Friday, August 01, 2008

Obama's $1000 Rebate Plan

Forcing big oil companies to take a reasonable share of their record breaking windfall profits and use it to help struggling families with direct relief worth $500 for an individual and $1,000 for a married couple. The relief would be delivered as quickly as possible to help families cope with the rising price of gasoline, food and other necessities.

The rebates would be fully paid for with five years of a windfall profits tax on record oil company profits. This relief would be a down payment on Obama’s long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1000 per year in permanent tax relief.


What happens if the Oil companies don't have "windfall" profits for all of those five years? How do we define "windfall"? Is it a windfall when Angelina Jolie makes $20 million for a film? Can we take some from her too? What about Google? Their profit margins are much higher than Exxon Mobil's. Can we take some of their profits too? Just asking....

The key word in the above paragraph is "Forcing". All taxes are ultimately about force. The government takes from one group and gives to another. So Obama wants to take money from oil company shareholders and distribute it to other citizens. Why do those who didn't take the risk of owning oil company shares deserve to reap the benefits of ownership? Is it possible that would have an effect on the desire to own oil company stocks? Will that have an effect on the returns of pension funds who invest on behalf of the same Americans who receive the windfall tax proceeds? Is it possible that oil companies will just pass through the tax to consumers? If they do, who benefits from this other than Barack Obama? Has anyone on Obama's economic team thought about this?

Stupid is as stupid does....

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