I believe we should punitively tax oil companies and take from them as much as their profit as we possibly can, diverting that profit into the general fund of the United States Treasury.
There, I said it.
I want the oil companies to have no profits -- none. Nothing for their shareholders and nothing to reinvest in their companies. Not one penny.
This is a relatively simple thing for the feds to do and I'm sure you'll agree with me once you understand why.
First of all, 27% of oil stocks are held by union pension funds. If we punitively tax big oil, we will be screwing the unions. And heck, they want to be screwed in that way. Likewise, given unionization in the oil industry and the need for layoffs if we start taxing their profits, they'll be laying off union members, likewise hurting unions through a decline in dues.
Second, I believe there are few greater dangers in this country than the movement toward an Earth First mentality where oil is bad, keeping your lights on is bad, and people are bad. Few industries devote more of their profits to green technology and alternative fuel sources than, ironically, the oil companies -- all of whom recognize the need to adapt and become more earth friendly.
As we advance down this road to earth friendliness, we will see our taxes go up, our costs go up, and our standard of living go down -- all for the sake of putting the earth first. By and large, we will have the oil companies to blame. Due to their research on how to ween themselves from Saudi Arabia's teat, we will actually be advancing the radical environmentalists' agenda.
The only way to stop this is to tax the profits of oil companies in a punitive way, thereby providing them less money to invest in earth friendly technology. The sooner we start, the better off we'll be in the long run.
Taking money away from the oil companies sticks it to both unions and environmentalists. I have no problem with that. Let's do it.

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The problem I see, on the 1st portion here, is that the oil companies already get government funded money handed to them. They would simply get more handed to them.

About the "earth friendliness"... Oh... I so don't like that ridiculous "save the earth" approach. Save oil if and where you can, but don't tell me what to drive, etc.

I agree with ending subsidies to any business making record profits. maybe big oil did need help at some point...not today.