Byron Dorgan: Big Oil Bribing Their Way Out Of Windfall Profits Tax
What a doofus...
Just another example of how out of touch Byron Dorgan is with economic realities. First he comes out with a book about the outsourcing of jobs when our unemployment rate is at a historically low 4.6%, now he's carping about "windfall profits" that have, in reality, been a boon for his constituents.
Has anyone done a poll of North Dakotans about the windfall profits tax? Because while Dorgan continues of crusade against "wind fall profits" these high gas prices have been a boon for North Dakota's economy. As the oil industry seeks to expand production to meet growing demand they've re-ignited the ND oil industry which had slackened during the low gas prices of the 1990's.
The oil industry has invested in expansive exploration for oil and development of infrastructure in western North Dakota and has been hiring workers to the point where the state's unemployment rate is at a rock-bottom low 3.8%. All this economic movement by the oil industry has also helped the state enjoy whopping increases in tax revenues on both the city and state-wide levels.
Yet if Dorgan gets his way this investment by the oil industry would slow down, if not come to a screeching halt altogether.
What people like Dorgan don't understand is that it is never a bad thing for an American company to make major profits. Sure paying out the nose for gas stinks, but it's not like all the money the oil industry makes goes to a small group of people. The large amounts of money oil industry executives make may be fodder for pandering politicians to ignire some class warfare, but in reality executive pay is a tiny fraction of overall oil industry profits. The majority of those profits are plowed back into this country's economy in the form of jobs, disbursements to investors and other things.
All over the country the oil industry is busy expanding development and hiring new people - just like they are in North Dakota - in order to meet ever increasing demands for gasoline and other oil products. They're exploring for more oil resources and hiring people to do that exploring. They're also hiring people to drive trucks, repair pipelines, drill for oil and all sorts of other things. That is where these "windfall profits" go, not so-called "greedy executives" as some would have us believe.
I simply do not understand the logic that goes behind punishing an American business for performing well. Many of these same people who have it out for Exxon-Mobil are the same people who carp about America's economy being poor. I dispute the idea that our economy is doing poorly (if anything we're in economic boom times), but if the economy truly is bad right now then punishing businesses (which are the economy) isn't the way to go about fixing it.
As everyone knows, the way to decrease the price of a product is . . . to raise taxes on it? As contradictory as the notion might sound, it appears to be the Today show's preferred solution to $3/gallon gas.
It was the news of Exxon's $10.3 billion second-quarter profit that gave Today an opening to air its n-th iteration of the 'soaring gas prices' story. In an innovative bit of demagoguery, Today even displayed a clock informing us that Exxon racked up profits at the rate of $1,317.66 per second.
Well, if an American company is making big profits, something must be done to stop it!
Today had no problem finding a lady-in-the-street [at the wheel, actually] willing to weigh in to the effect that it was 'disturbing' that a company could be earning that much money.
NBC chief financial correspondent Anne Thompson, who narrated the segment, informed us "There's a new round of outrage in Washington." Republican Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio was shown complaining that "there's something wrong when we're paying record prices at the pump while oil companies are making record profits." He didn't tell us just what was wrong, but I guess the message for folks back in Ohio was clear: "I care."
Here's where Thompson started her pitch: "Yet bi-partisan calls for windfall profits tax have gone nowhere."
Byron Dorgan then popped up. The Dem senator from North Dakota bemoaned the fact that 'the oil companies have a lot of friends here in Washington, DC and at the end of the day they pretty much get what they want."
Just another example of how out of touch Byron Dorgan is with economic realities. First he comes out with a book about the outsourcing of jobs when our unemployment rate is at a historically low 4.6%, now he's carping about "windfall profits" that have, in reality, been a boon for his constituents.
Has anyone done a poll of North Dakotans about the windfall profits tax? Because while Dorgan continues of crusade against "wind fall profits" these high gas prices have been a boon for North Dakota's economy. As the oil industry seeks to expand production to meet growing demand they've re-ignited the ND oil industry which had slackened during the low gas prices of the 1990's.
The oil industry has invested in expansive exploration for oil and development of infrastructure in western North Dakota and has been hiring workers to the point where the state's unemployment rate is at a rock-bottom low 3.8%. All this economic movement by the oil industry has also helped the state enjoy whopping increases in tax revenues on both the city and state-wide levels.
Yet if Dorgan gets his way this investment by the oil industry would slow down, if not come to a screeching halt altogether.
What people like Dorgan don't understand is that it is never a bad thing for an American company to make major profits. Sure paying out the nose for gas stinks, but it's not like all the money the oil industry makes goes to a small group of people. The large amounts of money oil industry executives make may be fodder for pandering politicians to ignire some class warfare, but in reality executive pay is a tiny fraction of overall oil industry profits. The majority of those profits are plowed back into this country's economy in the form of jobs, disbursements to investors and other things.
All over the country the oil industry is busy expanding development and hiring new people - just like they are in North Dakota - in order to meet ever increasing demands for gasoline and other oil products. They're exploring for more oil resources and hiring people to do that exploring. They're also hiring people to drive trucks, repair pipelines, drill for oil and all sorts of other things. That is where these "windfall profits" go, not so-called "greedy executives" as some would have us believe.
I simply do not understand the logic that goes behind punishing an American business for performing well. Many of these same people who have it out for Exxon-Mobil are the same people who carp about America's economy being poor. I dispute the idea that our economy is doing poorly (if anything we're in economic boom times), but if the economy truly is bad right now then punishing businesses (which are the economy) isn't the way to go about fixing it.
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