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Right, I'm a Communist because I don't agree with Oil Companies receiving Billions and Billions in Government Subsidies every year or spending over $300 Million in Lobbyists since 2008.
Or the fact that 70% of the rent for the BP Oil Rig Deep Horizon, which caused the worst Oil spill in American history, was a tax break (a deduction of more than $225,000 a day since the lease began).
I am all for companies earning profits on their own merits. This is how Capitalism is supposed to work.
I am COMPLETELY against Corporate Welfare and Bailouts. You must have a different definition of a free market.
So you are saying the problem is the government then? So am I. We need a reduced government that is not there to gain power but to represent the people. Maybe we agree then.
Oil companies don't receive special subsidies. They get the same tax breaks every other industry takes advantage of. Nobody seems to care about the hundreds of millions in tax incentives and loopholes that grossly overpaid Hollywood takes advantage year after year, but if it's an oil company they're just exposing their unrivaled greed.
Oil CEO making millions = evil capitalist greed.
Harvey Weinstein making millions = brilliant entertainment guru.
I have a problem with any form of Corporate Welfare or Bailouts, but Oil Companies are treated differently than other Industries.
From the Article linked earlier:
According to the most recent study by the Congressional Budget Office, released in 2005, capital investments like oil field leases and drilling equipment are taxed at an effective rate of 9 percent, significantly lower than the overall rate of 25 percent for businesses in general and lower than virtually any other industry.
And for many small and midsize oil companies, the tax on capital investments is so low that it is more than eliminated by var-ious credits. These companies’ returns on those investments are often higher after taxes than before.
Oil companies don't receive special subsidies. They get the same tax breaks every other industry takes advantage of. Nobody seems to care about the hundreds of millions in tax incentives and loopholes that grossly overpaid Hollywood takes advantage year after year, but if it's an oil company they're just exposing their unrivaled greed.
Oil CEO making millions = evil capitalist greed.
Harvey Weinstein making millions = brilliant entertainment guru.
Oil companies do receive special breaks or incentives unique to exploration. A reasonably fair review of the incentives below:
I think Americans need to pay the true, undistorted cost for goods they use as much as possible. I think oil companies can afford to explore without incentives.
But I do not think their profits are per se excessive. No one has "excess" profits as much as Apple does. But for some reason they get a pass because they are "cool" even though they manufacture nothing in the US except software.
The biggest profit misunderstanding though is probably WalMart. Their profit margin is tiny - under 4%. Yet anti-business people constantly complain because they make a few billion a year, on sales of over $400B.
Facebook, Apple and Microsoft help society and advance technology.
Oil Companies have a stranglehold on American Government and prevent the advancement of technology and society. They also record profits that have not been seen before in any historical context of money.
I am not defending oil companies, they pollute the earth, create radical governments, and all sorts of unsustainable things from Dubai, to, baby booms, to suburbia.
But, I won't give a pass to Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. The electricity needed to run computers/the internet is pretty darned harmful. Recent studies have shown that power plant emissions (mostly coal) are as bad or worse than petroleum related emissions. [subject to adjustment as more is learned]
These products while frequently useful and entertaining don't necessarily help or advance society as you say. Computers and the internet make it very easy to outsource jobs overseas, cause alot of harmful emissions, and may be turning people into introverts with bad memories, always distracted, and physically inert (too much sitting is bad for your body).
There is an article about the kid/artist who stands to earn $200 million in capital gains for painting the Facebook headquarters a few years ago. He was paid in stock. I wonder if he will pay more than 15% on his gain....
This type of profit is evil - because it grant power to prasites - who really have not created any real wealth - as for Face Book - it is the clients that generate the substance - they should all be share holders for their contributions....instead of a hand full of people who are now billionares...The worst part is that these idiots with the billions of dollars are now entitled to make another twenty billion on the fact that they have billions...This creates more wealth inequality - that is generated artifically..why should some idiot like Bill Gates for instance have so much power - He never invented anything - He had a shrewd father who was a patent lawyer who taught his son to steal intellectual property and claim it for his own.
Oil is not a necessity; oil is a luxury. Folks want stuff from everywhere else and they want it now.
Americans don't want to reduce their dependency on oil...they want the oil cheap so they can use more of it.
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