I think that the only person you’ll hurt with that kind of boycott is your neighbor.  You know.  The guy that owns the Lil’ Champ convenience store.

[quote=maybeeeeeeee]

What did you all think of O'Reilly's take on Exxon/Mobil.  I did not write the cut below, it came from the Internet,

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Out to prove that he's "looking out for you," O'Reilly ranted about Exxon-Mobil's report that it made a profit of more than $10 billion in the last quarter, more money than any other American corporation has ever made in a quarter. "We know there is price gouging going on. You can't deny it, ... You can't make $10 billion in a quarter unless you are doing that. ... These corporations are exploiting chaos in the war on terror, our bad luck with Katrina, and all of that, by not only passing on the costs to the consumerrs, but tacking on even more," he said.

The high energy prices will cause a recession next year and already is prompting talk of imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies, which he said he opposes. "That's not what capitalism is all about," he said, suggesting instead that consumers "punish" oil companies by using as little energy as possible. To O'Reilly's credit, he criticized Bush's energy bill for giving tax breaks to big oil companies and suggested the federal government impose a 30 mile per gallon standard for all vehicles "on Detroit."

O'Reilly's guest, Dean Baker from the Center for Economics and Policy Research, supported the windfall tax, telling O'Reilly that corporations are quick to ask for bailouts when they are in distress, as the airlines did after 9/11, despite that conflict with capitalism, so they should be asked to pony up in return when they have extraordinary profits."

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I don't know if a boycott of Exxon/Mobil products will lower the gas price at the pump (like many suggest) but hey it is worth the try.

What do you think?

[/quote]

I think it's just another subject where O'Reilly proves himself to be nothing more than a blow-hard angry cab driver with a microphone....

On this issue Bill O'Reilly is an idiot and seems to think that he can "bloviate" his way into forcing gas prices lower.   He hasn't the first clue on how the energy markets work, on how supply and demand affects the markets.  I watched  Neil Cavuto and Ben Stein try to clue him in but it was a futile effort.

Starka is right, the small business man is the one who will be hurt. In addition, Exxon sells unbranded gas to companies that sell it under another names. There is no way such a boycott is going to help lower the cost of gas.

We tried a windfall tax in 1980 and it didn't work then.  I remember it very well, being actually alive and an adult at that time unlike some of the people who are breathlessly reporting/slanting the news now.  It won't work now.  A windfall tax will actually decrease production and future supply will decrease and you know what happens when supply decreases........   When the h#ll are we ever going to learn anything from history.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1168.html

CRS also found the windfall profits tax had the effect of decreasing domestic production by 3 percent to 6 percent, thereby increasing American dependence on foreign oil sources by 8 percent to 16 percent. A side effect was declining, not increasing, tax collections. Figure 1 clearly shows that while the tax raised considerable revenue in the initial years following its enactment, those revenues declined to almost nothing as the domestic industry collapsed

No Duh!!  Companies are in business to make money.  If they make money by manufacturing less and paying less in punitive taxes, then they will do it.   I love Ben Stien's quote from his father. "If you think that the oil companies are making obscene profits....buy their stock."

To O'Reilly's credit, he criticized Bush's energy bill for giving tax breaks to big oil companies and suggested the federal government impose a 30 mile per gallon standard for all vehicles "on Detroit."

So ...this idea will put the final nail in the coffin of the US auto industry. What an idiot.  People will buy the cars that they want and if "Detroit" is legislated out of business, they will buy them from other companies in Asia and Europe.  What is the government going to do....send a goon squad to our homes and confiscate all the older vehicles that are not getting 30 miles a gallon?  Most older vehicles that are still on the road are either owned by poor people who can't afford new cars or are collector's vehicles.   Just try to pry that classic '70 Hemi 'Cuda from my cold dead hands.  

GO TOYOTA and LEXUS!! They have and continue to move ahead with awesome cars, which have higher MPG, unlike Detroit!

Oil........... Americans are spoiled. Until they went up the average Joe did not care....

Now all of a sudden the obvious... 1. The world is growing and everyone is using more natural resources... 2. Americans wanted big, bigger and biggest SUV's. 3. Government regulations for additives. 4. Natural disasters. 5. Unstable governments who produce oil... Venesuala, Iran and terrorism...   

Solution: BLAME BUSH (hogwash).. People should look in the mirror.

No doubt the oil companies are banking the bucks. Right or wrong, I dont know, but the American consumer/Clinton KLAN could have planned a bit better. Our society is to focused on yesterday or today then next week. Never mind a year or many years down the road.

Okay time for lunch.... :)

As the GOD (in many American eyes) took office... Bill Clinton stated we will increase the minimum MPG... Well during his term it went down.. Remember the idiots (including Billery) who wanted us to utilize the reserves when oil was about 2.50..... Great idea!! Maybe should have drained them before it hit $3.00.

Maybe having a firm hand with terrorism in the 90's could have decreased pressure on the worlds oil supply. So many varriables, but I am glad were moving forward. Just sick of all the blame and people crying... GO TO EUROPE where people make 500 a month, but pay $3 bucks a gallon. 

Then if something really serious who have happened our military would have been high and dry.

As heard on the radio the other day, the Cubans are drilling for oil just 45 miles off the coast of Florida.

Sounds like a good target range for our Navy!

If the Cubans find oil, betcha we’ll (USA) lift the embargo.

Part of capitalism is that the consumer can take his money wherever he/she wants.  If people are concerned about the huge profits Mobil/Exxon is taking, they have the right to shop elsewhere.

[quote=maybeeeeeeee]Part of capitalism is that the consumer can take his money wherever he/she wants.  If people are concerned about the huge profits Mobil/Exxon is taking, they have the right to shop elsewhere.[/quote]

True.  But a boycott of Exxon is just plain stupid since Exxon sells its gas to jobbers who then brand it under other names.  You won't know if you are buying an "Exxon" originated product unless you ask the owner of the gas station and half the time, he might not know (or care) either. The boycott of stations with Exxon signage is futile since there are multitudes of other places that still sell the product and you won't know it.

But ....hey....if it makes people feel good, self righteous and sanctimonious to boycott Exxon....go for it.  Don Quixote would love the boycott. Tilting at windmills is always a grand gesture.

The other and major part of capitalism is that the government keeps its incompetent paws off of the free market. Let supply and demand function instead of trying to fine tune the markets. A windfall tax would be a disaster. It was a disaster in the past and will be a disaster again.  We are in this predicament right now because of government meddling that has caused the lowered production due to lack of processing plants, the environmental handcuffs that prevent expansion of production and  the ridiculous and expensive additive rules that require the companies to practically create a different brand of gasoline for each State. 

[quote=maybeeeeeeee]Part of capitalism is that the consumer can take his money wherever he/she wants.  If people are concerned about the huge profits Mobil/Exxon is taking, they have the right to shop elsewhere.

True.  But a boycott of Exxon is just plain stupid since Exxon sells its gas to jobbers who then brand it under other names.  You won't know if you are buying an "Exxon" originated product unless you ask the owner of the gas station and half the time, he might not know (or care) either. The boycott of stations with Exxon signage is futile since there are multitudes of other places that still sell the product and you won't know it.

But ....hey....if it makes people feel good, self righteous and sanctimonious to boycott Exxon....go for it.  Don Quixote would love the boycott. Tilting at windmills is always a grand gesture.

The other and major part of capitalism is that the government keeps its incompetent paws off of the free market. Let supply and demand function instead of trying to fine tune the markets. A windfall tax would be a disaster. It was a disaster in the past and will be a disaster again.  We are in this predicament right now because of government meddling that has caused the lowered production due to lack of processing plants, the environmental handcuffs that prevent expansion of production and  the ridiculous and expensive additive rules that require the companies to practically create a different brand of gasoline for each State. 

Stupid is as stupid does.

Americans are frustrated.  I love the quote about buying stock in the oil companies.  Hey people want to feel like they have some control.

Give the little guy a break all of you  big rollers.