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Originally Posted by Sardaukar
Read a couple of posts here (regarding the elections and all)...
Seems to me that most of the American posters here are Republicans. Greens and Socialists seem to be your favorite antagonists. How different the world is on the other side of the atlantic!
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Generally, you are right. Most people here are conservative in their politics. Socialists tend to impose an order on society that we believe is too intrusive on individual liberty and, especially on those of us who believe in greater self-reliance. However, that does not mean we are opposed to government helping people who truly need it and have no other recourse.
As for greens, there are many types. So I wouldn't condemn them all. Some do good work to protect the environment while others try to impose their vision of the world on everyone irregardless of the inertia it may cause, say, in maintaining a healthy economy and so forth.
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When i read things like -> USATODAY.com - ExxonMobil amasses record $36B 2005 profit i find it difficult to agree to the above mentioned article. One gets the idea here that the "honest and hardworking" Oil Industry is being bashed by bad bad politicians.
Is this really the way you people see the matter?
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Yes, most do. The fact is that the majority of people do not investigate what they hear on TV news or read in the newspapers. For example, thanks to Shek's post we see that Exxon is a very small player relative to others in the oil world. But to the public suffering from high gas prices, it's revenues seem obscenely large and earned from their suffering. On would think that the public's opinion comes from politicians who are also complaining about these large profits. But in reality, it's the other way around. Politicians are quick to pick up public sentiments and play on them for various reasons, but mainly to get votes when they run for re-election. It becomes dangerous when politicians actually go through with their promise to add more taxes and regulation to oil companies because it adds even more to the cost of the product, at least it does in a competitive economic system.
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By the way, Intel and Microsoft do not make such profits (in absolute terms).
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No, but percentage is a more critical measure.