Sen. Barack Obama is getting a bit of guff for an ad where he slaps around oil companies. Fair enough. But let's look at the point he makes about those evil oil companies again, shall we?
They’ll pay a penalty on windfall profits. We’ll invest in alternative energy, create jobs and free ourselves from foreign oil. I approve this message because it’s time that Washington worked for you. Not them."
They'll pay a penalty for making all that dirty, dirty money.
Rarely has a candidate so candidly, even proudly, exhibited such profound ignorance of economics.
If the good Senator wishes to advocate punishing businesses who make a profit, he is free to do so, just as long as he understands that the bulk of those profits do not end up in a heap in the basement. Oil companies, for example, funnel the bulk of that money back into finding more oil. What's left over, they pay out to shareholders (like the Leahys) and some even finds its way into the coffers of governments in the form of taxes, fees and royalties. If the Senator wishes to squelch those profits, I can only hope he is prepared to see one or all of those profit outlets severely curtailed.
You remember, like happened the 70s and windfall profits taxes were all the rage? When we had gas lines and rationing?
Good times.
Does this advertisement insult your intelligence?
I understand that basic political understanding is collapsing among the masses. However, I would hope that most people see this ad for the insult that it is.....are people truly ignorant enough to think that a tax on a good will all of a sudden magically produce an alternative? Do they believe that a tax will make the price of the good any cheaper?
If the logic is: tax it and better alternatives will appear, why don't we tax those in poverty?
Sadly, I think too many
Sadly, I think too many people will take this ad at face value and never for a moment question his premise.
After all, he is the Chosen One, right?
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