Reply #27: DU really does have some mind-bogglingly stupid economics threads.

[Nye Bevan]

1. The shareholders would need to be paid compensation, which would cost billions (if not trillions) to make them whole, as the Government cannot simply "take" private property without compensation.

2. The senior executives would have their golden parachutes and gold-plated pensions triggered by the change of control. So they would get millions in extra compensation.

3. The Government does not have the expertise to run oil companies, so it would need to re-hire these senior executives at premium compensation packages to effectively run their old companies (they would still keep their golden parachutes and gold plated pensions).

4. So we would effectively end up with the same people working in the oil sector, except that there would be an extra layer of bureaucracy and huge amounts of taxpayers money would have been spent, adding to the national debt.

It's legitimate to argue for higher taxation of oil companies. But it's ridiculous to argue for nationalization.