The political Left has two basic positions regarding business in America.
1) If a company is making a profit, they characterize the company as evil, and demand that their profits be taken away, so the government can use the money instead (this is known as THEFT in the non-socialist world, but you aren't supposed to think about that). It goes without saying that the bigger a company's profits grow, the MORE evil that company becomes. This means that Exxon-Mobil is the DEVIL INCARNATE.
2) If a company stops making a profit and loses money, the Left will subsidize the company (the Right tends to join in on this part too – Let's privatize profits, socialize losses, and join me on my yacht this weekend, old chum. Life is good).
The above is a twist on Reagan's old joke about government power: If it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; And when it stops moving, subsidize it.
A good example of #1 is Barack Obama traveling around the country telling everyone he wants to take the profits away from those evil oil companies (who, btw, enable our economy and society to function at a post-19th century level that keeps us off horseback and stagecoaches, but you aren't supposed to think about that. Just keep repeating to yourself – 'Oil Is Evil, Oil Is Evil', like Nancy Pelosi (D-Venus) and Harry Reid (D-Mars) do. It's easier than thinking about things.
A good example of #2 is the taxpayer bailout of the mortgage mess, which included bailing out faltering companies like Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. Those are private companies, aren't they ? Sure they are. Sort of. But talk about connected. They're practically a branch of government.
As far as I can tell, the following industries comprise the liberal Axis Of Evil Corporations: Oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies. I provide this list as a public service, so you lay persons out there can know who you should hate. Financial companies used to be on the Axis of Evil list too, but they lost so much money recently that they are no longer evil. Now, they must be subsidized.
The mantra the Left uses to demonize profit goes like this: How dare those greedy so-and-so's at the (fill-in-the-blank) corporation make so much money, when that money could be used for a) a government program, or b) the children ? 'The children' is practically foolproof as an excuse for the government to steal money from the private sector. An autocrat can justify anything if it's 'for the children' You aren't supposed to think about the fact that business profits enable people to have jobs, get paid, and become prosperous. You aren't supposed to realize business profits are the reason you live in a house, have an automobile, a refrigerator, a stove, a television, a phone, electricity, heat, and food. You aren't supposed to realize those business profits earned in a free market made the United States the world's leading superpower. Again, thinking is your enemy. Just keep saying to yourself, 'Profit Is Evil, Profit Is Evil', like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama (D-Cuba) do – and Karl Marx did.
Our Glorious Exalted Leader Obama has even taken it a step further. He has proposed a windfall profits tax on the Devil Who Is Called Exxon and the other oily devils, and wants to hand $1,000 of the Devil's profits directly to each American, so Obama can literally buy your vote, er, help you combat the high costs of energy this winter, costs that Obama and friends won't do anything to help lower for maybe 20 years, and only then if the requisite alternative energy miracle happens in the meantime (except for that nifty 'inflate your tires' tip. That was quite helpful. Thanks, BO. If you were running for gas station attendant, you'd definitely get my vote).
The Left hates profit because America isn't perfect. There are still problems here, unlike all those other utopian socialist paradises, like, um, well, uh……….er, never mind. There must be some somewhere. I just can't think of their names right now. Even though we spend nearly $2 trillion each year on some type of entitlement program, the Left reasons that just isn't enough. Not even close to enough. Ever more and more and more money must be spent by the federal government, and ever more and more and more of your money must be stolen through taxation. Then someday, when NOBODY has any money left and the government is our supreme overlord and master of all things, that perfect socialist utopian nirvana will be achieved. I think it says exactly that on Obama's website, because his answer to absolutely everything is for big government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on it. I guess that's easier than thinking too.
Color me skeptical. It seems like $2 trillion per year should be plenty enough to keep people out of poverty, to keep them from starving. Yet somehow, it isn't. Could the problem be the government itself ? Nah, that can't be it. Impossible ! It must be the Republicans fault. Dick Cheney must be taking that money and giving it to Halliburton or something. It's a conspiracy of some sort. I know it, even though I have no proof whatsoever. I mean, c'mon, that Cheney guy just LOOKS evil. He's all old and corporate and white and stuff. Who needs proof ? And Cheney shot his buddy on that hunting trip. Don't forget that. What more is there to know ?
An old and very wise saying about democracy goes like this:
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship.” – John Tyler
That was written in 1770, but it sounds pretty relevant to what's going on today.
Think of that when Barack Obama vows to steal someone else's money to give it to you, or to tax the hell out of the rich as if that won't affect you. It certainly will. We are just finishing with one president who didn't care much about fiscal responsibility, Dubya. Dubya was irresponsible on the spending side. Why on earth would we elect another president of "loose fiscal responsibility", but this time, on BOTH the taxation and spending sides ? $3 TRILLION per year should be plenty enough to run the federal government. Far more than enough, in truth. The tax and spend buck must stop here, or we will suffer serious consequences, the very ones John Tyler warned about back in 1770. Barack Obama wants to declare war on profits. I want to declare war on Barack Obama and all of his socialist/communist/totalitarian ilk, before it's too late.
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John Tyler's quote was great. If he was alive today he might add a comment about how it makes people feel virtuous to give others money away.
The Liberal compulsion tax oil companies, pharmaceuticals, insurance, etc. is also due to that ideology's fascist nature to assert government control over all aspects of the economy and society.
If the government doesn't control something, the liberal can't sleep at night.
And look at B. Hussein Obama. He hardly wants to stop at taxing the oil companies like Exxon. Showing that he really does consider himself a citizen of the world, the Democratic nominee for president wants to tax Americans so we can enhance the living standards throughout the world — especially, I presume, in Third World places like Kenya.
So true, Vince, but I hear libs saying that he doesn't really support the only bill he ever introduced in the Senate as the head sponsor. Somehow they reason that if they say a thing it is true. I think it is just that leftspin they go into when it become necessary.
Obama visted his families hometown and promised the people in his families hometown he would do what ever necessary to assist them in the building of the school to be built on land donated by his father's family. He made that promise in 2006 and so far has done NOTHING. Why in the hell should he spend his money to help people when he can wait untill he is elected and use tax dollars to become the saviour.
Only Media and liars claim corporations, farmers, businesses, outsourcer sweatshops, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organizations and Churches profit from OPEC nations and Enron stockholders, Investors and stockholders in the Illegal Drug Business, Business owners stockholders, Financial Institutions investors and stockholders, Bulls on Wall Street, Hillarys, Wal-Mart stockholders, and foreign and domestic investors (money marketers) market quarterly. In the wholesale and retail price of every product and service Human Beings use for life. That gets only product or service. To measure and maintain the strength and growth of this unaffordable economy and prove that only money that can only be used to identify agreed value of sellers and buyers in the marketplace has value?
It's not fair when people have money.
Mr. King,
I agree that a windfall profits tax is a bad idea. However, the rest of your post about "the left" is nothing but unsupported allegations. Both parties are dependent upon corporate largess. Companies are neither evil nor humanitarian nor patriotic. They are answerable only to the people who have invested in them.
While I enjoy a certain amount of hyperbole, I think you stepped over the line, right into a hate filled rant.
angry c,
Excellent point. I've always wondered why rich liberals never give all their own wealth away to the poor, and why they don't pay extra taxes if they believe in their own principles of redistribution. Does Al Gore really need his mansion and his huge boat so badly ? They complain about how much we're spending on the war, for example, but never on the amount they are spending themselves.
frank,
And here I thought I was understating things.
Vince says "The Liberal compulsion to tax oil companies, pharmaceuticals, insurance, etc. is also due to that ideology's fascist nature to assert government control over all aspects of the economy and society."
Absolutely on point, Vince. Part of the Obamessiah's health plan is to restrict the amount of profits the insurance companies can make. Of course, he never defines what "restrict" means. It could mean "eliminate" for all we know, but what we do know for sure is, it means government control.
larry,
People can't be trusted with money. Only the government can be trusted. Love Big Brother.
Let me introduce a bit of fact to an otherwise amusing post replete with amusing comments.
Oil is a monopoly. Do you see any price competition? No. The price of gas is virtually identical everywhere you turn.
With monopolies, like oil, there are two choices. One….allow the monopolistic industry to cripple the nation….or two….regulate and control the monopoly for the sake of the nation.
Republicans have chosen number one.
The profits made by the monopoly recently are obscene. The same can be said about what we have been paying for gasoline. Taxing those obscene monopolistic profits and redistributing them as needed seems righteous…considering.
In no way is King's premise that Democrats hate profits…..true. If you can recall the Clinton years, the economy…and profits….soared. So, right off the bat, King has a faulty premise.
And as far as Ghost is concerned….we've been living under the rule of true fascists for 8 years…complete corporate fusion with a neo-conservative militarist government that hates America and proves it by it's utter lawlessness.
It seems you're laughably mistaken once again, Reverend. Gas prices vary greatly depending on location, etc., etc., and gas stations are known for their tendency to watch the competition and adjust prices.
What other product has its price displayed on huge roadside signs for all to see? Why would they do that if the price is the same everywhere?
Amusing – yes. The Reverend is typical of the glittering jewels of colossal ignorance that inhabit the left. They couldn't budget their way out of a cardboard box. Hey Rev – what would a highly competitive gasoline industry look like??? On one street the price is $2.40 and on the next street the price is $1.40????? No, dope, it would be virtually the same everywhere, of course! It's just the mensa candidates like you that don't get it. Go back to second grade math, willya?