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Monday, July 18, 2022

July 2022 Quotations (52)

"Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again."
~~ boxing great Muhammad Ali [1942-2016]

"I figured out why carbon credits seem like a bad idea: It is like an overweight person paying a friend to go to the gym and exercise for them."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"The only thing that can stop a bad politician with a vote is a good citizen with a vote."
~~ Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State

"When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life."
~~ Antisthenes [446?-366? B.C.E.], Greek philosopher and star pupil of Socrates [470?-399 B.C.E.]

"Flexibility comes from having multiple choices; wisdom comes from having multiple perspectives."
~~ Robert Dilts

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."
~~ sci-fi author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007], in "The Sirens of Titan" [1959]

"It's time to state the obvious: The Republican Party has gone bull goose bonkers. Its leaders have turned the G.O.P. brand into an unprincipled gaggle of corporate profiteers, hatemongers, and screwball conspiracy theorists."
~~ populist author Jim Hightower

found text for back of t-shirt: "for sale by owner"
found text for back of t-shirt: "cooking time varies with equipment used"
found text for back of t-shirt: "Conditions apply.*"

"Getting old is hazardous to your health."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
~~ George Orwell [1903-50], in the 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

How many Santa Feans does it take to screw in a light bulb? One hundred: one to screw it in and ninety-nine to attend the opening.
~~ joke first heard circa 1989

"Money poisons you when you've got it, and starves you when you haven't."
~~ English writer D.H. Lawrence [1885-1930]

"Chasing your dreams is not for the faint of heart."
~~ cooking show host Christina Tosi's mom, Greta

"Money can’t buy you class, but it can post bail."
~~ Jack Balderrama Morley

"It is good to trust others, but not to do so is much better."
~~ Benito Mussolini [1883-1945]

"In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, gray ships, and green battalions are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change."
~~ Inia Seruiratu, Fiji's Minister for Defense

"The masses are already longing for a dictator."
~~ Benito Mussolini [1883-1945], in 1921

Greater Fool Theory: During a market bubble, an investor can make money by purchasing a risky asset because there will always be someone dumb enough to buy it from them at a higher price.

"A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower."
~~ Charlie Sykes, writer for The Bulwark U.K. [est. 2018]

"Honestly, I just assume that many declines in the quality of American life for the foreseeable future will be announced with 'In a 6–3 decision . . .' "
~~ Tom Nichols, contributing writer at The Atlantic Magazine target="_blank"

"On the hope of our free nation rests the hope of all free nations."
~~ John F. Kennedy [1917-63]

"The Truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]

"I was taught in school that the American experiment was rooted in consensus and compromise. But internet algorithms have put us at an uncompromising moment of nonconsensual reality."
~~ artist Chris Ware

"A world that limits women’s power and influence also robs itself of women’s talents and contributions."
~~ Melinda French Gates

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."
~~ Nora Ephron [1941-2012]

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."
~~ French painter Henri Matisse [1869-1954]

"I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk."
~~ batshit crazy Cong. Lauren Boebert [GOP CO-03]

"Everything’s a war."
~~ conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

"New Mexico is a reproductive safe haven state – and it will remain that way as long as I am Governor."
~~ Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

"Today one must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being."
~~ John Le Carré and American poet May Sarton [1912-1995]

"If you’re not barefoot, then you are overdressed."
~~ Unknown

"There'll never be any revolution. Humanity has bartered it for Coca-Cola and cable television."
~~ Swedish author Liza Marklund

"The world is all gates, all opportunities."
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-82]

"ALGEBRA: The great value in teaching algebra is not that everyone will use it. Some people will indeed use it, but the others have learned skills of Reason that they can use anywhere."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"It took me seventeen years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course."
~~ baseball great Hank Aaron [1934-2021]

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something [that is] completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
~~ author Douglas Adams [1952-2001]

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~~ Herm Albright [1876-1944]

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
~~ cinema master Woody Allen

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
~~ Lucille Ball [1911-89]

"Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks."
~~ Henri Bergson [1859-1941]

"Allan Watts once asked me what spiritual practice I follow, and I responded, 'underlining books'."
~~ mythologist Joseph Campbell [1904-87]

"It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop."
~~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists."
~~ Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961], in "Hemingway On War" [2008]

"Consider that all accomplishment is constituted by a series of resolved breakdowns."
~~ philosopher Werner Erhard

"When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance."
~~ Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi [IVth Century B.C.E.]

About New Coke, 1985: "Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is [that] we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart."
~~ Donald Keough [1926-2015], president/COO of Coca-Cola, 1981-93

"The common thing between all the men I've loved? Meee!"
~~ French actress Jeanne Moreau [1928-2017]

"Modern Americans behave as if intelligence were some sort of hideous deformity."
~~ musician Frank Zappa [1940-93]

"Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar."
~~ Cong. Liz Cheney [GOP WY-01]

"We need to show up for the 2022 Midterms as if we were Ukrainians."
~~ Bette Midler, in May 2022

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

Friday, July 08, 2022

Working Minds Essay #119: REASON-BASED TAXATION and OIL CORPORATION TAXES

The price of gasoline at the pump is not caused by the President, but by the greedy unregulated oil corporations.

One of the basic elements of the Reason-Based Taxation solution is that corporations are entitled to a ten percent profit on pre-tax revenue; many corporations struggle to make even a 5% or 3% profit. R.B.T. specifies that any profits above 10% are taxed at 50 percent, no loopholes. (The details here are one reason that the text of the R.B.T. document runs four pages.)

• British energy giant Shell reported a record quarterly profit of $9.13 billion for the quarter ending 31 March 2022 – nearly triple the $3.2 billion reported in the same quarter last year and beating out its previous record from 2008; the massive profit comes despite the company having to write down $3.9 billion for its decision to exit operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. — google search
• Shell revenue for the quarter ending 31 March 2022 was $83.164 billion, a 40.68% increase year-over-year. — Macrotrends LLC

The math is very clear (but you can skip to the result if you want to.)
Divide the $13.03B profit by the $83.164B revenue and it comes out as 15.667% profit!
Thus 5.667% excess profit times the $83.164B revenue comes out as $4,712,903.80.
Multiply that figure times 50% and it will cost Shell $2.356B in taxes under R.B.T.
– an amount paid to both the greedy shareholders - times two - and to the taxpayers

RESULT #1 = $4,712,903.80 in excess profit for just three months

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I also looked at ExxonMobil USA

• ExxonMobil Corporation first-quarter 2022 earnings of $5.5 billion; first-quarter results included an unfavorable identified item of $3.4 billion associated with the planned exit from Russia Sakhalin-1; earnings excluding identified items were $8.8 billion, an increase of more than $6 billion versus the first quarter of 2021
• ExxonMobil website shows first-quarter 'cash flow' of $48 billion and earnings of $23.040 billion for profits of 47.9%.
• The Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) column on SeekingAlpha shows total revenues of $309.269 billion and 'gross profit' of $98.367 billion

Here's the math (or skip ahead)
Divide the $98.367B profit by the $309.269B revenue and it comes out as 31.80% profit! - twice what Shell made.
Thus 21.80% excess profit times the $309.269B revenue comes out as $6,742,064.20.
Multiply that figure times 50% and it will cost ExxonMobil $3.371B in taxes under R.B.T.
– an amount paid to both the greedy shareholders - times two - and to the taxpayers

RESULT #2 = $6,742,064.20 in excess profit for just three months

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While families on tight budgets struggle to pay the sky-high price of gas at the pump, these five oil companies more than tripled their profits in the first quarter of 2022: Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips brought in an average of over 200 percent more in profits than in the first quarter of 2021 – a total of more than $35 billion in profits in just three months.

• Shell’s first quarter profits were 180 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. Shell made $19.3 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $272.657B (Shell bought back $8.5 billion in stocks).

• ExxonMobil’s first quarter profits were 220 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. ExxonMobil made $23 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $285.64B (ExxonMobil pledged $30 billion in stock buy backs).

• Chevron’s first quarter profits were 280 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. Chevron made $15.6 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $162.465B (Chevron plans $10 billion in stock buy backs by the end of 2022).

• BP’s first quarter profits were 140 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. BP made $12.8 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $164.195B (BP expanded its stock buyback plan to $2.5 billion in 2022).

• ConocoPhillips’ first quarter profits were 380 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. ConocoPhillips made $8 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $48.3B (ConocoPhillips plans $10 billion in stock buy backs in 2022).

These five oil corporations made $78.7 billion in total profits on combined revenue of $933.257 billion in 2021.

RESULT #3 = 2021 $78.7B total profits were only 8.43% of revenue in 2021, but much higher in the first quarter of 2022.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Shell first-quarter 2022 revenue was $83.164 billion with quarterly profit of $9.13 billion

• ExxonMobil first-quarter 2022 'cash flow' was $48 billion with quarterly profit of $23.040 billion

• Chevron first-quarter 2022 revenue was $52 billion with quarterly profit of $6.3 billion

• BP first-quarter 2022 cash flow was $51.220 billion with quarterly profit of $6.2 billion

• ConocoPhillips first-quarter 2022 revenue was $19.29 billion with quarterly profit of $4.3 billion

RESULT #4 = combined first-quarter 2022 revenue of $253.674B and total profits of $48.97B compute as 19.3% profits, for 9.3% in excess profits – which were generated entirely by corporate war-profiteering: $23.59 billion extracted from American consumers because the pirates of Wall Street are unregulated.

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved