Gas Pains are making me sick to my stomach
Published by Mark Von Nida on May 9th, 2008
By Mark
There is no question that high gas prices are hurting. Not everyone has the option of using public transportation and in particular, over the road truck drivers have been hit hard. A friend of mine who is in the wholesale vegetable business is adding a fuel surcharge to his deliveries because gas prices are taking away his margins. We have yet to see the full effect of $4 gallons on the economy.
As a debate develops over policies let’s just throw out one option. A wind fall profits tax is a monumentally stupid proposal. Taking the incentive out of the oil business is no way to bring prices down. Reality tells us the value of the dollar is dropping while the price of a barrel of oil is going up. Oil in the ground will surely be worth more later than sooner. An oil executive could easily make the decision to slow production if the industry is penalized for being profitable.
The gas tax debate is another subject worth more discussion but let’s drop the big oil rhetoric and a failed policy from the 1970’s.
Filed under National Issues, Uncategorized
May 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Any windfall profit tax is a dumb idea. By the way, the oil companies are not making windfall profits. There percentage of profits to return on equity is around 10%. Not an excessive percentage by any stretch. As Al’s blog pointed out their profits are being reinvested in infrastructure to keep more jobs in the USA. I guess Durbin doesn’t realize Connco-Philips could build the refinery in Mexico or Canada and ship the gas by pipeline.
As gas prices/oil prices stay high, the markets will adjust offering better fuel economy on cars. Alternative sources of energy will become a reality as the investment provides a reasonable return to the risk.
And please, let’s drill in ANWAR and off shore, build new refineries, and use coal and nuclear power to reduce or reliance on the crazy mideast.
Most liberal democrats oppose all of these solutions.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Words from Congressman Shimkus delivered on the floor of the house during debate about the energy bill.
“If every home replaced just one traditional light bulb with a compact fluorescent, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.”
It’s about personal responsibility.