Obama On Track to Financial Collapse : Corporations Flee America

How does the saying go about the insane person - 'they keep doing the same thing over and over but expect different outcomes'. Maybe that's not exactly how it goes but when compared to the liberal agenda, the point is clear.

We can see how the nation is tottering on the edge of collapse and the liberals are doing everything in their power to push it into total disaster with more taxes and regulations on everything productive.

Is it ignorance or are they doing it on purpose to remake America as a socialist European style country? History has proved what Obama is doing won't work. Hoover and FDR did the same thing that Obama is proposing to do now and it proved a disaster. If it wasn't for the second world war, the misery would have gone on for years more.

What did 52% of the voters expect to get when they decided that Obama, and the Marxist socialist, were the best choice in this election? What did they expect to get in exchange for giving up freedom of choice? A free ride? - to where? - and who is pulling the cart? Did these people stop to think who will pay for the free ride to nowhere? Absolutely not! Remember it's the era of the lotto game, the chance for instant reward - think no further than this weekend -it will be like a life time of living on the strip in Vegas. I wonder what the outcome of that fantasy would be?

Again, the old saying still holds true, " there is no free lunch", not ever!! If the liberal voter thinks that someone else will pay for the socialist programs that Obama wants to force down our collective throats, they are sadly mistaken. We all will pay until what ever we have is gone. It will never enter the small minds of the liberal that it was the 'coolaid' that Obama was handing out that brought on the pain of their wrong decision. But hey, the liberal has a 'fall back position' - That Damn Bush!!

Keep the faith - the battle is heating up.

Oil Companies Voting With Their Feet
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted Friday, December 12, 2008
*Energy:*

Another day, another oil company fleeing the country. No, this isn't Ecuador, the banana republic that just defaulted on its debt after chasing out investors. It's the United States, and what we're seeing is self-defense.

Read More: *Energy http://www.ibdeditorials.com/FeaturedCategories.aspx?sid=1812*

Much political hay has been made in Congress about "unpatriotic" corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets.

But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the U.S.

In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it's no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As a pattern emerges, America's global standing diminishes, in part because it's based on the willingness of companies to invest. It's an especially bad sign when domestic companies flee."The U.S. is an important market," Weatherford CEO Bernard J. Duroc-Danner told the Houston Chronicle Thursday. But, "it's just a market. It's not the primary market."How does that sound for a loss of global leadership?

If that's not clear enough, try this: "In the hierarchical pecking order, (Houston's) not going to be Rome anymore." What accounts for this vote of no confidence in the U.S.?

Start with the demonization of oil companies. Executives have been hauled before Congressional star chambers, held up to abuse and ridicule, and then blamed for high oil prices as if they wanted to kill their markets. Rising global demand, nationalizations and Congress' failure to open the country to drilling go ignored.

Huge companies such as Exxon Mobil, whose market cap exceeds the GDP of most countries, create $100 billion in earnings in quarters when oil prices soar. It looks high, but over the years, the industry's average returns, at 9%, are less than other industries.

Nevertheless, Exxon's profits are evidence of its success at extracting oil from miles below the earth's surface, even underwater, and from unbelievably hostile environments, such as the Arctic. Instead of being objects of national pride for their productivity and efficiency, and subjects of heroic Hollywood movies, their success is considered to be dishonest.

Congressional hostility affects oil companies' operations abroad, too: Exxon, remember, noted that Congress' animus toward oil profits directly encouraged Hugo Chavez's uncompensated expropriations of $1 billion of Exxon's assets in Venezuela, which drove oil prices higher.

With an expanded Democratic Congress and an incoming Democratic president determined to create "patriot corporations," it's no surprise to see companies try to get out while they can. Make no mistake — it's investment fleeing the country. As this goes, foreign capital could flee next.

Congress' abuse sets the political tone for the worst to come.

First, oil companies, like all corporations, endure the second-highest taxation in the developed world (39.25% of their income), which dampens their competitiveness. The 2007 OECD average is 27.6% and falling. Worse still, U.S. firms are taxed on operations around the world, unlike the global standard, making a move of headquarters a defensive move.

Meanwhile, politicians openly say they want to hike taxes on oil firms. President-elect Obama seems to have backed off, but questions remain as to whether he can stand up to a rapacious and economically ignorant Congress that hasn't.

Second, Big Labor is feeling its oats, swaggering confidently with newfound political power. United Steelworkers approved a "national oil bargaining policy" for higher wages and beefed up its "strike defense fund," both of which point to plans to squeeze oil companies, if not launch strikes."You have to prepare your membership for 2009," according to USW International Vice President Gary Beevers on a union Web site. "The oil companies are ready for us; we have to be ready for them."

With Congress at their back, oil companies are unlikely to lose.None of this portends well for the U.S. business environment. That's why top-performing firms, such as Weatherford, are exiting. Until Congress learns to appreciate and value oil firms, this will continue, leading to less U.S. investment and influence as more competitive climes beckon.