George wrote:
Once again I see you use the word force. Force is not freedom. Be
careful
what you wish for.

You see, in socialist economies it's not so much that there is no way
to succeed (windfall profits?) that holds good people back, as it is
that no one can fail. That's what makes a sheep, the protection of
the shepherd, the dog and the fold, all of which confine, though they
may comfort.

Once again I'll agree with you, but it was a poor choice of a word. I do
not mean force as in make them comply through *actual* force when I was
referencing using the marketplace. I meant getting together in some way
that changes the dynamics of that marketplace in our favor, such that
the result would be the oil companies would not try to take advantage of
us without resulting in lower or stagnant profits or unrecoverable
higher costs for them. This is not socialism, any more than unions are
socialism. It is our right to change the marketplace.

On the other hand, governments exist to protect its people. And to do
that they enact laws. And when the law is broken, the government has the
obligation to apply the appropriate jurisprudence. Once again, this is
not socialism. In the case of which we have been discussing, several
laws were broken. Windfall profits, in this case, refers to
illegally-obtained excess profit garnered by breaking the law. And they
did that during a time of crisis, that's just plain un-American. (well,
ok, maybe todays *new* America might like it - greed, corruption, etc.)

Whew! And I thought I was finished with this thread...