Please don't windfall tax oil companies just "because they can afford it". At some point, somebody should have informed you that the final payer is always has been and always will be a consumer, as any costs are past down, taxes included. There is no one else! So when you, in the heat of your battle, on the national television, giving in to a burning desire to move back into that nice white building on Pennsylvania Avenue bate your constituents by promising to ease their gas burden by taxing big, bad oil companies - what I hear is: vote for meee... and you will pay even more for gas than you're paying now...
You see Madam Senator, a Robinhood philosophy of expropriating from "those that can afford it" just because... has failed! Not only it has failed, it's dying all over the world. If you don't believe me, ask Russians, or Chinese, or Cubans, or any other people that survived havens of communism...
But the strategy and tactics used by Bolsheviks to attract loyalty of the common people are still alive and being practiced by contenders like you with great consistency. And why not? As long as politicians like you will say and promise anything, anything at all to get elected and as long as people remain as gullible as they are these tactics will work!
If you however, are sincere in bringing the fossil fuel costs down permanently consider sponsoring new, competing technologies and allow to search for oil within territorial US, as suggested by the President.
As for the oil companies - they are in business to make money for their shareholders, they operate in the competitive environment and like all other businesses they earn their profits. It is still legal!
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Alan:
ReplyDeleteI am curious what you think about congress (Barney Frank + friends) moving toward helping homeowners . What impact will this have on homebuilders if any?
I am short CTX and have been for 2 1/2 years but seems it is more difficult to get it to go down as everyone (and the media) thinks the homebuilders will recover by the end of the year.
My thought is that there has never been a time like this in last 50 years for homebuilders. One of the biggest negatives is that inflation is robbing people of spending power and it will tougher to buy something "at full price" going forward. Homebuilders will need to shrink house sizes, hence revenues will fall.
I liked your short home builders article on SA; the list was extensive for being short.
I am really thinking that this won't be over until investors HATE homebuilders, having waited and waited and they go no where or go down.