Political Punch

Conservation is fine. Drilling for our own oil, thus increasing supply, is a must.
"Little Alex" (from the Obama ad that attacked McCain on the Iraq War) is gonna need some gas for his Volvo when he turns 16.

Instead of giving everyone $1000 in a new stimulus package, Obama should just sent everyone a tire pressure guage. Those only cost about $5 each.

Er, uh, JiffyPop, you got that so right.

I am still in awe over Obama-camp's shrewdness and business prowess. He's getting his point across without having to expend campaign advertising dollars that we poor saps contribute. Spending wisely and getting the message out. Oh yeah! Go Obama!

Obama 08!

So.. I have read all the posts... and I will sum up the conservative philosophy:

Corporations are #1. Government exists to help them extort profits from individuals. If you do not do what the corporations say, they will bleed you dry, destory America, and run to another country.

"Oil companies make 7% profit,"

$169 billion peofit on $320 billion sales, do the math

"Corporations do not pay taxes, it is the consumer that pays the taxes.it is figured
into the price we pay at the pump"

What!? Do you seriously mean to say that corporations have a god given right to a profit? These are fictitious entities, they dont even have a right to exist without public approval.

OK first can a lib come up with any solutions or is it that all they know how to do is attack Pres. Bush, who kept gas prices low under a Republican Congress, the minute the Dems took over at 2.10 cents a gallon and Pelosi screaming she is going to do something about gas prices the prices doubled. So who's fault is the gas!! Drill Here Drill Now!! will also create jobs, cut out trade deficit!! So Drilling here will solve multiple issues!!

As far as the gas tv not showing Obama - You said they forwarded excerpts, why not the whole email what are the Obama's hiding??
Obama sees nothing wrong with a Newspaper refusing to give the same space the NYT gave Obama to McCain!! that is far worse , because a Newspaper is suppose to be objective!!

So Libs stop crying, maybe then the rain will stop!!

The bottom line on Obama and oil is that he voted FOR the 2005 Bush/Cheney energy bill and McCain voted against it.

Once again, the professed Obama position changes by the day, week, and month.

No experience, no record, no hope...

Wright man...wrong plan...

Martin,

If you are a in Politics, you would know that there is nothing cast in iron.

Political decisions are based on compromise. You are expected to speak with one voice with your Party.

They call it party discipline and party cohesion.

It is only God that does not "flip-flop" as you guys would like to call it.

Age, experience and judgement can make you look back and wish you had done something differently.

That is what is called maturity.

Oil companies make 7% profit, pharmaceuticals companies make 42% profit. For me, the cost of prescriptions medicines hurt more than the high gas prices and there are millions of other just like me. When is someone going going to become outraged over the cost of the prescription medicine?
I also find it disturbing that Obama voted for the 2005 energy policy that gave the oil companies big breaks and now is wanting to over-tax those very profits so he can buy votes with the $1000 rebate. Interesting.

cindy in nc,

The $1000.00 is not a hand-out but a Tax rebate to Americans of a certain income bracket.

It like reducing Personal Income Tax payabble by you by $1000.00.

So it has no repercussion whether now or later.

If President Bush had resorted to this measure instead of external borrowings, the Economy would have still been on sound footing.

So please, instead of parroting the lies the GOPs feeding People with, you can come to a forum like this and member will enlighten you.

Peace

I also wish to let you know the reason why I said the incidence of Surtax on Oil Companies' profit can not be passed to you and I.

A Company's Revenue less the Operating Expenses results in Operating Profit before Tax. The Revenue in this case is the sales revenue which must have included the price you pay at pump.

Companies Tax, which is a direct tax, is levied on the PBT. The resultant figure is the Profit After Tax (PAT).

It is the PAT that the Company appropriates between itself in the form of Reserve and its Share Holders in the form of Dividend.

If a Surtax is applied on the PBT, it reduces Profit available for appropraition and hence, Dividend payout to Shareholders.

The Company bears the incidence of the Taxation and it will subsequently have less to appropriate to Reserve and Dividend.
You and I are not affected.

The reason why the Bush Administration shied away from it to finance the Iraq War and Reconstruction is because the Core members of his Government and his Donor are mostly Oil Men.

It is an open secret that the Bush's Family are big Players in the Oil Industry. So levying Surtax on Oil Companies will greatly affect the returns they get at the end of the year.

That is why they are against it and that is why they are selling the dummy of Off-shore drilling to confuse hapless Americans who are now sold on the idea without considering the attendant Problem it will create for the environment, especially acquatic lifes.

President Lyndon Johnson was able to finance the Vietnam War using Surtax. That was why the Economy stayed bouyant despite the heavy War Spending.

The summary of my post is that SURTAX IS NOT AN INDIRECT TAX, SO IT CAN NOT BE SHIFTED TO THE CONSUMERS.

Dangle a $1000 carrot in front of hurting Americans, without telling them it will hurt them later.

I hope Americans are too smart to fall for Obama's tricks.

McCain needs to remind Americans often of Obama's lies--he takes money from oil companies too and voted Yes on Bush/Cheney energy bill giving breaks to oil companies. McCain voted No.

mb,

I wonder where you got your claim that Corporations don't pay tax from.

Companies do pay what is referred to as Companies Income Tax, Petroleum Companies pay the Petroleum Profit Tax.
The tax is levied on their Profit before Tax (PBT).

PBT is the Companies revenue minus the operating cost. The incidence of the Taxation is on the Company and the Tax burden can not be shifted.

It is not like Value Added Tax (VAT).

Surtax is a form of Tax levied on companies and corporations whose income (Profit) exceeds the industrial average Return on Investment (ROI) or Return on Capital Employed (ROCE).

It is a Tax on excess profit and hence, tax burden can not be shifted.

Utmost Regards.

It's funny that people are up in arms over this when McCain is trying to sell us offshore drilling with plenty of evidence to show it isn't a solution. ALL of it at the cost of using Americans as a bargaining chip. I do think McCain is rather separate from Bush, but they both want us all to share the same fear in thinking that all of our foreign oil comes from the scary unstable middle-east, when in reality more of our foreign oil doesn't. Then again we know reality has a well-known liberal bias...

I think it was a wise decision. There are places in which people would prefer to be free of certain types of message bombardment and gas stations are one of them. One understands the needs for ads but politics would simply anger a lot folks.

Corporations do not pay taxes, it is the consumer that pays the taxes.it is figured
into the price we pay at the pump. you don't raise taxes on corporations you just raise taxes on everyone that uses the product.

Oil companies aren't bad because they make tons of money. They are bad because so much of the money they make is based on speculation and not actual value. They are bad because they sell a product that unlike cigarettes and beer, the average person can't live without it, and so is stuck with insane prices. There is no alternative for most people. Unless you want to bring back the horse and buggy. Public transportation in most cities is a joke.

Obama is the summer lover kinda guy, who flip-flops more often than a dreamy lover has time blink.

I'm so sick of Obama.

S. Temper,

Is it childish to follow the money? Is it wrong to point out that $1-$2 of every gallon of gas you buy is going to speculators? I guarantee that the price will come down closer to the election and the federal reserve will further cut interest rates close to the election as well, as they always do when republicans are in power.

i am new to "blogging";have read too many lately;The viciousness and character-assassination of mostly Mr.Obama {a few of mr.Mccain} are appalling!I bet you call yourselves Christians too.The only thing more scary than the meaness is the overall ignorance exhibited by too many writers.I just hope you do not live in my neighborhood.

The windfall profit tax is basically the same thing as asking the oil companies to give back their tax rebates.

They are making good money in this country... they deserve to pay taxes just the same as you and I do.

It's not fair to give them special privileges... especially not when they are making so much money.

It's amazing how decent American people can get their heads so twisted up by listening to pundits jabber. I swear, a good 20% of the American population actually believes that oil companies deserve tax rebates that other industries don't get. And that we should be happy to pay oil companies extra money per gallon to support their gambling habit (which they call the futures market). Nevermind that we already spend enough of our hard-earned money (and blood) securing and protecting their access to foreign oil fields. I just hope that the other 80% of the population doesn't catch this kind of stupid... otherwise you might just call it quits on America and hand it all over to big business. Then we can pay our taxes directly to Exxon... and they won't have to waste money on donations to John McCain... (Which, would lower the price at the pump, because John McCain costs like 2 million dollars, savings which could easily be passed onto a docile and compliant public).

The government gives American people 1000$, then American people pay back the big oil companies 2000$ for higher gas price. Good idea!!!!!!!!

Obama is such a childish person. He thinks like a 10 year old: oil companies = bad because they make money. By that logic, Obama, with his hundreds of thousands of dollars in private campaign donations, is pure evil. If Obama really wants to help poor Americans, why doesn't he just share those campaign dollars with us?

What kind of things I can buy with $1000 in my pocket nowadays? I can spend it one day. LOL. We need a long term fix, not $1000 for my gas. General Motor even give big rebate (more than $1000) if I buy GM truck. What's the joke!

Professional sports players and actors and actress in Hollywood are paid millions upon millions for either playing at a game or for "acting" for a few hours and doing all sorts of drugs and indecent behaviors so why not just fine them millions when they do these things and give $1000 back to each U.S. citizens? Makes more sense than trying to ruin the oil industry when we need oil so desperately.

"They have already broken election laws to make contributions to McCain's campaign."

Posted by: JiffyPop | Aug 6, 2008 9:28:22 PM

_____________

GET A LIFE!

Implying that OBama isn't raking in asa much money as McCain from big oil is like the pot calling the kettle black!

Remember Cheney's Bill... the one for which Barack went bananas?

Well, in addition to that, even though his bundlers tie daintier packages, Barry is raking in the big bucks from the companies which pour the black gold.....

And the rest of the money in the hands of the CEOs and the commodity brokers..

Exxon will start drilling overseas; to hell with finding oil in the U.S. No one appreciates the hugh costs and hard and dangerous work of the oil man. Tech cos. have gotten rich off the backs of the working people, too...look at all the computers, iPhones, cell phones, etc. There is lots of oilfields in South America just waiting to be drilled, onshore and offshore, and S. America has a long shore line.

So the oil companies just raise the prices and eat up that $1000 that we would be getting. Then what? Put another tax on them so they can simply raise prices again? Does Obama even know how taxes affect prices?

It would have been a great ad if it was only requesting customers to check the tire pressure (75 cents a pop to the gas stations). It is a different story if it mentions windfall profit. Poor Obama!

What were these republicans doing at the gas station anyway? putting more air in their wheels. I thought thats what Obama suggested. Hypocrites.

Posted by: William | Aug 6, 2008 7:42:26 PM "Another waste of our money.We do donate to his campaign. Who stands outside in the hot Florida weather, to look at cartoons."

I like most people pump my own gas. So I do have to get out of the car. If you can afford the extra for full service, I guess you would not read the ads. I would, if I lived in Florida and the ads were put on.

Posted by: she will | Aug 6, 2008 8:19:36 PM "has anyone even thought that this was a ploy by the obama campaign because they knew they would get turned down and be able to use it against Mccain? I think we have something here..hasnt this been his game all along.."hook and bait" should be his campaign motto because it seems this is the only way he feels he can win."

Sorry no. Not a ploy, that would be a Rovian approach. You might expect McCain to do that, given he has these type of people in his camp. You are perhaps from that side of the fence too to have gone and even thought that way. I mean, they released the emails. It is only the Bush "dim"inistration that fools around with email. Generally, they destroy it when it is incriminating. But then, you probably know that too....

Hillary or McCain in the White House. NO OBAMA!

Obama, $1000 rebate, hmmm, isn't that highly similar to Clinton and McCain's gas tax holiday, but with a lot of overhead, and a lot more fiscal damage to the government's red ink?

Obama was against a suspension of the gas tax to be paid out of windfall profits, as Hillary proposed. Instead, he's in favor of a rebate check to be paid for out of windfall profits. Did this guy go to Homer Simpson's School of Economics? No offense intended, Homer.

Obama is a pathetically weak Democratic candidate or he would be pushing alternative energy a lot more vigorously. I've got a good mind to cast my vote for T. Boone Pickens instead, he's got more guts than Obama or McCain.

Here's a winning combo for you: Hillary/T. Boone 2008.

With food being as expensive as it is today, why isn't there a conspiracy about "Big Food"? I think there should be an investigation and the bloated, belching government should tax their windfall profit and give me a rebate. As notafool said, why not $10,000? This guy is so arrogant to believe that he can buy our votes with someone else's money. Of course, we all know that companies do not pay taxes. What BHO won't tell you is that we, the American People, will end up paying it in taxes.

martin,
Kinda makes you understand how we ended up with bush the last 8 years doesn't it...

JiffyPop, I have friends who tore up a check when mccain voted against drilling and sent him the torn up check.

It all comes down to whether or not you think we should continue the bush policies. If you think the war should continue indefinitely, while we spend $10,000,000,000 a month, and you think that bush has done well with the economy then mc-more-war is your man. If you think that it's time we start to get out of iraq and do some positive things for the average American instead of just the top 1% then vote for Obama.

Did anyone notice the timing between McCain's change of course from his no-drilling policy to his pro-drilling policy?

He took over a million dollars in contributions...

And reversed his position the very next day. And that is a change you can believe in... because it is part of the public record.

People underestimate the comprehensive brilliance of McCain's energy plan:

By laying off workers and letting the poor die of malnourishment and untreated illness, fewer Americans will have to drive to work.

This will drive energy costs down.

Much more efficient than vehicle maintenance and improved fuel economy standards.

@notafool

Are you sure your reading from the same pages I'm reading? Carter took windfall profits until they were no longer necessary, under Regan, Regan, at the time saw there was no longer a need for the taxes so he took them off. Thats all there really is to it. As Limbaugh says, follow the money. Anytime a corporation gets god damn greedy to the detriment of the economy as a whole the government is the ONLY one who can put a reasonable stop to it.

We need gas as much as we need food, and why you ask? We need the gas to get the money to get the food, what happens when gas goes up to 4 dollars a gallon? Oh yeah, food prices go up because it costs more to transport not to mention biofuel is now using that same food as part fuel which is diverted from livestock and mouths. No matter how you look at it, prices are going up and you can directly attribute SOME of that to oil.

If big oil is willing to block political content from its gas pumps...

Who is to say they won't tinker with gas prices to skew the outcome of the election.

They have already broken election laws to make contributions to McCain's campaign.

I hate that people call McCain out of touch. Every day he has someone read his emails for him! He doesn't know how to check his email, but his aides do read it!

notafool - it was said in the original post that the present unused plots contain more oil than the offshore ones. May I question your nick.

beach - you tune up regularly and keep your tires to pressure, good for you. what obama meant was that even this changes the price of oil more than McCain's proposal.

he didn't say that's his solution, quite the opposite, he means that something more drastic is needed - weaning ourselves from our dependence on oil by using alternative energy.

so stop throwing tyre pumps and start thinking how to make changes bigger than 3%.

Please, just for one day, I would like to turn on the computer, or watch t.v.(I quit), listen to the radio, (went back to classical music stations) or pick up a magazine,(cancelled Newsweek and several others)and not see anything
about Obama. I am sick to death of his over-hyped nonsense and I am a democrat
or rather was. I can't remain with a party that is this out of touch with reality.

McSame has proven over and over that he is Bush on a walker with his embrace of the Oil old boys club. It is scary that there is a chance this walking corps can become a president.

Forgery using his "sister's" birth certificate as his on his website, and how did his sister get a Hawaii birth certificate when she was born in Indonesia? A lot of questions need some answers!

http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/1521/#more-1521

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13040.htm

Wow, now I know what Obama means by "change", IT MEANS AS SOON AS THE GOING GETS ROUGH, I'LL "CHANGE" MY POSITION!! YEAH!!! WOOHOO!!

"Through personal holdings, mutual funds, and retirement plans (teachers, unions, private plans), millions of people own Exxon.

Exxon's profits will fall, the holders share value will drop, confidence in the entire industry will decline, foreign countries wealth will increase, the U.S. will be more beholden to countries that hate us than ever before, oil production will drop precipitously, the price of gasoline and fuel oil will increase, infaltion will increase, jobs will be lost, the entire economy will be impacted."

Wow notafool, really great generalization of selected facts. Guess what, we all own just as much of banks and mortgage companies too, right? But the republicans let that industry sink themselves and lose all our money. The nation would be fine if the oil companies were all put out of business tomorrow... there are other industries. Meanwhile the ridiculously high 'earnings' of these companies (and they're so sorry about that, but they really can't lower prices and make less, right?) mainly benefit foreign interests.

How about us all diversifying and investing in an industry that isn't just a shill middleman for the middle east and south america?

with the $1000 stimulus tune-up and air in the tires package, let me see , 75 cents a whack at the station for air, nobama you are the MAN. not

This is getting way too complicated. I'm glad Paris opted into the race. Now I can vote.

I'll take my $1K from Obama. Provided, of course, it comes directly from the coffers of his campaign. All those poor folk who donated to him would be delighted to watch me blow it on floor mats for my car.

"The Obama campaign claims that "Gas Station TV informed the campaign this afternoon (that) the company will not run ads that are damaging to oil companies"

Bet you dollars to donuts that is a lie.

How we can trust Obama, he changes all the time his policy. Is this what he means CHANGE

Man, you can buy votes in 0bama's America.

iI get a tune up regularly and keep my tires to pressure. how can I save money nobama?

she will: And the only way McCain can possibly hope to win is by avoiding the issues altogether, and slinging mud like his embarassing Paris Hilton/Britney Spears smear commercial. Wow, what a "maverick."

IF YOU WANT THE COUNTRY TO GO DOWN THE DRAIN, YOU'LL VOTE FOR MCCAIN. IF YOU WANT TO RESTORE THE COUNTRY'S IMAGE AS A WORLD LEADER, YOU'LL VOTE FOR OBAMA.

The oil companies have 44 million acres leased for drilling already. They are only using about 1/4 of those leases.
Why not drill what they already have?

Could it be that they make more money from a shortage? After all, their production costs don't go up when the price of oil does...

Or could it be that they figure they could make even MORE money drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. The oil industry is sitting on leases for 4x the amount of oil in ANWR. But ANWR is close to the transalaskan oil pipeline, which is already paid for. Ka-ching!

These anti-american oil company zealots are willing to defile the land that our ancestors fought and died for in order to make a quick buck. They should be ashamed of themselves.

has anyone even thought that this was a ploy by the obama campaign because they knew they would get turned down and be able to use it against Mccain? I think we have something here..hasnt this been his game all along.."hook and bait" should be his campaign motto because it seems this is the only way he feels he can win.

No tax break in the primaries.
$1000 'relief' now in the GE.
No offshore drilling.
Some offshore drilling.
Union contributions to H.Clinton are 'special interest'.
-Unions are workers representatives, I'm thrilled by their support.
Public financing for presidential elections.
-No public finacing for my election.
Time to end Cuban embargo in 2004.
Embargo is important inducement for change in 2007.
FISA is very baaaad.
FISA is OK.
Cheney Energy Bill is OK in 2005
-"McCain's is taking a page straight out of Cheney's Playbook!
....

If Only, Your post would make sense if only Hillary had won! Obama will offer another 8 years of Bush as well - arrogance, nasty politics, hubris. The only CHANGE will be is that Obama will change his mind daily!

LOL..did you see Obama fumble at the mouth when he was questioned today about why he is criticizing the Bush/Cheney energy bill, and McCain voted against it? Then on CNN another Dem Congreswoman was asked about it, and she just garbled about it and then said "you should ask the Obama campaign about it". Hilarious.

BTW, Obama criticized Hillary for wanting a gas tax holiday, saying it was pandering to voters and offered no long term solution. So what do you call buying votes with $1000? And how does he expect to fund this? if there are 150 million citizens who will get $500 each, this will cost 75 billion dollars. The top 5 oil companies made about 141 billion in profit last year, so then are you goin going to tax them 53%? The shareholders woudl dump their shares and the companies would scramble, and gas prices would go up further.

No long term plans, no integrity, no sense of reality. That is Obama.

we see sooooooooooooooooo much of NO-bama on the Internet news sites and on tv ... so they think we really want to see him at the gas pumps too? ......... he has become sooooooooooooooo tired!

Obama is not Muslim, is brilliant, has a clue, and will do what's best for Americans (those who don't own oil companies, that is).
We went with the dumb-as-a-rock candidate in 2000 and again in 2004 and look where it's gotten us. It is time for someone with brains to step in and fix things!

When will Americans wake up to Obama's use and abuse of their minds.

He is as low life as politics gets and keeps laying it on.

He is out to win at all cost, Even with his famous evil, vile smear attacks, lie and deception.

Time for Reality and No obama

On another note, I think it's gross that gas stations have those big high-def TVs and speakers outdoors, beaming ads at you while you pump gas. I saw one at a Shell station the other day I just about flipped out at how annoying it was. I guess I'd have to pay extra if I wanted peace and quiet at the pump though.

Ah yes, Obama dangling his $1,000 carrot to working stiffs who are dumb enough to vote for him. Then when he gets elected he'll "change" his mind, since he can't possibly tax his way into delivering all the handouts he promised in order to get elected.

Another waste of our money.We do donate to his campaign. Who stands outside in the hot Florida weather, to look at cartoons.

Ask not what Obama can do for you
Ask what you can do for Obama
The issues are periphery to Obama's campaign. But his campaign is only about ONE thing- OBAMA.
Most people did not vote for him based on issues but rather because of his voice and how cool he was etc etc

By Barack Obama's logic, if the McCain campaign were to approach him and offer him money to wear a button on his jacket saying "Nobama", he would have to wear it lest he be considered wanting to cover up the truth.

Don't you know people, you can't turn down advertising.

The audacity of arrogance! Of course, Gas Station TV would be stupid to run his anti-Oil Co. Ads! That would be fanning the flames of discontent! But of course, Obama thinks that he is the one and he just has to request something for it to be so! The $1,000. rebate is a bribe - and he had the nerve to criticize Hillary for her gas-tax holiday! Shameless!

Yes, Mc Can!

"the company will not run ads that are damaging to oil companies"

Obama ads that is. McCain ads on the other hand? Who's in the oil companies pockets, McCain that's who. A vote for McBush is a vote for Exxon, right on McCain or should I say McExxon.

I will be so glad when all this is over and I hope soooo very much that Obama goes back to Chicago and is never seen or heard from again!

How truly unconstitutional to single out a certain industry and rob them of their profits. Were you people so vigilant in bailing out the oil industry in the 80s when gas was 30?? Don't think so. You reaped the benefits of cheap oil.

I know I know, the oil industry is evil. But so is the financial industry. So is the entertainment industry. So is politics. And so forth.

This is very disturbing. Big oil has chosen their candidate and its not Barack.