Get used to it.... This is the United Coporarte States of America... Or if you like . . . The United Tax you till you die States of America... We need term limits now! Just buy yourself some lube.... Some good post on this one!

The sun is out! So am I....

 

Hi!

If we want our economy to be very strong/the dollar to be strong again, we need to fix our balance of trade situation (we import WAY more dollars of stuff than we export).

The reason is Oil.

If we didn't import ANY oil, our balance of trade would be positive, and the dollar/our economy would soar.

cliff
YIP

 

The capitalist free market has already shown that supply and demand curve meet at X. Just because taxes are reduced on an item does not mean that the price will drop. Just in the same way some airlines can not pass all the taxes on to the consumer when certain taxes are added to tickets. The market can not bear the price increase.

But your an expert at everything I am sure.

 

MEMA,
I don't claim to be an expert on anything, but thank you for the vote of confidence.

I encourage you to read Senator John Linder's Fair Tax book. I'm confident that you'll gain a significantly different view on business and taxes. What kind of business do you run? Just curious, is your business model working out for you?

When other sectors of the market incur significant tax increases, such as sales tax on hotels, cigarette's, rental cars, etc... the consumer bears the entire brunt of the addition tax burden. I'm not sure the airlines are paying any taxes that they aren't passing onto/collecting from the customer.

 

You can't be serious?

I'm not a expert on the oil industry but I do have a thorough acquaintance of foreign trade and world economics.

Barring a nuclear war, we will not be seeing $300/bbl, $400/bbl or $500/bbl anytime soon and certainly not before 2010.

Oil will go down and so will gold in the next few years.

The sky is not falling.

EAHINC

 

They are "paying" more for it. China has massive government price controls on oil. They also have ever increasing inflation crisis to go along with the price control. China is not the instant economic giant most everyone (including myself) thought when I started business in country a decade ago. China has a long list of domestic economic and infrastructure problems they must contend with in the short term.

EAHINC

 

Done. Now that millions are starving and freezing what will you replace it with?

 

Hopefully you are right. I just saw a news clip last night. It said that the Feds (I think that it was the FTC) estimate average gasoline price over $3.40 per gallon by spring.

 

Read what I wrote again .

I said if I did not pay taxes, my hourly rate would be less. I didn't say anything about lowering my rates if I magically started not having to pay taxes.

That being said, the point of my post was that WE as consumers effectively pay the tax on corporations. It's built into their prices.

I also disagree with you about lowering costs, "prices never lower" are you kidding? A "desktop" computer in the 60's was in the millions of dollars, now it's $600. Technology that came out 5 years ago goes for pennies on the dollar on eBay. Gas prices have gone up and down over the course of time. Some things don't go down because they are indexed with inflation. Some things like cars cost much more today than they were in the 50's but have made huge leaps in safety and features such as Airbags, ABS, GPS navigation etc, you can't compare the two. Rest assured if taxes went away those items would go down.

Taxes are also effective at stopping corporations from pursuing certain investments. Canada is a prime example, they are taxing the #### out of oil up the profits after taxes just don't make it worth it.

 

You know I've been reading most of this thread and seen a lot of opinions on the subject. I think there needs to be a middle ground. Stop bashing Bush/Cheney ( not saying I support them) and stop bashing the greenies.

The facts are indisputable. Oil is more expensive than ten years ago. There is more demand for energy. Unfortunately simply getting off oil tomorrow is not possible. Probably not even in the next twenty years. Altenatives will not supply all the power overnight. Unfortunatley that point is used too often as an argument to give up completely on alternative energy and stick our heads in the sand.

We need to work to reduce our consumption. I.E. hybrid cars (I just bought one and am saving a lot of money), more efficient light bulbs, more efficient building practices, better mileage from vehicles, and perhaps, taxing high mpg vehicles that are just not practical. Europeans have been driving vehicels for decades which get 30-50 mpg. You just don't see a lot of hummers or SUVs over there. Truth is if we were paying as much for gas as they are you would not see a lot of them over here either. There is an instant reduction in demand. Unfortunately the American consumer is not ready to accept a smaller vehicle even though it would, for the most part, suit their needs.

I believe if we increase effieciency in the way we use fossil fuels, at the same time as we develop alternatives to eventually replace it, we will see oil phased out. But, it is going to take a very long time to do it.