Reasonable profits board - gimme a break

by **TexasBlue** Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:44 pm

Reasonable profits board - gimme a break

Neal Boortz
Jan. 20, 2012

Could this be any more frightening? This is Atlas Shrugged stuff come to life!

The Democrats are out of ideas of ways that they can get their hands on the money of the producers in this nation. So they’ve dusted off their file cabinet, stuck their hands into the way-way back and come up with … a windfall profit tax on oil companies!

Six Democrats in the House, led by none other than moonbat Dennis Kucinich, want the federal government to establish as “Reasonable Profits Board.” The purpose of this board would be to control the profits of the evil oil companies.

Just remember that money earned in the private sector does not really belong to those who earn it. To liberals and proggies, that money belongs to the government and it is the government that decides how much of it you should be able to keep!

This Reasonable Profits Board would be made up of three presidential nominees, not approved by Congress. They would be able to impose a “windfall profit tax” as high as 100% on the sale of oil and gas. What is considered a “reasonable” profit? That is up for these arbitrary presidential nominees to decide.

Now as I’ve mentioned, the Democrats have come up with this idea before .. though the idea of this presidential panel is new. But a windfall profit … what is that? I’ve come up with a definition I’d like to share with you, since I’m sure that government schools don’t teach things like this. A windfall profit is money earned by a company that can be readily demagogued by a politician. It is money earned by a company on a commodity that consumers absolutely need but don’t like paying for.

Big oil is always a favorite boogie man for the proggies. But what they don’t tell you is that big oil companies are not owned by fat cats flying their private planes. These oil companies are owned by average Americans. These evil profits represent the retirement accounts of millions of Americans who have invested their money as shareholders. In fact, only 1.5% of stocks in the oil and natural gas industries are owned by company executives. That fact doesn’t come from oil companies that are trying to build their image with Americans, despite Congress’ every effort to demonize it. That fact comes from a man by the name of Robert Shapiro. He was Bill Clinton's undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs. He did a study a few years back about the ownership of these oil companies. He says, "The data show that ownership of industry shares is broadly middle class, with the majority of industry shares held by institutional investors, often on behalf of millions of Americans through mutual funds, pension funds and individual retirement accounts."

Here’s a little more details on this study …

Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.
Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation's current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.
Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.

So when liberals and proggies like Dennis Kucinich push this idea of a windfall profit on oil companies, just remember that this has nothing to do with helping the middle class. All it is doing is pandering to the dumbmasses who don’t realize that this wealth redistribution rhetoric sounds great, but ultimately hurts them in the end.

Once the idea of a Reasonable Profits Board catches on, how long before other industries are brought into the reasonable profits fold. This is economic fascism. There’s a term that government schools will never define. Too dangerous.