A Revived and Renewed Committee of Correspondence: POST-AMERICAN STATISM: DEMS PROPOSE 'REASONABLE PROFITS BOARD' TO REGULATE OIL COMPANY PROFITS

Friday, January 20, 2012

POST-AMERICAN STATISM: DEMS PROPOSE 'REASONABLE PROFITS BOARD' TO REGULATE OIL COMPANY PROFITS

From Atlas Shrugs:

Friday, January 20, 2012

POST-AMERICAN STATISM: DEMS PROPOSE 'REASONABLE PROFITS BOARD' TO REGULATE OIL COMPANY PROFITS

This is straight out of Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged -- what next? The "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule," and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill"?

Rand characterizes the actions of government employees ... describing how the language of altruism is used to pass legislation that is only marginally in the public interest (e.g., the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule", and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill") but which in reality serves special interests and government agencies at the expense of the public and the producers of value.
In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive achievers are socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments. (more here)

Is this not what we are experiencing now?

The Democrats stoke the fear of gas price increases to impose statist price/profit controls, but refuse to drill our own resources, refuse fracking, shale, refuse the Keystone Pipeline. America, wake up! The destruction of the profit motive leads to the collapse of society.

Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits
By Pete Kasperowicz, The Hill (hat tip Van)
Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.
The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.
The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.
The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members "shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board."
According to the bill, a windfall tax of 50 percent would be applied when the sale of oil or gas leads to a profit of between 100 percent and 102 percent of a reasonable profit. The windfall tax would jump to 75 percent when the profit is between 102 and 105 percent of a reasonable profit, and above that, the windfall tax would be 100 percent. The bill also specifies that the oil-and-gas companies, as the seller, would have to pay this tax.
Kucinich said these tax revenues would be used to fund alternative transportation programs when oil-and-gas prices spike.
"Gas prices continue to rise, creating a hardship for the American people," he said. "At the same time, oil companies are making record profits gouging their customers. This bill would tax only the excess profits and create forward-thinking transportation alternatives."
Specifically, he said the money would be used to fund a tax credit on the purchase of fuel-efficient cars and set up a grant program for mass transit programs when oil-and-gas prices are high.
The bill does not estimate the size of these grants or the amount of money that might be collected through the tax.
Co-sponsoring the bill are five other Democrats: Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), Jim Langevin (R.I.), and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).