Why would you think that? The US Department of Education provides about 7% of the funds for State schools and it has been estimated that it costs more than this to comply with the federal mandates that come along with the money. There are school districts that refuse federal money for exactly this reason. It costs more to accept the money than to decline it.

FEMA is a waste of money. Not only did it fail in New Orleans, it failed in 2004 when I lived in Florida and was hit directly by Hurricane Frances and Jeanne. It was totally worthless and Walmart was actually the salvation for the people in Port St Lucie where I lived. Why can't the States reserve money to address any disasters they might endure?

IRS? How about a consumption tax instead of an income tax which is simple and could be administered by the Treasury Department instead of the IRS? The price of US goods for foreign sale would drop by over 20% thereby making our products more competitive and returning jobs to the US. It would also reduce the taxes payed by every worker in the United States because illegal incomes would also be taxed when the money was spent. That money, literally in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually, now goes completely untaxed.

Homeland Security? If we weren't fucking around in other countries we wouldn't need the Department of Homeland Security. It is retribution for our interventionism that creates the threat to America today.

Department of Energy? Right, like they furnish energy to us. Aren't they really a government department handing out checks to the oil companies and the farmers? Subsidizing the oil companies and corn growers has lead to both higher gasoline and food prices so apparently that department is contrary to the best interests of the People. Why not end these corporate pork barrel programs completely and get rid of the Department of Energy?

Got any other pet federal departments you want to review?

I'm generally kind of surprised. Usually when I bring this up in casual conversation, I start losing friends pretty quickly. I guess I just have terrible friends.

To characterize corporations as being happy, sad or having any other human emotion is to miss the point. Corporations do not experience feelings, because they are not human. A corporation can no more experience an emotion than can a piece of paper that may symbolize a share of its stock. The person holding that stock may be happy or sad regarding the price of the piece of paper, but the corporation itself is completely impersonal and unfeeling. Business corporations have only one primary objective, make profit. We may judge a corporation as being "good" or "bad" because of how its actions impact people or values we hold dear, but the corporation is simply acting in its own best interests. That is how they are designed to work.

You can't seriously blame corporations for anything, they are taxed at either 33-35% rate, which is way higher than the universal average of 24-26%. Any tax that is imposed on a corporation makes them less competitive, because either they have to pay for it or the people do, usually its the people. Reducing corporate tax is a good thing overall, except for oil companies, they I do believe are exploiters ( Don't shop at Exxon shops if at all possible, one movement i believe.)

You have to realize that almost every expense that most corporations have to pay for, aren't actually paid by them, they are passed on to the consumer.

Fail. Oil companies tread pencil-thin profit margins. ExxonMobil's profit margin is 12%, which is far below the 20% minimum it's estimated companies need to have a buffer in case of downturns.

Sure, but oil companies aren't like other corporate companies. They are dealing with an asset that is mainly controlled by our government, yet they are making huge profits compared to what they have been in recent years past. I expect these oil companies to draw profit for sure, but there is a limit because in this case it is a necessity for almost all Americans to survive and further stimulate the economy. When you have to spend so much on gas money, it effects the overall economy enormoulsy. Not to mention the price of gas alone increases the price of the goods everyone needs to live, let alone the "luxuries" we need. This is the main difference.

First of all, oil cartels do not make huge ECONOMIC profits. The oligopolies of crude oil in the likes of OPEC have failed at achieving a monopolistic profit because of the game theory (Iraq - Iran war), because the increase in profits during the 1973 oil shortage proved as incentives for other oil exporting firms to enter the market (Alberta, Gulf of Mexico), and because in the long run, oil habits can change to reduce oil companies' revenues.
Second, beyond crude oil, refined oil companies (those that offer pumps for you to fuel up) make very little accounting profit (about 2-3 cents a litre) since they are a competitive market.
Third, a big chunk of the oil price is actually governmental taxes imposed on oil. While it is a self serving tax to exploit the inelasticity of oil, it ultimately serves as a Pigouvian tax for the environment by achieving a social optimal equilibrium and pushing the bar for technological innovation.

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Sorry, the main and pretty much the only reason for oil prices being so high in America is because the American dollar is worth shit. Oil is traded in American dollars, and when the dollar is crap, that what we get for it.

The BIG profit maker related to Oil is the government. Between the States and the Federal government the fuel tax is as high as 59 cents or about 15% of the cost of gasoline at the pump (@ $4/gal) compared to the 12% of the wholesale cost of oil that the oil companies earn.

So while everyone wants to condemn the oil companies we really should be condemning our government because it earns more money from oil sales than the oil companies.

Maybe I wasn't clear. Their profit margins, the amount of money they make out of each sale, is 12%, that is, 12 cents out of each dollar sold. To put it simply, if they made no profits out of the sale, the price of gas would go down to $3.08 from $3.50, hardly a noticeable gain. They make as much profit as they do because of raw volumes. Don't want them to make that much? don't buy so much gas.

-Dr House