Barb’s Blog

What kind of nation would be have under Obama?  Considering some of the things he says, it would seem very Un-American.

To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.

(He doesn’t say what reasonable share is by the way).

You don’t TAKE away a company’s profits. That is UnAmerican, and before you grab your $1000 check, think about how YOUR business could be next.

He recently declared that "The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy."

When I put gas in my car, I can’t say I am a great big fan of the oil companies, but I am a believer in the American Way.

But how much profits do they make anyway? And before we go there, consider Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes. If Obama wants to distribute anything, perhaps he should start there first. Only God knows where it all goes now.

Exxon’s profit margin stood at 10% for 2007.

!0% seems reasonable for profit. What do other companies make? Perhaps they should be paying attention should they be next:

Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%
Computers: 13.7%
Electronics and appliances: 14.5%
Pharmaceuticals (18.4%)
Beverages and tobacco (19.1%)

If 10% is the new standard, the tech industry is going to have to rethink its growth arc. So will LG, the electronics company, which saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott Laboratories hit 110%.  How come none of those mentioned are the bad guys?

Warren Buffett’s outfit pulled in $11 billion last year, up 29% from 2006. Its profit margin was 11.47%.

Google, which earned a mere $4.2 billion but at a whopping 25.3% margin.

Then consider private-equity shops like Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, which recently hired Al Gore, also invest in alternative energy start-ups, though they keep their margins to themselves. (No suprise there).

Business needs to run at a profit, that only makes sense.  When you start taking it away, well, can you say dictatorship? To me that is what an Obama nation is starting to sound like.