I know it sounds far fetched, with all their record profits these last few years. But now that Oil has tanked, will they be able to sustain their companies with low Oil price points? Because you know where the profit went, not back into the companies, but probably into the shareholders/executives pockets. I just have a feeling we will hear from them soon. DD
Wait, I thought Obama was going to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies. What a r****ded idea that was!
Which makes it all the funnier that you supported a candidate that not only proposed it, but implemented it as Governor of Alaska.
I have been on record as saying that windfall profit taxes for oil companies are r****ded. McCain did not propose this. Obama did propose such a r****ded idea
first of all grow up and stop using the term r****ded. its offensive. secondly, why the hell not? if corporations will come and beg for money when they are down, why shouldn't we impose higher taxes on them when they are making lots of money. its simple keynesian. that being said, i don't think its fair for a windfall tax to only be on one sector of the economy. but if its in the form of a graduated income tax for the really big profits, im down.
I know Sam, not yet, but if this recession continues, most of the large corporations that relied on consumerism, and specifically those that paid out large bonuses or chunks of their profit in good times, and failed to re-invest those profits back into their businesses could be in trouble. DD
Even with falling prices, oil cos will make money - maybe not obscene amounts, but they will make money. They made money before at these prices and they will today - exploration may slow down some. Refiners are still making their share too. However places that refine oil sand will take a bit of a beating because it is more expensive to process that - both processing oil sand and the oil sand providers. But the sour and sweet crude refiners should still make somewhat less than obscene amounts of money - but good money compared to other cos in this environment.
exxon has 40 billion in the bank. also look at the stocks. no one's doing great but no one is really hurting. maybe conoco a bit. oil companies will be hurting, but they won't need a bailout. if for no other reason than the fact that opec in conjunction with russia, even maybe norway, will make severe cuts. its a short term thing. oil is sustainable. stupidity on wall street isn't.
Palin not only proposed it as a campaign idea, but she actually implemented it. And McCain said Palin was the smartest person in the country when it came to energy issues. The dots aren't hard to connect.
lol you're trying too hard I'm against windfall profits taxes. Obama, in his short-sightedness, supports them
Did the oil companies bail us, the common Joes, out when they were making obscene amounts of profit while we got hammered at the game pumps not too long ago?
you have not stated a case against them, only used the word r****ded twice, they are called "windfall" profits for a reason, and the idea of taxing their profits any extra for windfall purposes has been dropped.
That is scary to think about. My fiance and I work for oil & gas companies... Hopefully, they will survive this recession.
The case against windfall profits should be intuitively obvious to most: it strips away investment incentive for these companies. Why would they bother investing their capital if they know that Obama is going to swoop in and take their profits like a criminal? They wouldn't. Obama was just pandering to voters. I'm glad to see he's flip flopped on this issue
lets say obama slaps twenty percent on these companies. you mean to tell me exxon mobil is going to pass up $8 billion a quarter because they couldn't make $10 billion. not buying, and again, the term is windfall, there are no windfall profits now, hence the drop of the argument. edit: does a windfall tax prevent the oil industry from lobbying to drill more in alaska?
