Thursday, May 29, 2008

Obscene Profits?

It dawned on me Monday morning as I read the reports of the top earners for movies over the holiday weekend, and now I've remembered it and wondered. What will Hillary or Barry do about the obscene profits of film makers? "Indiana Jones", "Iron Man", "Prince Caspian" and others did rather well, I'd say. Let's take those profits and...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, you're not exactly comparing apples to apples here though, Art. People NEED fuel. They don't NEED to go to the movies. Fuel is crucial to our economic health. Movies ain't.

Marshal Art said...

I understand your point, Les. But I don't think you're gettin' mine. The very idea that any politician would seek to dictate how profits are made (when nothing illegal is going on), how much profits one can make, and at what point they might be considered obscene, is incredibly unAmerican and is itself obscene (if libs can apply that word whenever it suits, then I shall as well). Don't people NEED distraction in their lives? Just a little escape from life's worries and pressures? And as lame as THAT argument is, wouldn't it be even easier to call ticket prices "gouging"?

The oil companies might have logged record profits, but what is the profit margin? From what I've heard, it isn't all that "obscene" at all. Worst of all, the government is making more off of each gallon of gas than the companies that provide it. The Dems gotta lotta noive! But then, don't they always when it concerns the success of others. Screw them.

Anonymous said...

I can see this conversation rapidly devolving into an argument about socialism vs. capitalism, so I'll just say this. If the profits being made by the oil industry are truly as substantial as they appear, all the while being made at the expense of hard working Americans who depend on gas to survive in the modern industrial era, then I have no problem whatsoever with someone - ANYONE - standing up and saying, "Yo - what the FUCK is going on here?!?" Seems to me there's been no genuine sense of urgency to hasten our transition to more efficient and affordable power and energy sources, and that very procrastination - whether intentional or otherwise - is now culminating with crippling gas prices during already tough economic times where unemployment and foreclosures are skyrocketing.

Marshal Art said...

Gee, Les. There's no reason why I would enter into an argument of capitalism vs socialism. Socialism doesn't work.

What business or industry doesn't procure its profits at the expense of hard working citizens? That's what business does. Perhaps you're thinking of charitable organizations. But seriously, it's the margin of profits that people need to look at and the anti-corporation people, the green with envy leftists of the Democratic Party, are looking only at gross profits.

Another thing the Dems should be looking are their own faces in the mirror as being as, if not more, responsible for the prices rising. We should have been drilling and building more refineries years ago. We should have been building more nuclear facilities years ago. Their part in the rise of prices is huge, between taxes, and alleged environmental concerns. And of course world-wide demand plays a major role as well.

But profits? No way, Jose! The outraged jerkwads browbeating the oil industry execs are way, way, way out of line. Each of us, individually or as part of corporations, has the right to generate as much income as possible. The arrogant Dems have no right to set limits or to determine what constitutes "obscene" profits, particularly when they continue to attache obscene taxes on anyone who dares be successful.