Kennedy’s Gas Solution: Steal From The Rich Give To The Middle Class (VIDEO)

On Meet the Press Sunday, Senator Edward Kennedy (D – MA) did not suggest or imply, but straight-out said that the government should take away oil companies’ profits and hand it out to middle income families. Hmm, redistribution of wealth, what does that sound like? Socialism.

I don’t care what you think about oil executives. Personally, I was not happy when former Exxon CEO & Chairman Lee Raymond was awarded a $400 million retirement package. However, with the record profits he brought in for the company, he deserved it.

MR. RUSSERT: What are we going to do about $3-dollars-a-gallon gasoline?

SEN. KENNEDY: The president, the president should have called the head of the oil companies into the White House and started jawboning. He should have done that a week ago. Why he doesn’t do that, I do not understand. He ought to be pointing out that hard-working Americans, middle-class people, who have their sons and daughters in Iraq and in Afghanistan, that this is not a time for greed. And he ought to activate and call the Federal Trade Commission—which is basically a sleepy organization that has given an interim report in terms of price-fixing and gouging—he ought to get them off and have them working seven days a week, 24/7, to make sure that we know exactly who is price-gouging. And third, we ought to have a bipartisan effort to recapture, recapture these excessive profits that are going to the oil industry and return them to working families and middle-income families.

The new idea in the Democratic Party is to play the “troops card” in any situation because it will win the hearts of people instead of invoking true thought. That is exactly what Kennedy did in this situation. Shame on him.

Hat Tip to Ian Schwartz at ExposeTheLeft

Not to be outdone Arlen Specter offers the following solution...

GOP Senator Calls for Windfall Profits Tax on Oil Companies To Help Reduce Gas Prices

With the average price of gas nationwide nearing $3 a gallon, Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania yesterday (April 23rd) said the government should consider a tax on oil companies if they make excessive profits amid the rising prices. Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said such a windfall profits tax, along with stronger antitrust laws, could help bring down gas prices.

Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Specter said, "I believe that we have allowed too many companies to get together to reduce competition. They get together, reduce the supply of oil, and that drives up prices." Specter supports legislation that would strengthen antitrust laws on oil company mergers, after his committee held a hearing last month on the growing consolidation of the oil industry.

Appearing on Late Edition with Specter was Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, who said he believes that if President Bush told oil companies that he was going to support a windfall profits tax, gas prices, quote, "would come down within a matter of days."

There’s a lot of angst from consumers over high oil prices. They charge the oil companies with “price gouging”, even though Business Week recently reported that the “fear factor” from Mid-East instability has added at least $15 to the cost of a barrel and probably even more.

Exxon gets most of the blame, yet their profit margin of 10.6 percent ranked 116th on the Fortune 500. Microsoft’s profit margin is 3x greater (30.8 percent). The Internet giant Yahoo made 36.1 percent profit, while the cell phone company Qualcomm made 37.8 percent profit.

Why aren’t consumers screaming about Microsoft, Yahoo and Qualcomm then? Why Exxon?

To discuss this issue further and to explain why gas prices are increasing, I brought Dan Gainor, Director of the Free Market Project, on the show today.