which has been found to contaminate underground water supplies.
Congress also decided not to include a liability waiver in the energy bill to protect refiners that blended MTBE into gasoline from lawsuits stemming from contamination. This has touched off a rapid phase-out of MTBE from gasoline stocks ahead of May when the renewable fuel provisions in the energy bill kick in and refiners say they face liability exposure.
snip
By January of this year, the domestic ethanol industry was producing 288,000 barrels a day, the most recent month for which figures are available. The Renewable Fuels Association says domestic producers have the capacity to deliver at least 4.5 billion gallons this year, more than the bump up mandated by the energy legislation.
But the renewable fuels mandate coupled with the phase-out of MTBE and state fuel requirements is expected to produce a need for about 395,000 barrels of ethanol a day, or 6.1 billion gallons in 2006, according to the Energy Department.
Keep in mind the 1.6 billion gallon shortfall, expanded to gallons of fuel represents 16 billion gallons of 10% ethanol fuel which simply cannot be formulated using domestic stocks or supplies, even in a best-case scenario.
Which translates into imported ethanol, which has a tarrif on it, imposed by Congress.
With just a little background info, you see where some of the price problem at the pump is coming from.
Between the Federal fuels taxes and ethanol tarrifs, guess who is digging deeper into your pocket than the oil companies' profit margin?
The only reason parts of this nation is experiencing shortages and sudden price spikes is because of the stupid requirement to add 10% Ethanol to all gasoline.
-George Santayana-
Specter must want to bring back the gas lines that resulted from the last time we tried this. What a dope!
>>>"we have allowed"
This is all we need to know about Specter, the candidate that Bush and Rove saved during this last election, supporting Specter rather than the conservative candidate. There might have been a trade, however, in getting his support of conservative Supreme Court judges for helping him win in the Pennsylvania primaries and the election against the Democrat.
Specter is beyond RINO, he's a Democrat in Republican clothing.
$22 a barrel oil equaled $1 gal. gas
$75 a barrel oil is giving us $$3 gal. gas
So a 340% increase in oil has resulted in a 300% increase in gasoline.
Where is the mystery here? Profit is generally tied to the amount of capital that has to be put out.
How would this help?
The OC's would pay, raise prices citing "concern" over iraq, iran, SA, or hurricanes.
We end up paying more.
I was in the oil business when they passed the last windfall profits tax of 40%. The rig count was 2700 and within two years was down to 11. More than 50% of oil producers either went out of business or left the country for better prospects.
Its simple, If one invests one million to make a 10% profit of 100 thousand and that is declared a windfall, subject to another heavy tax one will simply invest elsewhere with less risk.
Exxon is the most accused but is a world wide business with most business and profits other than in the US. They could well do without US profits and expense.
I have read many posts and much news on gas costs lately, however none have addressed the real cause, though there are many smaller problems and one would think it a secret. It is not. Gasoline is most refined from light crude. Light crude peaked in early 2004 and is in decline. The competition and bidding for light crude is fierce and will continue as supplies lessen. There is still plenty of heavy oil but most refineries were not built to handle heavy oil and will have to be redesigned. SA, Mexico and Venezuela are mostly heavy oil and all are building their own refineries in a effort to produce more gasoline. In addition heavy oil does not yield as much gasoline as light oil.
When did all of these oil mergers take place....
During the CLINTON presidency.
If they didn't complain then, they have no right to complain now.
Hey, a windfall profits tax on oil is GREAT idea. Look at some of the benefits we can expect:
1) Less drilling for oil and gas. Of course, the 21st century reincarnation of WPT should not distinguish between "old oil" and "new oil". This is an inherently dirty and dangerious business that we don't need in an information economy. A knock-on benefit is that oil industry will finally shut up about ANWR and offshore drilling restrictions.
2) Less investment in refineries and pipelines. Again, this is a dirty and dangerous business that we don't need in an information economy.
3) A new tax that targets greedy oil companies and evil independent oil drillers. A knock-on benefit is that also will hurt Halliburton, which is primarily an oil-and-gas services company. We don't need this in an information economy.
4) Higher fuel prices and supply disruptions will reduce driving in the short run. Physical transportion certainly isn't necessary in an information economy. Longer term, higher fuel prices could even eradicate the evil SUV which has plagued our roads and highways for almost two decades. A knock-on benefit of this is that it would finally bankrupt GM, another evil big corporation.
By coupling WPT with impossible regulations, we can finally strangle the big oil companies. Then, this industry can finally be socialized, the federal government can repeal the laws of thermodynamics as well as the laws of supply and demand, and we will all live in utopia.
Senator Durbin Threatens Oil Companies
Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is demanding congressional action to punish oil companies. "Oil companies are making buckets of money, but are not sharing much of it with us," Durbin said. "Look over the lists of donors to my campaign fund. Oil companies are underrepresented. This is not how the 'game' is played."
Durbin says he will introduce a Windfall Profits Tax bill that would impose an excise tax on oil and gas companies equal to 50 percent of their profits over a baseline price of $40 per barrel of oil unless the oil companies can persuade him not to. "I'm not an unreasonable man," said Durbin. "A show of good faith on the part of oil company executives would go a long way toward getting me to change my mind. I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same way."
read more at...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm