Tuesday Tidbits

Oil



Hillary Clintons proposed gasoline tax holiday and her stance on Opec are being criticizedby those on both sides of the political spectrum. That said: to those of us paying at the pump, Ms. Clinton is making sense.

As oil prices continue to climb to $120 per barrel and oil companies are reaping what can only be viewed by those of us paying through the teeth for heating oil, at the pump, and the grocery store (where prices are being driven up due to high cost of trucking), as obscene. When one sees the headline: Chevron Profits first quarter, at 5.17 billion Yahoo Finance, the thoughts of a windfall profit tax on oil companies, as proposed by Hillary Clinton, makes a whole lot of sense. Although economists will argue that this type of corporate tax (a tax on the excess profits only), will cause shortages, and worse, the oil companies may not continue research, those of us in the real world might view the pain of a corporation giving up a percentage of 5 billion plus in profits, as just. Point of view, as a citizen of the State of Massachusetts, my payroll taxes on my meager salary are taxed at 30% (includes federal and state taxes, as well as Medicare and social security), is it not fair that as an American corporation, Chevron bear part of the burden as well?

Best line regarding Oil companies this past week: Hillary Clinton to Bill O’Reilly: “Well, they aren’t inventing anything new (paraphrased via memory).

It should be pointed out that John McCain and Hillary Clinton both support a gas tax holiday. Obama, does not.