Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Windfall Profits
Stay away from the oil companies Congress! Keep your noses out of their business, and it is THEIR business! Oil companies do not belong to the Congress of the United States and Congress has absolutely NO business telling them how to run THEIR business! The best thing for Congress to do is to just let this matter be and focus their attention on something that gives our country a real bang for the buck, Income Tax Reform, perhaps!
For some reason Dennis Hastert, a normally rational Speaker of the House, has decided to cave in to pressure and have hearings with the oil companies about the recent windfall profits they enjoyed. The call is out for Congress to coerce Big Oil to return some of their windfall profits to the people. When Congress speaks like that, they sound like a Fascist government. How dare they think they have any right whatsoever to tell any company how to use its profits! Is this a first step in nationalizing oil in this country?
Mr. Hastert has shown support for the FairTax Plan as has been introduced, H.R. 25, by Congressman John Linder from Georgia for the past several years. The bill has never received even so much as a hearing in Congress yet. But let the media pounce upon the oil companies for earning record profits and suddenly he bows down to pressure and sticks his nose into someone else's business. Get out of there!
Why doesn't Mr. Hastert exert his influence and force a hearing on the FairTax which could solve so many of the problems in our country instead of calling in Big Oil and hounding them over their ability to run a profitable business? At least, let's have a civil discussion about the issue.
Government cannot run a large corporation effectively. Hell, they can't even run the government effectively. Why does anyone want them running the oil business? What gives them the right, I know they have the power, to demand a private business donate some of its' profits to "the less fortunate" to help with their heating bills? Would you want them telling you as a private business owner how you must spend some of your profits?
Let's say you run a small, two-person consulting business. Usually your profits are enough to pay your bills, maintain your business and grow it somewhat and provides a comfortable income for you and, let's say, your wife. Suddenly you receive lots of business, due to whatever reason, could be income tax time, heehee, and your profits go up tenfold. For a short period of time. Whose decision should it be on how to invest or spend the resulting larger than normal share of profits? There's no question, you! How is this any different than big oil?
If you've ever read the novel "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, you will see a parallel here. In fact, you will see parallels in all sorts of situations where government has placed itself between a business and its customers. Government thinks it can mandate something to happen and it will magically happen. And it always seems to think it knows best. It doesn't. Government knows less about business than business knows about government. I think a large business could operate our country much more effectively than government. And most certainly better than government could run any business.
If we continue to allow government to stick its nose into the business of business, we will be on a fast path to the destruction of our society. In fact, it is not just that we, the American public, simply allow the government to get involved in the business of business, but rather a large segment of our under-educated population demands such action. Just look at the outrage over the seemingly slow response to Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. The public is demanding government intervention in our business and government is only too eager to be the helpful big brother. Why? Money and power.
Look out everybody. There is an old saying, "Be careful what you wish for. It may come true." If we don't take responsibility for ourselves and our actions and demand that government back off and get out of our everyday lives, we will get exactly what we wished for and it won't be what we think we're getting.
The only thing I wish for concerning government is that there be less of it every day. Granted, we still live in the freest, richest, most diverse, accepting country in the world but that status is not granted forever. Liberty takes effort, lots of effort. And I see precious little effort these days of anyone trying to restore freedoms we've given up, of repealing laws and red tape and bureaucracies, and of taking more responsibilities upon ourselves, where it should be. All I ever see is another call for more government intervention. How would we feel if our children acted this way to us as parents?
People are supposed to grow and become self-sufficient and make their own mistakes and reap their own rewards. We are supposed to be a society of ants, working diligently to prepare for the coming winter we know will soon be upon us and be prepared for most eventualities. Instead we are fast becoming a society of grasshoppers, playing and cavorting carelessly until winter comes and the good ants will have to bail us out. Sooner or later, we will have not enough ants and far too many grasshoppers. And our cozy little society of handouts will crumble to its knees.
I hope I don't live long enough to see that day.
OH
For some reason Dennis Hastert, a normally rational Speaker of the House, has decided to cave in to pressure and have hearings with the oil companies about the recent windfall profits they enjoyed. The call is out for Congress to coerce Big Oil to return some of their windfall profits to the people. When Congress speaks like that, they sound like a Fascist government. How dare they think they have any right whatsoever to tell any company how to use its profits! Is this a first step in nationalizing oil in this country?
Mr. Hastert has shown support for the FairTax Plan as has been introduced, H.R. 25, by Congressman John Linder from Georgia for the past several years. The bill has never received even so much as a hearing in Congress yet. But let the media pounce upon the oil companies for earning record profits and suddenly he bows down to pressure and sticks his nose into someone else's business. Get out of there!
Why doesn't Mr. Hastert exert his influence and force a hearing on the FairTax which could solve so many of the problems in our country instead of calling in Big Oil and hounding them over their ability to run a profitable business? At least, let's have a civil discussion about the issue.
Government cannot run a large corporation effectively. Hell, they can't even run the government effectively. Why does anyone want them running the oil business? What gives them the right, I know they have the power, to demand a private business donate some of its' profits to "the less fortunate" to help with their heating bills? Would you want them telling you as a private business owner how you must spend some of your profits?
Let's say you run a small, two-person consulting business. Usually your profits are enough to pay your bills, maintain your business and grow it somewhat and provides a comfortable income for you and, let's say, your wife. Suddenly you receive lots of business, due to whatever reason, could be income tax time, heehee, and your profits go up tenfold. For a short period of time. Whose decision should it be on how to invest or spend the resulting larger than normal share of profits? There's no question, you! How is this any different than big oil?
If you've ever read the novel "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, you will see a parallel here. In fact, you will see parallels in all sorts of situations where government has placed itself between a business and its customers. Government thinks it can mandate something to happen and it will magically happen. And it always seems to think it knows best. It doesn't. Government knows less about business than business knows about government. I think a large business could operate our country much more effectively than government. And most certainly better than government could run any business.
If we continue to allow government to stick its nose into the business of business, we will be on a fast path to the destruction of our society. In fact, it is not just that we, the American public, simply allow the government to get involved in the business of business, but rather a large segment of our under-educated population demands such action. Just look at the outrage over the seemingly slow response to Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. The public is demanding government intervention in our business and government is only too eager to be the helpful big brother. Why? Money and power.
Look out everybody. There is an old saying, "Be careful what you wish for. It may come true." If we don't take responsibility for ourselves and our actions and demand that government back off and get out of our everyday lives, we will get exactly what we wished for and it won't be what we think we're getting.
The only thing I wish for concerning government is that there be less of it every day. Granted, we still live in the freest, richest, most diverse, accepting country in the world but that status is not granted forever. Liberty takes effort, lots of effort. And I see precious little effort these days of anyone trying to restore freedoms we've given up, of repealing laws and red tape and bureaucracies, and of taking more responsibilities upon ourselves, where it should be. All I ever see is another call for more government intervention. How would we feel if our children acted this way to us as parents?
People are supposed to grow and become self-sufficient and make their own mistakes and reap their own rewards. We are supposed to be a society of ants, working diligently to prepare for the coming winter we know will soon be upon us and be prepared for most eventualities. Instead we are fast becoming a society of grasshoppers, playing and cavorting carelessly until winter comes and the good ants will have to bail us out. Sooner or later, we will have not enough ants and far too many grasshoppers. And our cozy little society of handouts will crumble to its knees.
I hope I don't live long enough to see that day.
OH
# posted by OH @ 7:15 AM 
