An oil company that makes 12 billion in profit in one quarter is over charging for their product.I would rather see a windfall profit tax on oil than give them more tax breaks so they can make more profit.Part of the wndfall tax could be used to help people pay for their heating bills this winter and some could be used to fund research into alternative fuels

Sonny,

I agree 100%, that the oil companies do not need any tax breaks.

Senator Obama's prescription of providing $1,000 is indeed a bad idea. It comes as we enter the first year of George Bush's recession soon to develop into a full scale depression.
I'm sure Senator Obama has many more ideas in mind like this one for when he takes office. I fear an angry and resentful nation so disgusted with Bush, McCain, and the Republicans will definitely elect him in November.
For that reason alone, I'm buying gold and US Treasuries. Absolutely no stocks as the various snake oil salesmen pushing equities on the business shows are recommending now.

I am reading some of this comments and realize why America is in the shape that it is in. Some of
the persons think that Oil companies are not part
of our Capitalist System or perhaps don't unders-
tand the system itself. No one can confiscate the
earnings of a company. No one. Those earnings belong to the shareholders. But I understand that
BHO believes in a Socialist System where everyone is brought down to the lowest common denomina- tor. Did anyone say stupid.

Wondering how a tax on oil companies adds to the national debt?

I don't expect this proposal would go through even if Obama is elected. Your right though, the taxed money should be spent on renewable research separate from the oil companies. The tax breaks now are a joke... You don't give an addict a bunch of money to take drugs off the street.

I also understand the comparisons of net profit margins, but the risk of making money on oil is so insignificant, return might as well be lower than T-bills .

Oh my what a day on so many fronts. Where do we begin? Before we get to Obama and his George Bush inspired populist largesse let's stop and recognize Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as this year's recipient of the biggest set in the world for sticking his finger in the eye of the sleeping bear during the Olympic opening ceremonies. You've got to love this manchild for attacking the breakaway republic of Ossetia while Putin was in Beijing leaving Russian puppet/ human place holder Dimitry Medevedev to deal with the problem. I wonder why he thought he could get away with this? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Medvedev had Deep Purple play at his coronation?

On to Obama. Somebody has to come clean about the tripling of the debt under Bush and the $59 trillion in unfunded liabilities and it doesn't seem to be either of the candidates. Exxon paid something like $5 billion in taxes to the American govt. and $25 billion to foreign governments. They're getting away with murder. How? Vertical integration my friends. If you don't build refineries and you don't develop the land you currently hold under lease you guarantee future profit margins. Stand back and let the speculators do the dirty work. Net profits margins are an illusion. How much can you sell? If you hold a monopoly margins are nothing but an interference.

McCain sadly cannot even develop a bad lie at this point. In 2000 Braveheart refused to take a stand against the flying of the Confederate flag over the statehouse in South Carolina or respond to the push polling that inferred that his wife was a drug addict and he had a black child. (See Karl Rove) In 2004 he refused to take a stand over the lies that were spread about John Kerry his good friend and fellow vet. Why? McCain is more of a politician they you'd ever imagine. Except he is not a very good one. In both instances he thought he might be tapped to be vice-president.

Obama's idea is completely wack but the oil companies have got to stop bsing the American people. They run these ridiculous ads on news channels about how they're working on alternatives to fossils fuels. Sure they are.

I don't believe that Obama is serious about this but he is clearly firing a shot across the bow of the good ship oil industry. Regulate yourself. Do you think they need another tax break?

People don't need IPods or IPhones (sadly) but we do need oil and even if you don't drive transportation costs effect your life. If big oil continues to do stupid things to us we can start to do stupid things to them. After all, what are they going to do? Screw us? Oh, they've already done that.

Beltway Greg
Disclosure Long XOM

It is a tragic mistake to look only at numbers when looking at profits and declaring that they are "excessive." The numbers look big until you realize how much it costs to operate an oil company! The percentages are the REAL figure to watch. And since when is a Capitalist company forbidden to make a profit? The government makes 4 times more than the oil companies. So, where are the wags complaining that the GOVERNMENT is making "excess profits?" Remember, the government has ZERO invested in finding oil or refining it. The government is the REAL criminal here. THEY are the ones who are stealing from you left and right, hoping you'll blame someone else. In other words, they hope you're as stupid as an Obama supporter and will swallow their malarkey.

go drill your own well, if you think your getting screwed, just a bunch of pelosi freaks looking for a handout. 1000 for each person whoa dude how about putting the highway trust fund in to private hands and closing the dept ed. and commerce, that would be 400 billion, wow better idea. Texas really needs to haul ass you do not need you broke tired mismanaged pelosi freaks any more.

So..let's say gas at the pump is $3.60 and OH Bummer puts a 15% additional tax on oil companies. That leaves the oil companies with $0.54 less or only $3.06 per gallon. This means they must now charge $4.23 per gallon to make the $3.60per gallon they were making. If you think they won't raise their prices then your the kind of stupid idiot who will vote for Barack Omoron

The reason you can have an increased deficit even with 'windy' taxes is simple. The give back will come before the tax money arrives. That's the nature of the government; spend first, think (react) later. The give-a-way is a specific number, the tax collections are a guess. The windfall taxes may not even exist in 2009 with oil prices falling.

Obama is the man of the hour. He is the guy for the job. He is inspiring and a great leader. Please vote for Obama, visit WHYOBAMA08.ORG!!!

Heres' the situation. Sometimes the fear of regulation (check the history of business) can make companies that have off the record meetings with Dick Cheney behave. Think that's an illusion? Oil companies and OPEC fear Obama and his mandate. Imagine if a president actually attempted to move us from our dependency on foreign oil? You ( as does Exxon and the Saudis) certainly understand that $5 billion in profits while much worse than $11b is better than $2b. (Remember Bandar Bush? Former Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar I think he spent the day after 9/11 at the White House) What is the difference between govt. spending on renewables and tax breaks for extraordinarily wealthy companies? Both reduce govt. revenue but with the spending on renewables we actually get some type of benefit down the road.

And lest you think that a simple psychological move in any one direction is simply an illusion, you obviously haven't been paying attention to what the Republics have been saying in Washington. It is their assertion that opening up off-shore drilling and any mention of ANWAR is responsible for the drop in the price of oil.

With McCain we get more of the same and we remain the concubines of Saudi princes.

Don't worry they'll supply the lubricant.

Beltway Greg

Hooray for Barack...The President spends billions on the war that should never begun....wrong country...therefore Barack can allow the 1,000 to Americans. No...He is NOT BUYING VOTES...we want a man for all the people....Not as Paris Hilton said, The old white headed dude...but she left off the word adulterer.....

I have zero sympathy for the oil companies when they get hit with a 'windfall profit' tax. They are the worst type of blood sucking parasite on the planet. They don't give a s*** about the American people or how they struggle as long as they can rake in BILLIONS while sitting on their asses. This leaves them tens of millions to bribe the likes of McBush who has already accepted over $1 MILLION from them since he flip-flopped on off shore drilling. Our government, Democrat & Republican should be cleaned out and their fat asses kicked out as far as the town line. They are ALL on the take from Big Oil and we all loose. Throw ALL the bums out. I refuse to vote for any of them.

WHO DO YOU ALL THINK OWNS OIL COMPANIES?

PEOPLE, PENSION PLANS. IRAS ETC. DO ANYU OF YOU KNOW HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS THEY EMPLOY? PAY TAXES, PENSIONS, HEALTH CARE?

WOULD YOU ALL PREFER THE AMERICAN OIL COMPANIES GO THE WYA OF THE GM, FORD, LSOING MONEY, PAY NOT TAXES, PENSION PLANS IN TROUBLE ETC.

LET US DRILL IN USA AND STOP SENDING MILLIONS TO ARABS! THIS WOULD CREATE 750,000 MORE AMERCIAN JOBS, PAY MORE TAXES AND HELP OUR ECONOMY.

ATTACKING THE OIL COMAPNIES IS EASY AND SIMPLE BUT THE POLTICIANS ARE JUST INSULTING OUR INTELLIGNECE. OIL COMAPNIES DO NOT CONTROL THE WORLD PRICE! OUR OIL COMAPNIES ONLY HAVE CONTROL OF 3% OF THE WORLD OIL!!!!!

r u people crazy go ,ahead and vote for obama ,and judy who is the white haired old dude ,like paris hilton is a brain herself duhh and i am just as sick of oil prices as everybody else and this man whatever he is wants to give free now get this free health care for non- americans we the americans are going to pay for it so vote for the fol ,maybe he should pick paris to be his vp what a pair ,and i think that bush has done all he can do ,our senate has his hands tied or have you people forgotten about them .

how can u even consider your arguement valid, oil companies profit margin is for something that we all need, and cannot get by without, apple and ge are not necessities, they are luxuries and we all can get by without, when u consider the volume that oil companies do, cvx and xom profit margins are way way out of line, while i agree with u on the giveaway, i do not on profit margins, xom has cut back on its exploration and all it is mainly doing is buying back stock, at some point i firmly believe that america will have to nationalize the oil industries to protect america and americans.
i do not like obama and i definately do not like mcsame, bush and 8 years has destroyed america and its going to take generations to recover

hduplease...

Think again...
JNJ makes medicine! Half of GE business is energy, making turbine engines, power plant infrastructure, windmills, emergency generators and more. If you did not buy Apple products and other consumer electronics we would consume less power further reducing demand and oil prices.

We simply consume too much. The 2% to 3% reduction in US demand has sent oil tumbling 20%. The price is established on the margin. If you (we) cut back on 2 out of your (our) next 100 excursions you (we) would send oil plummeting further!

The need is superficial on some level.

Paraphrasing what Barry Glickson said:

Who owns the Oil Companies? WE DO! Via pension plans, insurance, IRAs, etc.

Even idiots like Vinny have ownership in some form. So idiots like Vinny listen to Democrats, believe them, and BITE THE HAND THAT WILL FEED HIM! So many IGNORANT Americans - no wonder the country is going down.

No one except Demcorats is stopping you from pruchasing shares of ExxonMobil or any other company that you support by purchasing their products, so if you buy their stock you will receive a return on yourpurchase that over 40 years will make you a MILLIONAIRE! Only liberals and Democrats don't want more millionaires (except themselves, of course). They need more VICTIMS!

sonnype = ExxonMobil EARNED $11.68 billion in profit on $138 billion in SALES for profit margin of 8.4%. The Company paid the real gouger, the government, over $30 billion in ONE QUARTER in taxes (Sales Tax, Income Tax in the uSA, and taxes and duties to foreign countries).

Keep it up, you ignorant, Marxist dupes. When the USA is a Socialist/Communist hellhole, thank yourselves for getting us there through your obtuse, selfish, entitlement, "I'm a victim", mentality.

This Obama's stupid idea of giving away $1,000 to each child at birth by taking more takes away from the oil compamies, is a short cut to kill the chiken that lays the golden egss. Where did this cloun learn his economics?
hopefully, the American votor will wake up Bet. now and November