Free Republic

Friday, August 1st, Barack Obama announced that he intended on seizing “excess” profits from oil companies to give families in the form of $1000 checks per family. Granted, the oil companies did make a tremendous profit this year. Obama, who has never held a job in the private sector, probably thinks that profits from oil corporations are stuffed into pillow cases and squeezed into the closets filled with other ill-gotten gain by evil Texas oil tycoons. He pictures them snickering, as they stuff it all in, reaching for more pillowcases, being careful not to inadvertently grab their Ku Klux Klan...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton reminded me of why she would make so awful a President, as she spoke to the DNC Winter Meeting, and bloviated about the nonsensical topic of Energy Independence. For starters, she doesn’t want to be a President. Instead, she seeks to channel Gary Gygax, and serve as America’s first woman Dungeon Master.Her diatribe on Energy Independence revealed the inner robber baron hidden beneath the atonal, boring shrew. She doesn’t seem concerned about our dependence on oil, but rather the ability of smart, innovative corporations to use that dependence to spin money. Money that she isn’t currently...

Oklahoma’s Golden Opportunity With gasoline prices exceeding $3 per gallon throughout much of the United States, motorists are feeling a considerable amount of pain at the pump. Many elected officials are feeling pressure from their constituents to “do something”... “Doing something” in this case usually means railing against the evils of “Big Oil.” Of course, worldwide supply and demand are the primary determinants of gasoline prices, but that does not stop the wild allegations — often centered on accusations of “price gouging” — against oil companies every time they raise prices or announce a quarterly profit. Accusations of gouging then...

As motorists grumble about gasoline costs hovering around $3 a gallon, a Democratic lawmaker is trying to slap a so-called windfall profits tax on oil companies. Assemblyman Johan Klehs, D-San Leandro, has a bill that would levy a 2 percent surtax on oil company income of more than $10 million a year. It's scheduled to be taken up Monday by the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, which Klehs chairs. The tax would raise $120 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and larger amounts in subsequent years, according to estimates by the state Franchise Tax Board. The surtax...

I'm shocked! Shocked! Apparently, Exxon Mobil is making a profit on the sale of oil. Moreover, this energy company is telling anyone who's interested all about it. In fact, on January 31, news of their profits was the big story of the day. I did notice, however, there was no mention of the billions federal and state governments received in tax revenue on gasoline.

"I don't blame Exxon for making the profits ... it's a busines; it's owned by pensioners and widows and retirees. It's fine if they get the money because it's going back to the American stockholders." So said Ben Stein, Economist, author of "Yes, You Can Become a Successful Income Investor! Reaching for Yield in Today's Market," actor and former Nixon speechwriter on "Your World with Neil Cavuto." "The amount of profit on each gallon of gasoline is between six and eight cents. If you cut out all the profit so that Exxon/Mobil went out of business, and Conoco went out...

WASHINGTON - The chiefs of five major oil companies defended the industry's huge profits Wednesday at a Senate hearing where lawmakers said they should explain prices and assure people they're not being gouged. There is a "growing suspicion that oil companies are taking unfair advantage," Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., said as the hearing opened in a packed Senate committee room. "The oil companies owe the country an explanation," he said. Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp., said he recognizes that high gasoline prices "have put a strain on Americans' household budgets" but he defended his...

It is my considered opinion, backed by 37 years of radio yammering, that 98.4% of the people in this country who use the word “fascist” have no idea what the word actually means. Ditto for “Nazi.” Being in a helpful mood I embark here on an educational effort so that some of us might actually recognize fascism when it truly does rear it’s ugly head, as it did this week from the mouth of Senator Charles Grassley (R- IA), the chairman of Senate Finance Committee. Grassley has apparently decided that free enterprise no longer works for America. (The truth here...

Here we go again. Gasoline prices are dropping as usual with the end of the summer driving season. But oil companies are announcing huge quarterly profits, so the inevitable reaction has begun -- howls on Capitol Hill. Self-proclaimed friends of consumers want the profits refunded to "ease consumers' pain." They propose to do that through a "windfall profits tax," arguing that the government would make better use of the money than would the oil companies. They point out breathlessly that one company's last quarter earnings were $9 billion, and then multiply it to reach $36 billion for a full year....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid record-high earnings from oil companies, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Thursday ordered a Senate hearing with testimony from major oil company executives on why energy prices are high. The unexpected announcement by the chamber's top Republican showed the growing political pressure as American consumers brace for higher winter heating costs at the same time energy companies are reporting fat profits. "If there are those who abuse the free enterprise system to advantage themselves and their businesses at the expense of all Americans, they ought to be exposed, and they ought to be ashamed," Frist said...

Both Democrats and Republicans on the [Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee] panel expressed concern that fuel prices are choking U.S. consumers. [. . .] Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said $100 a barrel oil is "not so far out of the realm of possibility," and asked "is that something this country can sustain?" [. . .] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said he anticipates "we're going to find many instances of manipulation and fraud." Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the chairman of the committee, said the panel is prepared to call on oil-company executives to explain rising fuel costs if there is...

The outrage over high gasoline prices continues. This is indicative of an oil industry boycott that was encouraged through email solicitations, recently. Like myself, you may have received one or two, asking you to not buy gas on May 19. In short, the motive served no other purpose but to protest what many believe to be a deliberate attempt by oil companies to gouge prices to increase profits. The few who did participate in the boycott, did so for no other purpose but to hit oil companies where it hurts - the wallet. I wonder if the participants considered the...

WASHINGTON--Former Alaska Gov. Jay Hammond said Saturday that President George Bush should make an Alaska-like dividend for Iraqis a central element of his re-election campaign. Hammond made the remark after delivering a history and defense of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend to the annual conference of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network. The organization wants governments to offer all citizens, regardless of their own means, enough money to live. It says the Alaska dividend, which Hammond helped create while governor, is "the only example of an existing basic income guarantee in the world today."