Terrance Hunt writing for the AP says in today’s PI says that
“President Bush defended the huge profits of Exxon Mobil Corp. Wednesday, saying that they are simply the result of the marketplace and that consumers socked with soaring energy costs should not expect price breaks.”
Bush, a former Texas oilman, said of oil costs, “I think that basically the price is determined by the marketplace, and that’s the way it should be.”
On Tues, in our blog “Where Your Spare Change Went” we questioned the excess profits of Exxon Mobil and other oil companies being made at the expense of the American public. How is the price determined by the marketplace; I don’t set prices? What am I supposed to do when my heating oil bill comes; refuse to pay? Give me a break. How about imposing an excess profits tax on oil companies, like proposed by some in Congress and use it to fund programs for conservation and alternative fuels?
Government has a duty to protect the little guy, not just the big corporations soaking the American public for all they can. Except not the Republicans, who see their duty to help the corporations and wealthy with more tax breaks. Wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few in America.
Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few in America. In 2001 according to figures from the Federal Reserve Board, the top 10% of households in America own 71% of the wealth. The bottom 40% own less than 1%. Between 1983 and 2000, the top 20% increased their wealth distribution from 81.3% to 84.4%. The bottom 40% went from .9% to .3%. And Bush wants more tax breaks for the wealthy.
A June 2004 Merrill- Lynch report noted that the concentration of wealth at the top resumed upward spiral in 2003. It attributed it to a “…a rising stock market in 2003, and the decision of the wealthy early on in the year to significantly increase their stock holdings. On average, high net worth individuals (HNWIs, as the report labels them) increased their investments in stocks to 35 percent of their holdings in 2003 from 20 percent in 2002.”
The American Way is the “free enterprise way” which is the George Bush Way which is the Republican Corporate Mantra. Get used to it. If you don’t like it you need to get the Republicans and George Bush types out of office. They’re working for themselves – the ruling elite – that already have the wealth and they intend to keep it and accumulate as much more as they can. When they say they are for lower taxes they just aren’t telling you the whole truth – they are for lower taxes for themselves and if you’re foolish enough to still believe that they are out to help the majority of American citizens then they have you brainwashed. Just open your eyes and look around.
Aren’t you the one who is going to pay more to go to the doctor, pay more for your medicine and more to send your kids to college? The Republican Congress just cut money for these programs It’s been their plan all along. Cut taxes for the rich and cut programs for the poor and middle class. It’s the Ruling Class’s Way.
