Could Barack Obamas Windfall Profit Tax on Oil Companies Lead to $8 Gas?
Elizabeth MacDonald, FOX Business Network: Yes. I wish these elected officials and presidential contenders would start cracking an economics book instead of just a newspaper. It’s absurd what Obama is saying. By the way, oil companies don’t set the prices for oil; the markets do. And check this out: companies always pass along the taxes. They never pay the taxes themselves; they pass along the taxes to the consumers. When, in the 80’s, we tried to do a windfall profits tax there was less drilling and more dependence on foreign oil – the direct opposite of what it intended to do. Mark Tatge, Forbes contributing editor: This is nonsense. The oil companies, Exxon specifically, made $11.7 billion in the first quarter. That equates to about $1,300 a second. This is not a market economy, this is a monopolistic economy controlled by the oil companies. They are like the robber barons of the last century. They need to be either broken up, or we need to tax them, take that money, and redistribut