Now this is the kind of thing that makes me mad. I really think someone should do something about oil companies getting record profits while the economy and consumer spending are hit by high energy prices. This I agree with:
"These companies are turning in record profits -- they have a responsibility to expand refining capacity," U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told a Senate Energy Committee hearing on hurricane damage to the industry.
This idea is totally stupid and muddle headed:
Democrats have also introduced bills that would impose a windfall profits tax on crude oil. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York wants to assess companies up to $20 billion annually to help consumers and develop new energy technologies.
Yeah, lets just steal their profits without getting much of anything back from it. It becomes a disincentive for them to increase capacity, pump more oil, or even deliver more gas. So the prices of oil, gas, and distillates would go up because the demand is still there but the supply is constrained.
I would bet that the oil companies would go out of their way to get under the profit tax including shuttering refineries, stopping the exploration of new sources, or even hiding profits or spinning off parts of their business. It's either that or their money gets stolen by the US government.
Whatever the case Exxon and the other oil companies had better increase dividends, create a special one time dividend, or increase their stock buyback program. They need to return some of these record profits to shareholders.
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