[ExI] Under the libertarian yoke

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 3:43 AM, The Avantguardian
<avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>  So long as the government is controlled by oil cartels, libertarians and
>  socialists have a common foe. And woe to him who doesn't understand the
>  evolutionary calculus of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." I have warned
>  you, nothing more. Don't shoot the messenger.

### No worry, libertarians don't shoot innocent people. But we do
ridicule ridiculous ideas, like the notion that oil cartels exist, or
the completely magnolious idea that they control the US government.

Here is some data:

1) A table summarizing the profit margins by industry, in the US

http://bp3.blogger.com/_otfwl2zc6Qc/SB21VNa4GUI/AAAAAAAAEZ0/ShZfqz2UE0U/s1600-h/pm.bmp

2) An illustration of the relative amounts of Exxon's taxes and profits

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/05/exxon-paid-almost-3-in-taxes-for-every.html

Obviously, if you control the government you don't have the lowest
profit margins of all major branches of industry and you don't pay
three times more in taxes than you get in profits. But, I am not sure
you would be convinced. You already understand the calculus, don't
you?

Rafal