Robert Reich in his Substack newsletter has been advocating for a windfall profits tax as one component of a more sensible way to control inflation than simply raising interest rates. The other components are temporary price controls, higher taxes on the very wealthy, and vigorous anti-trust enforcement. See https://robertreich.substack.com/p/who-will-bear-the-pain among other posts (search on a favorite keyword or phrase to get a list of relevant posts).
Shipping companies! 1000% rise in profits in the last three years - no that’s not a typo. Though they are not based here, that basic 15% minimum corporate tax that was just instituted will help their country of origin at least but let’s lower their profits here since we are the big consumers. More important than ever to help get out the vote and vote blue!
Street presence makes a political statement. Witness the new British prime minister ditched her intention to slash taxes for the Uber rich as a consequence of continuing street protests. Given the depth of corporate entrenchment (Congress, Ukraine War, and Supreme Court) and mass of States curtailing the vote - do you honestly believe just voting is enough to turn this tide around? Might something more active be required?
Some decent messaging by Dems would help. I have yet to see a political ad that mentions the likelihood that Republicans will sunset SS, Medicare and Medicaid. Why is that.
Thank you for referencing these websites. Very informative and helpful. As usual, the average American takes it on the chin so that the well-heeled can continue to bask in obscene wealth and luxury. Reading Reich's piece, I walk away believing that the Biden Admin should be far more aggressive in taxing corporations.
There's also the NOPEC bill in Congress which removes OPEC's protection from prosecution for price collusion. Karine Jen-Pierre mentioned today that Biden is "reassessing" his position on the legislation. That will hurt them bad.
Our neighbor, an ex-banker, said just this week that a lot of the problem with inflation is just price gouging and he also predicted a recession. This is just another way we are in thrall to greedy elites who in many ways run the country.
Robert Reich would agree with your ex-banker neighbor. He (Reich) argues, with supporting data, that the current inflation is not driven by higher wages, i.e., increased demand, but rather by higher profits. Drawn as curves, the two forces can be seen to diverge significantly. Another way of phrasing "profit-price inflation" would be "price gouging." Not so polite maybe, but hey, if the shoe fits...
Not to digress too badly here, but using only monetary policy (i.e., manipulating interest rates to control inflation) is rather like having a hammer as your only tool and coming to see every problem as a nail. While the Fed has its role, it's also a convenient way for Congress to evade its responsibility to pass legislation to deal with economic problems such as excess corporate pricing power and price gouging. The Fed can do only so much; Congress has to grow a pair and step up to the other needed measures (windfall profits tax, price controls, anti-trust legislation, higher tax on the very wealthy). Bernie Sanders and a few others in Congress get it, but I'm not counting on Congress to get its collective head out of its you-know-what anytime soon and actually deal with the problem meaningfully.
The thing is during every recession the rich get richer.... It sucks. But the effect of price gouging and keeping supply low is definitely having an effect on inflation. I wish that more people weren't blind to it.
That recession will be a result of the Fed continuing to raise interest rates-that appears to be all they do these days. Robert Reich has remarked on this and is against it.
I agree Arthur. We should have taxed gas directly at a high rate for ages. Oil prices SHOULD be fantastically high.
Are we not trying to come up with ways to move to sustainable energy sources? To do that don't we need to begin the process of raising prices on oil to begin to push people in that direction before the worlds oil reserves are just gone?
Independent of the election, which, I am sure the Saudi's are trying to influence, don't we all need to recognize that oil is not forever? The way humans are structured today, if we pump the final drop of oil from the earth (and at some point we will) there will be calamity and mass die off (of humans).
We MUST begin the process of reducing oil consumption worldwide and ESPECIALLY in America which has a small population but uses 40% of the world's oil.
Me? I think that it is long, long, long past time to tax the heck out of oil making it a prize commodity instead of a cheap one.
Also, if Americans blame Biden for higher oil prices they are just stupid. Which, honestly, since so many of them drive ridiculously large vehicles we might form that hypothesis anyway.
So, maybe the Saudi's are giving us all a push we need to wake up and realize, oil is going to be gone, and, in the not too distant future.
Long ago we should have done what Europe has done and made gas expensive to force people to drive small cars and begin to move to more sustainable energy sources.
I wholeheartedly agree Mike. And, most Americans don’t realize how much the federal government subsidizes the oil companies. We pay for it with our taxes and the oil companies get huge tax write offs, cheap leases, and the ability to price gouge and run up some of the largest profits of any companies in the country. All while paying next to nothing in taxes! It’s insane!
You haven’t said it for a long time, Mike. On so many levels, the problem with America is Americans. (I’d take it a step beyond, and quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”)
Ally, I received some good feedback that using that sentence was not appropriate for this forum. It was pretty scathing feedback, but, as a long time member of the research world, I am fairly used to both providing and receiving scathing feedback, so, no big deal.
However, after some thought, I agreed that bucketing all Americans into the dumb bucket, just because MOST Americans are dumb, is not appropriate.
:-)
After all, Dr. Richardson is an American, and, I bet she is a passionate American even though she knows our ugly history.
I would counter this with we are not talking dumb as the only problem. There are others: being wasteful, unwilling to make changes in our lives that would help the common good, unable to look past a soundbite/TV personality for information and other behaviors that are not in the National/public best interests.
I have never viewed the Pogo quote as saying people are dumb. I see it as many not looking closely at themselves as contributing to a problem and continuing to make poor decisions. We have quite a few people in our neighborhood who try to be as obnoxious and loud as possible with their vehicles and motorcycles. I view them as obnoxious. We have quite a spat going on at the end of the street where one person is running an eye sore business out of her house and is thoroughly loathed by everyone at that end. But she is suing the people across the street for "not being good neighbors". She also posted on NextDoor this week and stirred up a hornet's nest of nastiness directed at them. We have too many people who want to do what they want to do regardless of others and that is selfishness, not stupidity.
Very little consideration or concern for others is being taught at home…it’s leading to a totally classless, selfish and uncaring world. Seems to be getting worse by the year.
Thanks Jerry. But, I stopped using that phrase, as catchy as it is. Some folks took offense, and, I decided I am not here to offend people but to learn and contribute thoughts rather than inflammation.
Some, methinks, are overly sensitive, perhaps? We have genuine trolls here and you are most assuredly not one of them! Those people seek only to inflame. I have read discussions/debates you have been part of and when a counterpoint is made that enlightens you, you acknowledge that point.
Yes, indeed! Remove all subsidies from these multinational behemoths. Then tax the crap out of them, sending the money directly to a new smarter, safer electric grid - under government supervision - that can carry the juice from renewable sources to the point of use.
We are focused on EVs but we are not focused on how we will charge them. The IRA does begin to address this, but our grid is in pathetic shape. It is vulnerable and incapable of accommodating the conveyance of electricity from the Earth friendly sources of production we tout.
Is that "social engineering" or "socialism"? I don't give a shit what we call it. It is just common sense - if we think we have a future on this planet.
When we are driving here in Salem, OR, we are often passed on city streets by huge trucks or souped up roaring cars. We drive a Prius Prime, so we can leave them in the dust if we want without burning a single bit of gas....we are now getting over 900 mpg as we have haven't been out of town for quite some time. Our solar panels provide the electricity for the car and we have had two months with 0 electricity bill. Yes, this will change somewhat in the winter time, but not too much.
whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy. Get your bargain rebates on solar panels, electric cars, heat pumps! Step right up! And you can thank the democrats for the Inflation Reduction Act with your vote.
And PLASTICS, which use the dirtiest of fracked oil to continue to pump out their polluting product, and are destroying not only underserved, poor communities where their products are made but our entire ecosystem. And not just plastics: petroleum products are found in so much of what we purchase as consumers.
Yes! But we have fallen for our “exceptional” propaganda. Look at FL. Could have been prevented. Private joke since ‘16: When will Rubio’s state be under water so he has nowhere to be from? Dark humor, but having watched the gallop of climate change up close from 2002, and knowing the history of James Hansen before Congress in 1988, perhaps I can be forgiven.
Long ago we should also built better public transportation. It is delightful to visit countries where other options are better than your private automobile, especially your gas guzzler. In Denmark electric vehicle charging stations outnumber gas stations. Bicycles are everywhere.
We had trains! The Pennsylvania Railroad of the 19th century was a model for the world. We had trains until after WWII! The small towns of the Midwest were connected by trains. Amtrak still uses some of the trackage between Charlottesville, VA and Chicago. I have seen the old maps!
Bordeaux, Lyon, and Munich are the systems I remember best in Europe. All rebuilt after WWII, of course.
Bicycles: where there is decent medical care for all, every body can stay fit walking and riding bicycles. I have seen that in small French towns.
This morning I read an LTE that discussed how the cost of renewable energy has dropped over the past 30 years. Here's an excerpt from the LTE: "When it comes to inflation and utility bills, Sununu (NH Gov.)says Democrats are at fault (they aren’t). In comparing New Hampshire to neighboring states, it becomes clear that Sununu is responsible for N.H. being at the mercy of fossil fuels. During his three terms as governor, Sununu has protected the oil and gas industry to the detriment of the environment and the economy. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was intended to promote energy efficiency, but under Sununu, RGGI funds were diverted to consumer rebates averaging $7.50 per household. Net metering is a way to reduce municipal energy costs, but over the objection of mayors of 12 of our 13 cities, Sununu vetoed Democrat-sponsored bills that would implement it.
NHSaves, a program to cut energy costs, would be funded by a System Benefits Charge of $2.26 per month per household, but the Sununu-appointed Public Utility Commission (consisting of a climate change denier and others with no background in energy), has blocked it.
Sununu’s PUC also slow-walked Community Power Aggregation rules that would let towns negotiate with energy suppliers.Solar power is now the cheapest source of electricity, its cost dropping over 90% in three decades, but Sununu has opposed it, as well as wind farms in the Gulf of Maine. Meanwhile, Maine is buying renewable energy costing a tenth of fossil fuel-generated energy costs.
Under Sununu, our N.H. target to buy electricity from clean sources over the next decade (25%) is a third that of Maine and Vermont (75-80%).
In 2019-2020 Sununu, who has received huge contributions from utility companies, vetoed more than 60 Democrat-sponsored bills, many of them designed to cut energy costs. And he bragged about it.
Now, without alternatives, fossil energy rates are increasing and Sununu pretends he’s a hero for handing out $60 million of state funds to help consumers – using tax dollars to win votes while maximizing profits for the oil and gas industry." (BTB, we're trying to vote Sununu out.)
All three Sununus have a dark and evil past. Here is his Dad's (from wiki)
Legacy:
In his report Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, Nathaniel Rich wrote that in November 1989 Sununu prevented the signing of a 67-nation commitment to freeze carbon dioxide emissions, with a reduction of 20 percent by 2005, and singled him out as a force starting coordinated efforts to bewilder the public on the topic of global warming and changing it from an urgent, nonpartisan and unimpeachable issue to a political issue, and an increasingly intractable one.
Grrr! Not surprised though-he was a Reganite if I remember correctly. His son is no better- he conveniently decided that his family ski area should qualify as an economic opportunity zone.
Yes, greed! And their own grandchildren aren’t likely to suffer as much as the grandchildren of low income and often undereducated followers of despots and liars. Like TFG and his handlers. Without regulations we’re sunk.
They think their wealth will save them. We are getting at the point where money is not going to make much difference. I have an ex-h.s. classmate who lives in Naples, for example, which I understand is quite the rich town and I saw the vids of the flooding there. She, while intelligent, is a true believer and I had to cut emails because I couldn't get her past politics and all caps.
Agreed. However, filing a full-on class action lawsuit against oil companies for their knowing atrocities against the earth for the last 50 years, seems like the ultimate play. Let’s do it, and make it along the lines of the class action suit against tobacco, wherein the people hurt the most by the carbon-evoked snd accelerated climate change are recipients of the settlements. The children and their families who have lived and died with asthma due to the environmental racism of positioning refineries by the poorest neighborhoods, the CA Paradise Valley folks, the people who’ve experienced the acceleration of carbon-fueled climate change in the form of Katrina, Florence, Fiona, and on and on including the catastrophic tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves, fires, fires, fires, and more that have fouled air, water, lungs, lives. A class-action suit against these monsters who are profiting off of war and have lied for 50 years about the impact of climate change is a way to stop them, force change, educate the public with the information brought forth in the trial, create the beginnings of equity (think of Exxon and other CEOs making in a day what some make in a lifetime!) and give HOPE to generations dying of despairicides due to a sense of hopelessness, haplessness, helplessness against this demon greed in our capitalist system that is killing is all (think foods meant to make us hungrier, drugs with deadly side effects, systemic racism, poverty, placism [when people are STUCK living with poisons, as in Jackson, MS and Flint, MI, because they don’t have funds to move or new places to go] vs. clean food, healing circles, family and neighborhood support systems, community gardens, more.)
When Ronald Reagan won in 1980 and started his reign by ripping Jimmy Carter’s solar panels off the White House I wept. It was the end of a brilliant push away from fossil fuels and modeling how well alternative powers sources could work. Gearing up a class action suit to take on big oil won’t give us a re-do going back 42 years, but it sure could help. Greenpeace or some members of congress could file the suit.
It’s hard to define windfall profits. Better to raise the maximum corporate tax rate, require companies to pay tax on all income earned here (wherever the corporation is organized), and institute a much more aggressive antitrust policy.
An alternative would be eliminating the subsidies and tax breaks the oil companies get and, more generally, eliminating the tax deduction for interest on business loans.
Wait a minute. Perhaps you can help me with this. I too, would like to slam the "companies" raking in the record profits. Don't these companies have stock holders or aren't there mutual fund investors who benefit financially from these profits? And, aren't some of these "investors", "some"...fortunate enough to be able to make little progress toward having a little income in addition to social security before kicking the bucket? Well? Now, if you are saying the "companies" are sucking on offshore tax or investment loopholes (...?) and taking advantage of an un-even playing field.., hohoho... then, to me, therein exists the problem. And, not the ability to make great profits legally. And, I do not consider corporations to be 'a citizen'.
Yes, in publicly-owned corporations the profits, or most of them (the part that doesn't go to obscene executive compensation) are distributed to shareholders. And yes, theoretically, the shareholders thereby benefit by having more money in their pockets. And yes again, about 58% of people own stock (from https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx).
- The wealthiest 10% of American households now own 89% of all U.S. stocks, a record high that highlights the stock market’s role in increasing wealth inequality.
- The top 1% gained over $6.5 trillion in corporate equities and mutual fund wealth during the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
- The bottom 90% of Americans held about 11% of stocks, and added $1.2 trillion in wealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.
So while what you say isn't incorrect, it doesn't capture the problem. The profits generated by higher prices are going disproportionately to the already-rich, by a ratio of more than 5.4:1.
In other words, that Everyman can buy shares of some company and receive dividends doesn't in any way imply equitable or meaningful distribution of wealth throughout the economy.
It...."IT" will never be a level playing field. However, recognizing the tilt being inflicted upon 95% of Americans since the 20's, so patently made visible thx to technology, IT simply cannot be sustained. And, try as they wish, the "R" party, led by Red necks//Religiots, and Reprobates.., they will not endure. "They" are built to fail. Yeah.. hohoho.., feel free, quote me on all this :)) TheMadRussian12A.
You are failing to make the distinction between the corporation and its shareholders. The record profits that these oil companies are pulling in do not belong to the shareholders; not in any legal sense, and not in any practical or equitable sense. These profits are no more the shareholders' property than a citizen of the United States 'owns' any fractional part of the United States Treasury, or that of any of the constituent States. Shareholder value is recognized only to the extent that (a) share ownership entitles the holder to such dividends as the Corporation Board of Directors authorizes to be paid on a pro rata basis; and (b) the cash value of the share when realized through sale or exchange of that share whether through sale, barter, or exchange for new shares of some different value, such as when their stock splits, or stock redemptions, and so on and so forth. As we have seen time and again over the past several decades, the way a corporation puffs up investor value has been through the mechanism of buying back common shares in the company, thereby profiting existing shareholders, either when they sell their shares back to the company for premium over what they paid for the stock, or by exploiting the artificial scarcity caused by the Corporation's buyback program. Large corporations act largely independently of the interests of their shareholders; and individual shareholders' interests in the company are too often minuscule to make a difference in matters of corporate governance. If a corporation's repurchase shares are not officially retired, it is conceivable that management can vote those repurchase shares to serve its own particular interests, which may turn out to be quite different from the interests of the public shareholders. The less public regulation we have, the more we can expect to see abusive management practices that disadvantage individual shareholders for the favored few insiders within the corporation, who get to act as if they were owners, even though they are not. What counts is control over how corporate assets are managed and allocated, rather than who owns them.
Thanks Arthur for your encompassing response. So, according to what you have delivered here, the "playing field" is not level. Well..! Just as I suspected, therein exists the problem. All "their" crony's and crony-ites have worked hard to arrange "the system" to achieve their goals.., one after the other. Were one to offer that "their" success in doing so could in any way be due to the kindness and trust of hard working Americans would be one helluva a stretch. More obviously, "their" success was due to public ignorance, fully cultivated by a diet rich in manure. And that, my friend, is why I, a mere mortal, must search for answers so late in my life. My only saving grace? Aha.., being a fan of Samuel Longhorn Clements, who implored upon us our duty to "stir the pot" lest the scum rise to the top. Whew! I'm afraid "The Scum" has indeed ARISEN. Thanks again for your help Arthur. Sincerely.
Glad we agree. My area of legal expertise was never in the stratospheric reaches of corporate law practice. What we've created is a legal monster that has all but swallowed us up.
If not, this should be a lead in sentence, "While subsidies, from your and my tax dollars, to big oil continue..." Hohoho... I'm sure someone here will dig up that answer. Either way, if it equates to keeping these 'apparent gluttons' in business while we transition to other forms of energy, I'll continue to deal with it.
Enacting an excess profits tax on oil companies is long overdue. They're making a killing at everyone's expense.
Not just on oil companies but also on any other corporation reaping enormous windfall profits. The food industry would be another prime target, as would steel. See https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/27/inflation-corporate-america-increased-prices-profits.
Robert Reich in his Substack newsletter has been advocating for a windfall profits tax as one component of a more sensible way to control inflation than simply raising interest rates. The other components are temporary price controls, higher taxes on the very wealthy, and vigorous anti-trust enforcement. See https://robertreich.substack.com/p/who-will-bear-the-pain among other posts (search on a favorite keyword or phrase to get a list of relevant posts).
Shipping companies! 1000% rise in profits in the last three years - no that’s not a typo. Though they are not based here, that basic 15% minimum corporate tax that was just instituted will help their country of origin at least but let’s lower their profits here since we are the big consumers. More important than ever to help get out the vote and vote blue!
Street presence makes a political statement. Witness the new British prime minister ditched her intention to slash taxes for the Uber rich as a consequence of continuing street protests. Given the depth of corporate entrenchment (Congress, Ukraine War, and Supreme Court) and mass of States curtailing the vote - do you honestly believe just voting is enough to turn this tide around? Might something more active be required?
Well OUR vote does actually matter! We have to beat the R’s to the punch otherwise, Selina, you or I will succumb to their cruelty.
Some decent messaging by Dems would help. I have yet to see a political ad that mentions the likelihood that Republicans will sunset SS, Medicare and Medicaid. Why is that.
Love his take on, well, about everything
Thanks for this; a powerful, clear-cut analysis of the corporatocracy that is poisoning the economy for the 99%.
Thank you for referencing these websites. Very informative and helpful. As usual, the average American takes it on the chin so that the well-heeled can continue to bask in obscene wealth and luxury. Reading Reich's piece, I walk away believing that the Biden Admin should be far more aggressive in taxing corporations.
Thank you for including the link to Reich's substack. He has long been a favorite of mine.
There's also the NOPEC bill in Congress which removes OPEC's protection from prosecution for price collusion. Karine Jen-Pierre mentioned today that Biden is "reassessing" his position on the legislation. That will hurt them bad.
These companies need to be reigned in. And publicly shamed
Shame??? What doth thou speak of?
Gitmo vacations.
They can join Ginni Thomas and her friends on the "barges."
Our neighbor, an ex-banker, said just this week that a lot of the problem with inflation is just price gouging and he also predicted a recession. This is just another way we are in thrall to greedy elites who in many ways run the country.
Robert Reich would agree with your ex-banker neighbor. He (Reich) argues, with supporting data, that the current inflation is not driven by higher wages, i.e., increased demand, but rather by higher profits. Drawn as curves, the two forces can be seen to diverge significantly. Another way of phrasing "profit-price inflation" would be "price gouging." Not so polite maybe, but hey, if the shoe fits...
Reich lays it out here: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-truth-im-telling-congress-today#details
Not to digress too badly here, but using only monetary policy (i.e., manipulating interest rates to control inflation) is rather like having a hammer as your only tool and coming to see every problem as a nail. While the Fed has its role, it's also a convenient way for Congress to evade its responsibility to pass legislation to deal with economic problems such as excess corporate pricing power and price gouging. The Fed can do only so much; Congress has to grow a pair and step up to the other needed measures (windfall profits tax, price controls, anti-trust legislation, higher tax on the very wealthy). Bernie Sanders and a few others in Congress get it, but I'm not counting on Congress to get its collective head out of its you-know-what anytime soon and actually deal with the problem meaningfully.
❤️
The thing is during every recession the rich get richer.... It sucks. But the effect of price gouging and keeping supply low is definitely having an effect on inflation. I wish that more people weren't blind to it.
That recession will be a result of the Fed continuing to raise interest rates-that appears to be all they do these days. Robert Reich has remarked on this and is against it.
I have read Reich and I am sure they are going to raise it again. We live in a country where a low unemployment rate causes the stock market to fall.
Reined in.
Thanks for spelling correction!!
Like we didn’t know what you meant?!!
Lotsa hurricanes around...
NOPEC will be largely performative unless the major oil companies are also included which I haven't yet heard is happening.
👍🏼
I agree Arthur. We should have taxed gas directly at a high rate for ages. Oil prices SHOULD be fantastically high.
Are we not trying to come up with ways to move to sustainable energy sources? To do that don't we need to begin the process of raising prices on oil to begin to push people in that direction before the worlds oil reserves are just gone?
Independent of the election, which, I am sure the Saudi's are trying to influence, don't we all need to recognize that oil is not forever? The way humans are structured today, if we pump the final drop of oil from the earth (and at some point we will) there will be calamity and mass die off (of humans).
We MUST begin the process of reducing oil consumption worldwide and ESPECIALLY in America which has a small population but uses 40% of the world's oil.
Me? I think that it is long, long, long past time to tax the heck out of oil making it a prize commodity instead of a cheap one.
Also, if Americans blame Biden for higher oil prices they are just stupid. Which, honestly, since so many of them drive ridiculously large vehicles we might form that hypothesis anyway.
So, maybe the Saudi's are giving us all a push we need to wake up and realize, oil is going to be gone, and, in the not too distant future.
Long ago we should have done what Europe has done and made gas expensive to force people to drive small cars and begin to move to more sustainable energy sources.
I wholeheartedly agree Mike. And, most Americans don’t realize how much the federal government subsidizes the oil companies. We pay for it with our taxes and the oil companies get huge tax write offs, cheap leases, and the ability to price gouge and run up some of the largest profits of any companies in the country. All while paying next to nothing in taxes! It’s insane!
Exactly Dianna! We give oil companies essentially FREE leases on government land.
When was the last time you had access to make money on land you got for free from the Federal Government?
The Bundys tried.
Perfect example. They personify what's wrong with the country.
Indeed, been pissed about those arrogant arses for decades
It’s the Repub way, we have seen how trying to change it has rattled the cages of our Trojan Horses (Manchin for one)
You haven’t said it for a long time, Mike. On so many levels, the problem with America is Americans. (I’d take it a step beyond, and quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”)
Ally, I received some good feedback that using that sentence was not appropriate for this forum. It was pretty scathing feedback, but, as a long time member of the research world, I am fairly used to both providing and receiving scathing feedback, so, no big deal.
However, after some thought, I agreed that bucketing all Americans into the dumb bucket, just because MOST Americans are dumb, is not appropriate.
:-)
After all, Dr. Richardson is an American, and, I bet she is a passionate American even though she knows our ugly history.
She is not dumb, by any measure.
I would counter this with we are not talking dumb as the only problem. There are others: being wasteful, unwilling to make changes in our lives that would help the common good, unable to look past a soundbite/TV personality for information and other behaviors that are not in the National/public best interests.
I have never viewed the Pogo quote as saying people are dumb. I see it as many not looking closely at themselves as contributing to a problem and continuing to make poor decisions. We have quite a few people in our neighborhood who try to be as obnoxious and loud as possible with their vehicles and motorcycles. I view them as obnoxious. We have quite a spat going on at the end of the street where one person is running an eye sore business out of her house and is thoroughly loathed by everyone at that end. But she is suing the people across the street for "not being good neighbors". She also posted on NextDoor this week and stirred up a hornet's nest of nastiness directed at them. We have too many people who want to do what they want to do regardless of others and that is selfishness, not stupidity.
Very little consideration or concern for others is being taught at home…it’s leading to a totally classless, selfish and uncaring world. Seems to be getting worse by the year.
"Selfishness, not stupidity..."
But Michele, it's both!
There is definitely a need for kindness.
the appropriate label may be "entitled" or spoiled
Ally, yes, defining "dumb" is a good approach before assigning the word.
So, let us accept your definition and henceforth, simply use dumb knowing the definition!
Selfish? Self-centered? Self-important?
Not meaningfully self-confident nor self-sufficient.
Heart.
The morons who complained were the ones who felt the pain from the arrow striking home. The more scathing, the more you were on target. Fuck'm.
My fav quote
Thanks Jerry. But, I stopped using that phrase, as catchy as it is. Some folks took offense, and, I decided I am not here to offend people but to learn and contribute thoughts rather than inflammation.
Good morning, Mike.
Some, methinks, are overly sensitive, perhaps? We have genuine trolls here and you are most assuredly not one of them! Those people seek only to inflame. I have read discussions/debates you have been part of and when a counterpoint is made that enlightens you, you acknowledge that point.
Exactamundo. There is nothing faster than stupid.
We don't need to pass a tax bill; we can simply stop the $20 billion in fossil fuel subsidies.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/fossil-fuel-subsidies-by-country
bingo Jeff!
Ooooh!
Yes, indeed! Remove all subsidies from these multinational behemoths. Then tax the crap out of them, sending the money directly to a new smarter, safer electric grid - under government supervision - that can carry the juice from renewable sources to the point of use.
We are focused on EVs but we are not focused on how we will charge them. The IRA does begin to address this, but our grid is in pathetic shape. It is vulnerable and incapable of accommodating the conveyance of electricity from the Earth friendly sources of production we tout.
Is that "social engineering" or "socialism"? I don't give a shit what we call it. It is just common sense - if we think we have a future on this planet.
When we are driving here in Salem, OR, we are often passed on city streets by huge trucks or souped up roaring cars. We drive a Prius Prime, so we can leave them in the dust if we want without burning a single bit of gas....we are now getting over 900 mpg as we have haven't been out of town for quite some time. Our solar panels provide the electricity for the car and we have had two months with 0 electricity bill. Yes, this will change somewhat in the winter time, but not too much.
I’m impressed. Keep up the good work.
whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy. Get your bargain rebates on solar panels, electric cars, heat pumps! Step right up! And you can thank the democrats for the Inflation Reduction Act with your vote.
And PLASTICS, which use the dirtiest of fracked oil to continue to pump out their polluting product, and are destroying not only underserved, poor communities where their products are made but our entire ecosystem. And not just plastics: petroleum products are found in so much of what we purchase as consumers.
Yes! But we have fallen for our “exceptional” propaganda. Look at FL. Could have been prevented. Private joke since ‘16: When will Rubio’s state be under water so he has nowhere to be from? Dark humor, but having watched the gallop of climate change up close from 2002, and knowing the history of James Hansen before Congress in 1988, perhaps I can be forgiven.
Long ago we should also built better public transportation. It is delightful to visit countries where other options are better than your private automobile, especially your gas guzzler. In Denmark electric vehicle charging stations outnumber gas stations. Bicycles are everywhere.
We had trains! The Pennsylvania Railroad of the 19th century was a model for the world. We had trains until after WWII! The small towns of the Midwest were connected by trains. Amtrak still uses some of the trackage between Charlottesville, VA and Chicago. I have seen the old maps!
Bordeaux, Lyon, and Munich are the systems I remember best in Europe. All rebuilt after WWII, of course.
Bicycles: where there is decent medical care for all, every body can stay fit walking and riding bicycles. I have seen that in small French towns.
Large ones too.
These U.S. folks don't have any idea how much the U.K. pays for gas. Currently it's $7.067/gallon.
This morning I read an LTE that discussed how the cost of renewable energy has dropped over the past 30 years. Here's an excerpt from the LTE: "When it comes to inflation and utility bills, Sununu (NH Gov.)says Democrats are at fault (they aren’t). In comparing New Hampshire to neighboring states, it becomes clear that Sununu is responsible for N.H. being at the mercy of fossil fuels. During his three terms as governor, Sununu has protected the oil and gas industry to the detriment of the environment and the economy. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was intended to promote energy efficiency, but under Sununu, RGGI funds were diverted to consumer rebates averaging $7.50 per household. Net metering is a way to reduce municipal energy costs, but over the objection of mayors of 12 of our 13 cities, Sununu vetoed Democrat-sponsored bills that would implement it.
NHSaves, a program to cut energy costs, would be funded by a System Benefits Charge of $2.26 per month per household, but the Sununu-appointed Public Utility Commission (consisting of a climate change denier and others with no background in energy), has blocked it.
Sununu’s PUC also slow-walked Community Power Aggregation rules that would let towns negotiate with energy suppliers.Solar power is now the cheapest source of electricity, its cost dropping over 90% in three decades, but Sununu has opposed it, as well as wind farms in the Gulf of Maine. Meanwhile, Maine is buying renewable energy costing a tenth of fossil fuel-generated energy costs.
Under Sununu, our N.H. target to buy electricity from clean sources over the next decade (25%) is a third that of Maine and Vermont (75-80%).
In 2019-2020 Sununu, who has received huge contributions from utility companies, vetoed more than 60 Democrat-sponsored bills, many of them designed to cut energy costs. And he bragged about it.
Now, without alternatives, fossil energy rates are increasing and Sununu pretends he’s a hero for handing out $60 million of state funds to help consumers – using tax dollars to win votes while maximizing profits for the oil and gas industry." (BTB, we're trying to vote Sununu out.)
This is the usual R game plan.
good luck with your campaign!
All three Sununus have a dark and evil past. Here is his Dad's (from wiki)
Legacy:
In his report Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, Nathaniel Rich wrote that in November 1989 Sununu prevented the signing of a 67-nation commitment to freeze carbon dioxide emissions, with a reduction of 20 percent by 2005, and singled him out as a force starting coordinated efforts to bewilder the public on the topic of global warming and changing it from an urgent, nonpartisan and unimpeachable issue to a political issue, and an increasingly intractable one.
Grrr! Not surprised though-he was a Reganite if I remember correctly. His son is no better- he conveniently decided that his family ski area should qualify as an economic opportunity zone.
Geo H W's chief of staff. May the dynasty end now.
yes so obvious and true
Traitors putting massive greed ahead of country and future
They must despise their children and grandchildren
Ostriches all, but they will have compounds in New Zealand, while we gurgle, gurgle…
Yes, greed! And their own grandchildren aren’t likely to suffer as much as the grandchildren of low income and often undereducated followers of despots and liars. Like TFG and his handlers. Without regulations we’re sunk.
They think their wealth will save them. We are getting at the point where money is not going to make much difference. I have an ex-h.s. classmate who lives in Naples, for example, which I understand is quite the rich town and I saw the vids of the flooding there. She, while intelligent, is a true believer and I had to cut emails because I couldn't get her past politics and all caps.
Agreed. However, filing a full-on class action lawsuit against oil companies for their knowing atrocities against the earth for the last 50 years, seems like the ultimate play. Let’s do it, and make it along the lines of the class action suit against tobacco, wherein the people hurt the most by the carbon-evoked snd accelerated climate change are recipients of the settlements. The children and their families who have lived and died with asthma due to the environmental racism of positioning refineries by the poorest neighborhoods, the CA Paradise Valley folks, the people who’ve experienced the acceleration of carbon-fueled climate change in the form of Katrina, Florence, Fiona, and on and on including the catastrophic tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves, fires, fires, fires, and more that have fouled air, water, lungs, lives. A class-action suit against these monsters who are profiting off of war and have lied for 50 years about the impact of climate change is a way to stop them, force change, educate the public with the information brought forth in the trial, create the beginnings of equity (think of Exxon and other CEOs making in a day what some make in a lifetime!) and give HOPE to generations dying of despairicides due to a sense of hopelessness, haplessness, helplessness against this demon greed in our capitalist system that is killing is all (think foods meant to make us hungrier, drugs with deadly side effects, systemic racism, poverty, placism [when people are STUCK living with poisons, as in Jackson, MS and Flint, MI, because they don’t have funds to move or new places to go] vs. clean food, healing circles, family and neighborhood support systems, community gardens, more.)
When Ronald Reagan won in 1980 and started his reign by ripping Jimmy Carter’s solar panels off the White House I wept. It was the end of a brilliant push away from fossil fuels and modeling how well alternative powers sources could work. Gearing up a class action suit to take on big oil won’t give us a re-do going back 42 years, but it sure could help. Greenpeace or some members of congress could file the suit.
Ready?
There are class-action lawsuits in action all over the country, brought by, and on behalf of, the children whose future is being destroyed:
https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/
They have not been making good progress, but the first is now scheduled to take place in Helena, MT from June 12-23, 2023!
It’s hard to define windfall profits. Better to raise the maximum corporate tax rate, require companies to pay tax on all income earned here (wherever the corporation is organized), and institute a much more aggressive antitrust policy.
An alternative would be eliminating the subsidies and tax breaks the oil companies get and, more generally, eliminating the tax deduction for interest on business loans.
The rich get richer at the expense of the country.
How's about single-payer gas insurance?
Ha!
Wait a minute. Perhaps you can help me with this. I too, would like to slam the "companies" raking in the record profits. Don't these companies have stock holders or aren't there mutual fund investors who benefit financially from these profits? And, aren't some of these "investors", "some"...fortunate enough to be able to make little progress toward having a little income in addition to social security before kicking the bucket? Well? Now, if you are saying the "companies" are sucking on offshore tax or investment loopholes (...?) and taking advantage of an un-even playing field.., hohoho... then, to me, therein exists the problem. And, not the ability to make great profits legally. And, I do not consider corporations to be 'a citizen'.
Yes, in publicly-owned corporations the profits, or most of them (the part that doesn't go to obscene executive compensation) are distributed to shareholders. And yes, theoretically, the shareholders thereby benefit by having more money in their pockets. And yes again, about 58% of people own stock (from https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx).
But even as we remember that "trickle-down economics" is a thoroughly rebutted, debunked, and laughable lie perpetrated by Arthur Laffer and the Reagan administration, a zombie kept alive by subsequent Republican administrations in order to continue funneling wealth upward, consider these factoids (from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html):
- The wealthiest 10% of American households now own 89% of all U.S. stocks, a record high that highlights the stock market’s role in increasing wealth inequality.
- The top 1% gained over $6.5 trillion in corporate equities and mutual fund wealth during the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
- The bottom 90% of Americans held about 11% of stocks, and added $1.2 trillion in wealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.
So while what you say isn't incorrect, it doesn't capture the problem. The profits generated by higher prices are going disproportionately to the already-rich, by a ratio of more than 5.4:1.
In other words, that Everyman can buy shares of some company and receive dividends doesn't in any way imply equitable or meaningful distribution of wealth throughout the economy.
It...."IT" will never be a level playing field. However, recognizing the tilt being inflicted upon 95% of Americans since the 20's, so patently made visible thx to technology, IT simply cannot be sustained. And, try as they wish, the "R" party, led by Red necks//Religiots, and Reprobates.., they will not endure. "They" are built to fail. Yeah.. hohoho.., feel free, quote me on all this :)) TheMadRussian12A.
You are failing to make the distinction between the corporation and its shareholders. The record profits that these oil companies are pulling in do not belong to the shareholders; not in any legal sense, and not in any practical or equitable sense. These profits are no more the shareholders' property than a citizen of the United States 'owns' any fractional part of the United States Treasury, or that of any of the constituent States. Shareholder value is recognized only to the extent that (a) share ownership entitles the holder to such dividends as the Corporation Board of Directors authorizes to be paid on a pro rata basis; and (b) the cash value of the share when realized through sale or exchange of that share whether through sale, barter, or exchange for new shares of some different value, such as when their stock splits, or stock redemptions, and so on and so forth. As we have seen time and again over the past several decades, the way a corporation puffs up investor value has been through the mechanism of buying back common shares in the company, thereby profiting existing shareholders, either when they sell their shares back to the company for premium over what they paid for the stock, or by exploiting the artificial scarcity caused by the Corporation's buyback program. Large corporations act largely independently of the interests of their shareholders; and individual shareholders' interests in the company are too often minuscule to make a difference in matters of corporate governance. If a corporation's repurchase shares are not officially retired, it is conceivable that management can vote those repurchase shares to serve its own particular interests, which may turn out to be quite different from the interests of the public shareholders. The less public regulation we have, the more we can expect to see abusive management practices that disadvantage individual shareholders for the favored few insiders within the corporation, who get to act as if they were owners, even though they are not. What counts is control over how corporate assets are managed and allocated, rather than who owns them.
Thanks Arthur for your encompassing response. So, according to what you have delivered here, the "playing field" is not level. Well..! Just as I suspected, therein exists the problem. All "their" crony's and crony-ites have worked hard to arrange "the system" to achieve their goals.., one after the other. Were one to offer that "their" success in doing so could in any way be due to the kindness and trust of hard working Americans would be one helluva a stretch. More obviously, "their" success was due to public ignorance, fully cultivated by a diet rich in manure. And that, my friend, is why I, a mere mortal, must search for answers so late in my life. My only saving grace? Aha.., being a fan of Samuel Longhorn Clements, who implored upon us our duty to "stir the pot" lest the scum rise to the top. Whew! I'm afraid "The Scum" has indeed ARISEN. Thanks again for your help Arthur. Sincerely.
Glad we agree. My area of legal expertise was never in the stratospheric reaches of corporate law practice. What we've created is a legal monster that has all but swallowed us up.
Key word: 'killing' ....
Have we quit Big Oil subsidies?
If not, this should be a lead in sentence, "While subsidies, from your and my tax dollars, to big oil continue..." Hohoho... I'm sure someone here will dig up that answer. Either way, if it equates to keeping these 'apparent gluttons' in business while we transition to other forms of energy, I'll continue to deal with it.