Interesting Article on Windfall Profits Tax

#1
volinbham

volinbham

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#1
What Is a 'Windfall' Profit? - WSJ.com

What is a "windfall" profit anyway? How does it differ from your everyday, run of the mill profit? Is it some absolute number, a matter of return on equity or sales -- or does it merely depend on who earns it?
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the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits. Mr. Obama didn't bother to define "reasonable," and neither did Dick Durbin
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The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually looking to soak some unpopular business.
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#2
#2
I can't believe this is even possible....wow.

I can understand the government stepping in in some cases...such as if a hurricane is coming and home depot starts charging 5 times the normal rate for plywood to cover you windows...that is not "fair profit" in my opinion...and stepping in to stop it makes some sense to me. But, to take a portion off the top...from only one class of companies...weird.
 
#5
#5
It's interesting how the WPT issue has morphed. Originally, Obama claimed it would be used to motivate oil companies to invest in renewables.

In the most recent attack ad from Obama, they claim that Big Oil made over $143 billion in profits last year. I believe his $1000 rebate plan would require taking virtually all of these profit dollars (supposed windfall and non-windfall) to pay for it. Brilliant!
 
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#6
volinbham said:
It's interesting how the WPT issue has morphed. Originally, Obama claimed it would be used to motivate oil companies to invest in renewables.

In the most recent attack ad from Obama, they claim that Big Oil made over $143 billion in profits last year. I believe his $1000 rebate plan would require taking virtually all of these profit dollars (supposed windfall and non-windfall) to pay for it. Brilliant!
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wonder if a single fund manager on earth would keep a red cent in the oil companies' equity?

Want to watch some stock prices plummet? Make this little idiotic fantasy a reality.
 
#7
#7
I wonder why Obama chose to ignore the fact that Exxon-Mobil paid 33 billion dollars to the federal government in the same quarter as it's "record profit"?
 
#8
#8
i wonder what type of profits credit card companies make. with interest rates at 25-32%.
 
#9
#9
joevol320 said:
i wonder what type of profits credit card companies make. with interest rates at 25-32%.
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Their spreads are nowhere near the actual rates they charge. They have their own cost of capital that their lending, they have to fund large operations, marketing cost is extreme for them and they have to deal with loan losses similar to all other lenders.
 
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