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Sat 10 Jun, 2006 12:55 pm
In response to the article appearing in most major newspapers across the country concerning the $8.4 billion profit reported by Exxon. Concern over profits by this oil company has brought about accusations of gouging the American consumer. According to the article, "CEOs from Exxon and its industry peers have already appeared twice at Senate hearings and were asked to justify their profits shortly after reporting them to shareholders." This has to be an American first. I have never heard of a company being called to justify it's profits. One wonders if an extension of this idea could be made to other companies in other industries as well.
Per the article, "Lawmakers believe the profits are made on the backs of consumers who are paying a national average of $2.91 a gallon - 68 cents more than last year. Exxon says a strong commodities market combined with fortuitous planning and prudent management are producing record numbers." This should make Americans ask the fundamental question: what is the difference between what a public non-profit utility company provides and what a private for-profit oil company provides? Afterall, they both sell energy to all United States citizens. The difference is that natural gas and electricity are sold in the form of a public good whereas oil is sold in the form of a private good. Accordingly, on the grounds of promoting national security, the United States Congress should convert all oil companies to utility companies. This would eliminate the windfall profits and force the oil industry to earn just enough income to cover operating expenses just as natural gas and electric utility companies are required to do. The resulting drop in gasoline prices would further stimulate the economy and lighten the energy stranglehold upon the United States by the Middle East. It would also eliminate the influence of the oil lobby. In this case, desperate times call for deliberate measures.
Make 'em subsidize public transportation. That oughta scare 'em.
So you are saying that the United States Government should seize/steal the oil companies from their rightful owners (The stockholders.) and convert their companies into public 'not for profit' corporations?
What about all those shareholders who wisely invested their money into the oil companies?
Do we send our stormtroopers into their homes to confiscate their stock certificates and tell them 'tough luck buddy, your retirement nest egg is going away because JOEBIALEK doesn't want to pay fair market value for his gas?
The government isn't and shouldn't be in the business of stealing or confiscating private property because some people bitch and moan too much.
Why not. The oil industry has been stealing oil from public lands with sweetheart deals in which they pay a small percentage of the worth of the oil they take. In some cases they have cheated the government by mistateing the ammount of oil they take.
rabel22 wrote:Why not. The oil industry has been stealing oil from public lands with sweetheart deals in which they pay a small percentage of the worth of the oil they take. In some cases they have cheated the government by mistateing the ammount of oil they take.
I guess because that pesky 4th Amendment of the Constitution doesn't allow the government to do that.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated
This is not some third world pisspot banana republic where the government just takes all the assets of a business because someone wants it. We have the rule of law in a free market economy. If you don't like the rules, I suggest you try somewhere else, because these are the rules for this country.
Federal
Your a typical republican. Its ok for business to rip off the public but a sin for the public to try to make business pay its fair share. What im talking about is fourceing business to pay the true worth of the oil they take from public lands. Nowhere in the constitution do I see a probiation against paying a fair price for the minerals they extract from public lands.