Windfall profits? Is I don't hear cries of windfall profits when Coke Cola's profit margin is 20% or the pharmaceutical industries average margin is 16.5%. But when oil's margin of 8.5% generate profits of $3 to $8 billion, because of business volume, it’s called "windfall". A little basic economics 101 would help here.
So the congressional response to this "windfall" is to:
A) Pad the federal treasury with a new royalties when the PPB rises above $55,
B) Congress “feels our pain” with a $100 "rebate,"
C) Increase taxes on oil company inventories,
D) Rescind tax incentives on exploration in difficult areas.
What’s wrong with this? It's simply pandering. When we need to explore more, congress makes it more expensive. While congress gives $100 to the taxpayer on one hand, it comes right out of the other pocket.
Historically it's been charged that corporate America doesn't pay taxes. In truth that is a fact. All business taxes are passed through to the end user as a cost of doing business. So new royalties will come...out of the taxpayers pocket.
Taxes of oil company inventories, out of the taxpayer's personal budget. Rescind tax incentives, a double hit in both more taxes passed through and more increases in actual costs as the supply continues to diminish because of the costs of exploring areas like shale oil.
The whole issue is a blatant example of the left and both sides of the aisle in Congress preying on the ignorance of the American people. The local paper characterized the royaly cap as costing government billions of dollars. It would be better said, "the cap saves the US taxpayer billions of dollars," they're the ones who pay the bill.
If I can figure this out and understand it, what’s wrong with the "big guys?"
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Monday, April 10, 2006
I took a drive to our downtown square this afternoon, after a discussion with my wife trying to help her understand that what I was about to do was based on principle, not protest. Like elsewhere around our nation, Ocala area supporters of illegal immigration held a “rally” on our downtown square.
Too often we Americans will speak in quiet circles, or loudly in small groups to register our dissatisfaction with our representatives and government. We will carefully protest the failures of Capitol Hill to address the very real concerns we have; yet when given the opportunity to put feet to our voice, we balk.
Often this is because those of us who hold the most conservative and traditional of values maintain as part of those values a work ethic that creates a responsibility to employer, employee, customer and family. That responsibility oft prevents us from taking the steps necessary to leave or shut down our business and join a group of likeminded individuals to publicly express our beliefs.
Too often, those who demand more from government in the way of handouts, “rights”, and “freedoms” are able to gather together in large numbers because they have few other responsibilities. They demand the benefits without taking on the responsibilities that come with being a member of our society.
While I may be some what convoluted in some aspects of the illegal immigration issue currently facing our nation, one thing I do know. We must secure our borders. This is a much changed world from what it was even 20 years ago when Ronald Reagan first signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act that among other things introduced amnesty to those in this country illegally.
At the time it was thought this, along with increased border control would stem the tide of illegals entering the country. In 1986 there were about 2.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States and it was thought a simple matter to close the borders, giving amnesty to those working in the US since 1982, and provide penalties for those who knowingly employed illegals.
Since then the tide of illicit border crossings has continued to rise to an estimated 40,000 monthly. While that may be down from an estimated 1.5 million annually in the mid-90’s, the estimated number of illegals in the US has increased to at least 10.5 million according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Some other estimates put the number as high as 20 million.
Were we discussing armed combatants from a hostile nation, our politicians would fall over themselves to demand military action to drive out the invaders. Yet, while it’s most likely the majority of those entering illegally are peaceful people who simply desire a better life, there are certainly among them a sub group of those who would do this nation harm.
Whether it be drugs, Mexican gangs and “mafia”, criminals and certainly even terrorists as described in one World Net Daily article, there are those entering our country who will do us harm. Yet our politicians remain sitting on their hands, sacrificing the security of 296 million American citizens for fear of alienating 10.5 million non-citizens.
As stated earlier, I may not have a fully developed response for the whole issue of illegal immigration, this one thing I do know, we MUST secure our borders. If not to stop illicit border crossings then to protect against the entry of criminal and terrorist elements who WILL do us harm.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Too often we Americans will speak in quiet circles, or loudly in small groups to register our dissatisfaction with our representatives and government. We will carefully protest the failures of Capitol Hill to address the very real concerns we have; yet when given the opportunity to put feet to our voice, we balk.
Often this is because those of us who hold the most conservative and traditional of values maintain as part of those values a work ethic that creates a responsibility to employer, employee, customer and family. That responsibility oft prevents us from taking the steps necessary to leave or shut down our business and join a group of likeminded individuals to publicly express our beliefs.
Too often, those who demand more from government in the way of handouts, “rights”, and “freedoms” are able to gather together in large numbers because they have few other responsibilities. They demand the benefits without taking on the responsibilities that come with being a member of our society.
While I may be some what convoluted in some aspects of the illegal immigration issue currently facing our nation, one thing I do know. We must secure our borders. This is a much changed world from what it was even 20 years ago when Ronald Reagan first signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act that among other things introduced amnesty to those in this country illegally.
At the time it was thought this, along with increased border control would stem the tide of illegals entering the country. In 1986 there were about 2.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States and it was thought a simple matter to close the borders, giving amnesty to those working in the US since 1982, and provide penalties for those who knowingly employed illegals.
Since then the tide of illicit border crossings has continued to rise to an estimated 40,000 monthly. While that may be down from an estimated 1.5 million annually in the mid-90’s, the estimated number of illegals in the US has increased to at least 10.5 million according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Some other estimates put the number as high as 20 million.
Were we discussing armed combatants from a hostile nation, our politicians would fall over themselves to demand military action to drive out the invaders. Yet, while it’s most likely the majority of those entering illegally are peaceful people who simply desire a better life, there are certainly among them a sub group of those who would do this nation harm.
Whether it be drugs, Mexican gangs and “mafia”, criminals and certainly even terrorists as described in one World Net Daily article, there are those entering our country who will do us harm. Yet our politicians remain sitting on their hands, sacrificing the security of 296 million American citizens for fear of alienating 10.5 million non-citizens.
As stated earlier, I may not have a fully developed response for the whole issue of illegal immigration, this one thing I do know, we MUST secure our borders. If not to stop illicit border crossings then to protect against the entry of criminal and terrorist elements who WILL do us harm.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Friday, March 31, 2006
Look around you in the news today, the fact that there are 12 million illegal aliens in our country, the majority of which are seeking a better life for themselves and their families should cause each one of us to pause and take inventory of our lives and the blessing we have been given as citizens of this nation.
For certain, the desire for a better life doesn't give one a pass to flaunt the laws of our free society, but it should be instructive to those of us who nonchalantly take our blessings for granted. You can be certain; those citizens serving in uniform do not take their US citizenship for granted. Serving in a foreign land rapidly makes precious the blessings of home.
On another note of blessing, as of today, the loss of American lives in Iraq is on track to become the lowest monthly loss since February 2004 when 20 men and women gave their lives in Iraq. While we would be careful to not read too much in this we pray it is the beginning of a trend where Iraqis pick up the terrible honor of protecting their freedoms won at the cost of American, British, and other coalition lives.
Certainly the Iraqi police and military have lost many lives as they have struggled to organize, train, police and fight their war, to date and estimated 12,159, but, as in our own fight for freedom from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to 1783 when the British left their final North American military post in New York. By some counts 4,435 combat deaths took place in that crude war.
To be sure, men have become more efficient in the effectiveness of their military weapons, but in this war the greatest factor is the willingness of the enemy to use powerful, crudely effective weapons while ignoring the conventions of war.
While American sensibilities and the penchant of the typical American for a quick solution to difficult problems has caused many to waver, the enemy remains resolute in his determination to drive us from Iraq and Afghanistan, and establish their operations in those countries from which to launch renewed attacks on American soil and our citizens.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
For certain, the desire for a better life doesn't give one a pass to flaunt the laws of our free society, but it should be instructive to those of us who nonchalantly take our blessings for granted. You can be certain; those citizens serving in uniform do not take their US citizenship for granted. Serving in a foreign land rapidly makes precious the blessings of home.
On another note of blessing, as of today, the loss of American lives in Iraq is on track to become the lowest monthly loss since February 2004 when 20 men and women gave their lives in Iraq. While we would be careful to not read too much in this we pray it is the beginning of a trend where Iraqis pick up the terrible honor of protecting their freedoms won at the cost of American, British, and other coalition lives.
Certainly the Iraqi police and military have lost many lives as they have struggled to organize, train, police and fight their war, to date and estimated 12,159, but, as in our own fight for freedom from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to 1783 when the British left their final North American military post in New York. By some counts 4,435 combat deaths took place in that crude war.
To be sure, men have become more efficient in the effectiveness of their military weapons, but in this war the greatest factor is the willingness of the enemy to use powerful, crudely effective weapons while ignoring the conventions of war.
While American sensibilities and the penchant of the typical American for a quick solution to difficult problems has caused many to waver, the enemy remains resolute in his determination to drive us from Iraq and Afghanistan, and establish their operations in those countries from which to launch renewed attacks on American soil and our citizens.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
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