"Larry Dighera wrote:
The windfall Profits Tax was enacted as law when OPEC raised oil
prices in 1979. If that policy made sense to lawmakers then, why
wouldn't it be valid now? Why should domestic oil producers reap
unearned millions in profits at the expense of the American people
just because OPEC wants to price gouge?*


It's not crude price increases which are causing the increase in oil
industry profits lately. It's world demand for refined product (we have
to import actual gasoline now, too), and limited refinery capacity in
this country -- a supply-demand problem. The gov't could easily cause
refineries to be built with changes in environmental regulations, so the
cause of the "windfall profits" is essentially -- our gov't! *Your
reference is to Rep. Dennis the Menace Kucinich, our hometown, nut-case
legislator here, and his proposed tax. He has no problem with taxing us
(the tax would be passed through to us!) and spending it on pork-barrel
stuff and in effect a tax subsidy to foreign auto producers.

Fred F.