it’s just not the companies you think of. The largest oil companies in the world are those state owned entities of OPEC nations. These companies, at the behest of the governments that control them , that meter the production of a great deal of the world’s oil supply and by extension control prices. Cartel control of production artificially increases demand by limiting supply, thereby increasing prices.

Exxon, Shell, Conoco-Phillips, etc have little control over prices, if any. The profits they make are a relatively low percentage of their dollar input, it is the the money they spend that is staggering…to receive significantly lower returns would suppress their exploration efforts. You can bet, such activities as Kucinich suggests would force prices up ridiculously, making $4.00 gas look tantalizingly cheap.

After Maxine Waters threatened oil companies with socializing their industries, we should take this threat seriously. Make no mistake, if they see a real chance to do it, they will. For now this Fascist approach will suit them,, but the true socialist approach is just around the corner

then they came for my wood burning stove, etc.
Misery not only loves company, it loves more misery. It’s not going anywhere but it’s a good prop for that portion of the population, no longer minimal, that harbors unexamined urges to suicide and agony. Such imperious drives of course are meant to be shared, it’s no fun keeping them to ones self, the rug chewers over at the Times, blogs & their sub-maniac adherents & the refuse discharged from asylums will hail this. There’s just something about self abnegation and slow death.

Disney World costs about $500 for a one-day visit for a family of four if they want to visit more than one park. That’s just for the ticket, not housing, parking, food, drink, souvenirs, etc. It’s just the kind of place no normal person can afford, unless they give up several years of other vacations.

Also this week, it was announced that Disney CEO and Democrat mega-donor Robert Iger got a 12% raise last year to a cool $31.4 million.

Yeah those oil companies are a bunch of greedy bas….

Liberals love price controls, it’s their only tool of choice for ‘saving money’. We’ve got price controls all over healthcare. Unintended consequences? Nah. Oh also do they refund the oil companies when they spend a lot of money exploring for new oil somewhere and lose money on the deal?

Bush had $3 gas for like one summer and got killed. Obama’s had high gas prices his ENTIRE presidency and the media just ignores it.

The oil co’s make their profits on crude oil not on retail sales of gasoline. OPEC and the market set the price of crude not Exxon, Chevron, etc. To offset crude oil profits the oil co’s would have to sell gasoline at a loss, which is clearly a violation of anti-trust laws.

…that advocating this indefensible legislation makes one appear to be any or all three of these types of characters. Fine. Bring the bill to the floor, Dennis, and let’s hear those who argue in favor of it. I seriously doubt this will accomplish anything beyond bolstering the already stark contrast between liberalism and conservatism. So I hope you proceed with your bold plans. It’s going to be reality TV, watching all those debates on C-SPAN. Guess I will have to turn the cable back on.

celebrity profits. All those left wing Hollywood stars and recording artists need to be capped. They need to give back to society those unhealthy profits!

This is war on capitalism, war on America.

Progressives did a very similar thing in the late 1800s and early 1900s to the rail industry through over taxation and regulations. This new attack on the oil and gas industry is an insidious attempt by Marxists in our federal government to confiscate private wealth. If you will recall, Senator Maxine Waters foretold this very thing in a 2008 hearing of the oil industry. Video here: http://youtu.be/QYj0Zcw75s0

Members of Congress who have any sense of reason and reality must reject this bill because it is a violation of a basic tenet of liberty: the right to property. Beware, because looking further down the road at the bigger picture, the president could use this bill as an attempt to move toward the center by stating he is against it.

anyone surprised?

Governments in general, and Democrats in particular, posess an insatiable and rapacious greed to control and devour all wealth.

Their target in this latest case – Big Oil – only reveals their stupidity. O&G industry profits are quite modest in terms of ROI; the gross profit numbers look big only because of the large volume of product they sell. And the O&G industry already remits tens of billions in taxes to Federal, State and local governments.

It will never be enough for these clowns until we are all their slaves.

Kucinich’s district is one of them that was eliminated to preserve the minority Democratic stronghold of Martha Fudge (who is being challenged in the Dem primary). He now has to run against Marcie Kaptur or move and run against Martha Fudge. Either way, Dennis is likely to not be a major force in politics. His leftist constituents have effectively been split up among others to represent them.

If they successfully do this to the oil companies everyone else is on the table for them to put over a barrel at their whim.

Did Atlas just shrug?

“an indication that the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party has “progressed” beyond capitalism.”

That happened over 100 years ago.

Seems like a better idea would be to pass a bill that reduces Congressional and WH pay (including staff, as well as bureaucrats), by the percent of deficit spending each year. Ditto with any defined benefit pension payouts.

It’s nothing the average home or small business wouldn’t do to get their budget under control.

A bill to make stealing legal, sounds like Democrats.

They obviously hate oil and natural gas, and a free marketplace. www.newsandopinions.net

Whoever wins the gop nomination should run a pro energy ad mentioning this bill with Obama in the picture saying Welcome to Obama’s America.

Implicit in the very suggestion that a Windfall Profit Tax is called for is the notion that somehow the oil companies are able to manipulate the price of oil, and hence, gasoline.

Implicit in the very phrase “windfall profits” is the idea that the oil companies are collecting a “windfall”. A windfall is defined as an unexpected and unearned benefit.

I’m no fan of $4.00 per gallon gas, but the oil companies deliver a complex product that is the lifeblood of our economy in an incredibly efficient manner, despite byzantine array of laws, regulations, and bureaucracy.

They have a century of investment in research, development, exploration, transport, processing, and delivery systems. They own leases, drilling rigs, ships, pipelines, and refineries. And that’s all before we get to a retail network that makes Starbucks look like a mom-and-pop shop.

Exactly what part of all this falls under the heading of “unearned benefit”?