Three government bureaucrats setting the proper profit level for any American business is scarey to me. Especially when you have a President with the appointment record this one does selecting the bureaucrats.
I hope this goes nowhere.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 6:02 PM
Hmmmm, sounds like the circus clowns proposing this don't appreciate the concept of supply and demand. Eh, maybe it's just me that's not seeing straight. :-)
In generalities - it would seem to me that if profits were high, then prices would be relatively high to support the margin between the sale price and the cost of production. This would seem to encourage the producer to pull out the stops and bring everything possible to market, tending to drive prices downward.
If profits above a certain number/percentage are effectively going to benefit someone else, then what's the point? Perhaps some don't remember the gas lines of the 70s?
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 6:47 PM
Wheels, Maybe nothing to do with oil and gas prices but an example of my warped thinking:
The price of hog feed went up due to demand from Japan, China and other world markets for soybeans, byproducts and domestic sales of soy diesel. Thus hog farmers cut production. Fewer hogs meant higher pork prices.
Hog farmers that kept up their herd numbers profited big time due to the price hike during the sell off. So we should tax any above normal profits of hog farmers?
In the case of oil and gas production, government has caused the limited supply that drives up the price and now these clowns think more market manipulation is needed.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:06 PM
Rick, I too was trying to think of a reason why they would be focussed on this.
The bill as introduced would give the president the pick and choose of who serves on this profit taxing board.
Some of the recent spike in oil may have been due to the way the market percieved the president's response in the event the Iranians had closed the shipping lanes. I personally think he did the right thing in that but if he had given clear reason of knowing Iran would would hurt itself and we would hurt them more, that price spike would have been prevented. IMO
Maybe Dennis and his buddies are just bored? Nah, there's a reason.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:43 PM
Wouldn't you just love to be the President and the three stooges he appoints when the lobbyists from the oil industry show up. Four men wouldn't be able to launder that much money without help.
What is needed is for Washington in it's entirity to get their noses out of American business and let this country get back on it's feet. Is there more than a handful up there qualified to run a lemonade stand?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:51 PM
Old John,
Wouldn't you just love to be the President and the three stooges he appoints when the lobbyists from the oil industry show up. Four men wouldn't be able to launder that much money without help.
What is needed is for Washington in it's entirity to get their noses out of American business and let this country get back on it's feet. Is there more than a handful up there qualified to run a lemonade stand?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:52 PM
Hmmm,
I went back to address Old John and find I have already posted. I think I better get some more rest. I had to get up around 10:00am this morning.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:54 PM
BC, Didn't that windfall profit term originate in the '70s.?
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 7:59 PM
Wheels, Remember 2-4 is nap time, works for me three days a week. :)
How about we tax RV parking spots to pay for more trailor courts and tax seafood to subsidize salads and tofo?
We can get Theorist to write us a grant and hire our kinfolk with 6 figure salaries and then go bankrupt. In the meantime we can have Uncle Vinney start a trailor company and pull them things all over the country looking for a place to lite. If we are lucky we can get them all a big bonus right before we go belly up.
You got anything left in your campaign chest for start up money? We got to pay Theorist up front you know! :)
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 9:22 PM
They want the health field and now petroleum. Next it will be some kids Kool-Aid stand. Oh never mind, they have already started shutting them down.
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 9:58 PM
BC,
I had to devise a Pay Grade scheme and get it approved to be able to promote employees to give them a raise or loose them to someone else who would hire them at a higher rate than we got frozen at. No more paying a guy what he was worth and increasing his pay as he became a more valuable employee without getting the government involved.
That was a Nixon administration SNAFU.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 10:32 PM
BC, Did you quit to be rehired or go somewhere else?
I forgot about the sugar thing, some blamed it on a plot to make the newly introduced artifical sweetners more profitable.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 10:39 PM
You got anything left in your campaign chest for start up money? We got to pay Theorist up front you know! :)
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 9:22 PM
Ooops Old John,
Almost missed this stroke of genuis on your part. Before I agree to be a part of this, I want to know who gets to be the f***ee who sits in jail if it all flys apart.
And I am against taxing RV parking spots to a degree and adamently opposed to taxing Seafood. I think I may be getting hit from both ends here. You sure you're not a Democrat in disguise? I feel sure Theorist would write something in there to entrap me, she is an independant you know........
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 10:42 PM
Wheels, All in fun to point out the spreading the wealth around policies the democrats favor.
I figure a wind fall tax on proven energy producers would have about the same results as the luxary tax on yatchs.
You reckon the designer of the Monopoly game was a democrat? :)
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 10:58 PM
Old John,
I don't know if I ever played Monopoly. When I was growing up, we had a cheap knock off called "Easy Money". Nothing to do with our Easy Money/Rick poster now.
Guess I never gave a lot of thought to who designed the game, or why.
Actually though, wouldn't it have been a Republican who designed it? Everyone starts off with the same amount of money and you quit when one player has it all.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:15 PM
Wheels, Monopoly had a square called Luxary tax and a get out of jail free card if I remember right. Plus there was something about a community chest. Those make me think a democrat was involved.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:21 PM
You may be right Old John, but how do you account for the winner winding up with all of the money?
You know I believe we ccould get a bigger discussion going over if it was a Democrat or a Republican who designed Monopoly than the current one which is trying to decide if or not Joe Paterno should be drawn and quartered or left to live out the rest of his life in peace.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:30 PM
Old John,
One or the other of us is going to get chastised for going off topic if we aren't careful.
Let me think for a minute.... didn't you start this thread? ;-)
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:32 PM
"What is needed is for Washington in it's entirity to get their noses out of American business and let this country get back on it's feet."
Ditto!
Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 9:22 PM
Thanks for the laughs! Very clever.
-- Posted by gurusmom on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:40 PM
We are back on thread now and I remember something about so many hours and 59 minutes. :)
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jan 19, 2012, at 11:43 PM
Who determines what is a "fair" or an "excessive" profit? Obama and Company? The Congress of the USA? The liberal numbskulls? Who?
The answer: a free and unemcumbered marketplace. Keep the politicians out of it.
-- Posted by voyager on Fri, Jan 20, 2012, at 7:16 AM
Envy. Pure and simple. Envy.
'Reasonable Profits' would have to be determined by 'reasonable men', which would pretty much rule out anyone of the Democrats proposing this.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Jan 20, 2012, at 8:25 AM
Old John, When I quit I went to other employers for more money.
-- Posted by BCStoned on Fri, Jan 20, 2012, at 12:37 AM
BC, It wasn't about money but I quit a job on a Friday when they handed me my check back then. Within a couple hours I was kicking myself for giving up a job I liked with no idea if I could get another. By Monday I had my choice of three better jobs that paid more. Turned out to be a good decision.
-- Posted by Old John on Fri, Jan 20, 2012, at 11:46 PM
A reasonable profit would be the difference in what it cost to produce a product/service and what the consumer is willing to pay for that product/service. No gov't needed.
-- Posted by FreedomFadingFast on Sat, Jan 21, 2012, at 8:55 AM
Had we had three government bureaucrats deciding what was a reasonable profit during the past 30 years or so of hi tech computer developement, I think it would be safe to say we would not be sitting here in the comfort of our homes discussing it on these threads.
We are heading down a very slippery slope with this kind of mentality. It is about risk and reward. No rewards and there will be little risk taken.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 21, 2012, at 9:05 AM
BC, Get ready for the robber barron arguments. :)
-- Posted by Old John on Sat, Jan 21, 2012, at 12:23 PM
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Can someone explain the logic behind this?
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205085-dems-propose-reasonable-profi...
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