Out of Control

« Pro-eminent domain officials booted out by voters | Main | Smart Growth in Maryland promotes sprawl »

April 28, 2006

A Windfall of Bad Ideas

This December 2005 piece by CEI’s Marlo Lewis, Jr. if filled with good stuff.

Some nuggets:

would reduce the shareholder value of oil company stock by as much as $122 billion

Oil industry profits are large in absolute terms because the customer base is large. Oil companies sell astronomical quantities of fuel—the equivalent of about 230 million barrels of oil every day. The amount of money they earn per gallon of gasoline sold is relatively small—a profit of 9 cents per gallon in the third quarter of 2005. Although that is almost double the 5 cents per gallon profit they earned in the third quarter of 2004, it is still well below the 18.4 cents per gallon that the federal government collects in gas taxes, or the 44.5 cents per gallon that the State of New York collects. Oil companies achieve multi-billion-dollar profits by making modest returns on gigantic sales volumes—not by "gouging" their customers.
…

According to the Congressional Research Service, the "windfall profits" tax Congress enacted in 1980 diverted $79 billion from potential investment in energy infrastructure, reduced domestic oil production by as much as 6 percent, and increased petroleum imports by as much as 16 percent.

But wait, another mantra of the windfall tax pushers is “energy independence.”

Posted by tedb at April 28, 2006 12:05 PM

Comments

I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.

Comment by: Sten94878 at January 24, 2007 04:10 PM

---

I haven't been up to anything today. I can't be bothered with anything recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't gotten anything done recently, but oh well. Not much noteworthy going on worth mentioning.

Comment by: Sten40296 at January 26, 2007 08:10 PM

---

I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.

Comment by: Sten67425 at January 26, 2007 09:53 PM

---

I haven't been up to anything today. I don't care. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. Basically not much happening right now. Maybe tomorrow. I guess it doesn't bother me.

Comment by: Sten33178 at January 27, 2007 06:40 AM

---

I haven't gotten anything done today. I feel like a fog, but what can I say? I've just been letting everything wash over me lately, not that it matters. Shrug.

Comment by: Sten91060 at January 27, 2007 09:40 PM

---

I haven't gotten anything done recently. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I haven't been up to anything these days, but it's not important. Today was a total loss.

Comment by: Sten21551 at January 27, 2007 11:34 PM

---

Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.

Comment by: Sten11564 at January 28, 2007 08:01 PM

---

I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. My life's been pretty unremarkable these days. Eh.

Comment by: Sten87165 at January 29, 2007 02:42 AM

---

I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.

Comment by: Sten79761 at January 29, 2007 04:12 PM

---

Comment by: Sten33026 at January 29, 2007 08:26 PM

---

Comment by: Sten15721 at January 30, 2007 07:46 AM

---

I haven't gotten anything done today. I feel like a fog, but what can I say? I've just been letting everything wash over me lately, not that it matters. Shrug.

Comment by: Sten85790 at January 30, 2007 05:47 PM

---

Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.

Comment by: Sten38185 at January 30, 2007 09:41 PM

---

I haven't been up to much lately. I've basically been doing nothing , but it's not important. I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've just been letting everything happen without me lately.

Comment by: Sten10433 at January 31, 2007 07:18 AM

---

My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.

Comment by: Sten96274 at January 31, 2007 09:39 AM

---

Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.

Comment by: Sten98566 at January 31, 2007 03:43 PM

---

Comment by: Sten25453 at February 1, 2007 05:33 AM

---

Not much on my mind. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me , but shrug. Whatever. I feel like a void.

Comment by: Sten46089 at February 1, 2007 04:03 PM

---

My mind is like a bunch of nothing, but I guess it doesn't bother me. I haven't been up to anything recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing to speak of.

Comment by: Sten34515 at February 2, 2007 07:33 AM

---

I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I guess it doesn't bother me. Shrug. I haven't been up to anything. I haven't gotten much done today.

Comment by: Sten16144 at February 2, 2007 08:54 PM

---

I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. My life's been pretty unremarkable these days. Eh.

Comment by: Sten55500 at February 3, 2007 12:29 AM

---

Comment by: Sten95977 at February 3, 2007 05:46 AM

---

I've more or less been doing nothing worth mentioning, but eh. My life's been really bland today. I don't care. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days. That's how it is.

Comment by: Sten15802 at February 3, 2007 05:02 PM

---

I haven't been up to much these days. Today was a loss. Nothing seems important. I've just been letting everything happen without me these days.

Comment by: Sten36541 at February 4, 2007 02:15 AM

---

Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't been up to much these days. I just don't have much to say right now. I can't be bothered with anything , but whatever.

Comment by: Sten64114 at February 4, 2007 03:26 AM

---

I feel like a complete blank, but I don't care. Pfft. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.

Comment by: Sten11434 at February 5, 2007 10:19 AM

---

Comment by: Sten76525 at February 5, 2007 04:32 PM

---

I feel like an empty room, but eh. Nothing seems worth doing. I haven't gotten much done today.

Comment by: Sten67133 at February 5, 2007 09:19 PM

---

I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.

Comment by: Sten77731 at February 6, 2007 12:04 AM

---

I can't be bothered with anything these days, but shrug. I just don't have anything to say recently. I haven't gotten much done recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about.

Comment by: Sten85373 at February 6, 2007 08:00 AM

---