Nope. That money was used to offset a debt from a war. He wants someone else's money now. A moral obligation? Interesting. From a fiscal conservative point of view (my point of view) it also saves money when the poor are moved up the ladder -- and they can't do that without programs. Your position that it's also a moral obligation (which is perfectly reasonable, by the way) also implies that health care coverage should be provided.
Agreed, "spreading the wealth" around is not the American way. But if that wealth was obtained by unscrupulous means, I don't care if it's taken away from those that "earned" it. Many people believe that oil companies have earned their wealth by gouging consumers at the gas pump. Whether or not that's true, I don't know. Nobody is going to put them on trial other than to have them go up to capitol hill and deflect embarrasing questions. if Obama takes their money via a windfall tax and gives it to the American people a capitalist would call it a crime and a socialist would call it justice. Why not have a trial, the due process of law you mentioned? Let's have a witness on the stand explain how gas prices can spike 20% or more based on a news story about possible disruption to the oil supply, or even just a rumor, when the gas that was underneath that pump was already paid for. It would have to be done before the companies sell off their gas stations to franchisees though, as they now plan to do. Maybe they envisioned just a scenario in the not too distant future.
Are you really this ignorant? Do you know how many billions it takes to drill a deep water well in the Gulf of Mexico? And you think they made their "wealth" gouging your sorry ass at the gas station. Jesus Christ are people really this stupid? By the way, there is very little money in marketing gasoline. Exxon has been selling it's gas stations. Not that your post has anything to do with facts. yeah, let's do that "windfall profit" tax once again. Maybe it will work better the second time around. OldTrader
Are you really ignorant? Obviously you are. Number one, it doesn't take billions to drill a deep water well. Go read what I said about gouging at the gas pump, dumb ass. Cheese n rice, are you really that stupid? No shit, Exxon is selling stations, if you had read my post, you friggin dumb ass, you would have seen that I already mentioned that.
Uhmmm...you do realize that while OIL prices went up several hundred percent, the price for unleaded gas did not go up NEARLY as much. I'd say the oil companies probably took some losses to keep prices from going even higher.
Uhmmmm, you do realize that Exxon Mobil earned the highest profits for any company in the history of America? Doesn't sound like they were taking losses to me. But let's assume what you say is true. What redress should the shareholders seek against a management that took a loss for undercharging the end user product?
Oil companies arent that profitable on a percentage basis. they get 95% of their oil on the open market.
Do yourself a favor dumbass. Don't post about oil companies anymore. You don't know shit about them or how they make money. OldTrader
Do us all a favor and stay the fuck off a message board where you don't even read the posts you are responding to, dumbass. I've been waiting for you to respond to one of my posts after seeing all the bullshit you post on here trying to make youself look smart by insulting other chatters and posting made up facts. Billions to drill a well? Did you think nobody here would know how much it costs to drill a well, or wouldn't even bother to look and see for themselves? Not surprising from you considering the bullshit you splatter all over this board. Get the fuck out of here, you represent everything that's wrong with this board.
Feb 2008 -- "Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company, reported at the start of this month a record 2007 profit of $40.6 billion..." Oil industry awash in record levels of cash - Oil & energy- msnbc.com Record Profits at Oil Companies Draw Criticism Exxon Mobil Profit Sets Record Again - New York Times "ANGRY fuel protesters took to the streets yesterday as oil giants BP and Shell announced combined record profits. "The two firms were braced for a backlash after revealing they together made £7.2billion in just three months - or £3.3million an hour. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/u...-giants-reveal-record-profits-86908-20399694/