Government Control Of Profit

Current Event

According to The Hill, January 12, 2012

Dems propose ‘Reasonable Profits Board’ to regulate oil company profits

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), want to set up a “Reasonable Profits Board” to control gas profits.

The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a “windfall profit tax” as high as one hundred percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from fifty percent to one hundred percent on all surplus earnings exceeding “a reasonable profit.” It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.

Co-sponsoring the bill are five other Democrats: Reps. John Conyers Jr. (MI.), Bob Filner (CA), Marcia Fudge (OH), Jim Langevin (RI), and Lynn Woolsey (CA).

VS

House Democrats vs. The Constitution

Founding Document

The US Constitution, Amendment Ten

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

US Constitution, Amendment 5 -

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

We the People:

Once the precedent is established, where does it end?  From where in the Constitution would these legislators derive the power for this new regulation?  Profit is the property of the private owners of a company; and property ownership is among the inalienable rights, which our government was uniquely instituted to protect.  Would you invest your child’s college savings or your IRA funds in a company if the government penalized its profit?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the following economic systems:

Fascism: “a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascist) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”

Socialism; “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

Communism: “a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed.”

Under the guise of protecting us, these US Representatives proposed a committee that sounds like a remnant from the old Soviet Union.  How far do we dare allow our leaders to experiment with shades of these authoritarian systems before we vote them out for violating their oaths of office?