Category Archives: price at the pump

Gas and Presidents

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Gas prices are high. I don’t like it and I’m sure that you don’t like it. But if people are going to choose our President on the basis of the cost of a gallon of gas then I am very worried about America. In fact I do not believe that Americans are this superficial and self-absorbed. It is the news media that is keeping this issue front and center. They constantly underestimate the American people. They could report this whole issue in another way. They could offer facts about why the price is what it is. They could cover how much of the price can be attributed to taxes on gas. They could survey what gas costs people in other nations. They, however, enjoy treating this issue, an issue Newt Gingrich has made up, as a serious campaign driver. Would anyone elect Newt Gingrich just to get gas down to $2.50 a gallon? I sincerely hope not. I sincerely wish with all my heart that people would not elect Newt Gingrich for any reason whatsoever.
If the media is trying to point out what a ridiculous election item the price of gas is, then, by spending so much time on it, they seem to be accomplishing exactly the opposite. We have a long list of more serious variety of topics to obsess about and we are not making much headway with those. Although the price of a gallon of gas has a large impact on business and costs, we know fossil fuels will continue to get more expensive, not less. Please don’t pick our next President because of the price of a gallon of gas.
Since it is still paranoia week I do get to suggest that since Republicans have so many oil companies in their pockets perhaps they have talked their pals into keeping the price per barrel high enough to produce corresponding increases in the price at the pump. Maybe what we are seeing is a sort of reverse-lobbying with oil companies helping themselves by helping their buds win the 2012 election. I certainly hope this is just paranoia.

Here is a comment sent by the Republican in my backyard (He is such a Republican):

People vote for the president mainly I believe based on “what he is going to do for me.”  Today’s economic conditions are horrendous and the price of oil impacts not just the cost of gasoline, but the costs of your food products, any consumer good and all manufacturing.  The higher cost of oil impacts businesses by raising their costs, not just to heat their building but in the cost of electricity to make anything.  These higher costs to manufacturing or any business prevents them from hiring more employees, makes US products less competitive to the rest of the world and keeps the United States in a recession.  In the past, higher oil prices have triggered recessions and high inflation in the US.  Whether you like or dislike Obama, his policies are not only raising oil prices in the US, but will contribute greatly to the sustained higher prices in the future.   Obama makes the point that US domestic oil production is at an eight year high and US oil drilling rig count is higher than any year except the early 80’s.  However oil production is higher because of Bush’s policies, not his and oil production has been relative static since 2003. (and I don’t even like the Washington post J)http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/oil-war-the-ad-battle-between-big-oil-and-dnc-part-2/2012/03/30/gIQArZ0ilS_blog.html
If Obama allowed the keystone pipeline to go through (which his own EPA has approved) it would create tens of thousands of jobs directly as well as increase tax revenues and revive the economy in many parts of the states.  If Obama allowed drilling in the gulf and exploration of minerals from other national land, it would create tens of thousands of jobs and increase tax revenue.Do we really want to follow the European countries where gas is $10-12 a gallon because of taxes?  Think about the destruction it would cause to the economy of the US?  Do you really want a 20% VAT tax on all your goods?  Can you imagine the number of people that are living on the edge of poverty in the US how it would impact them?  The cost of food would double as would most consumer good because of the VAT tax.  Europe has an unsustainable model.  That should be apparent from the collapse of Greece, the coming collapse of Spain, Portugal and Italy.The media is the handmaiden of this administration.  Under any other administration, the media would be screaming about the cost of gasoline.  There are numerous articles criticizing Bush during his presidency and re-election campaign.  Do we really want to talk about the ½ Billion – BILLION dollars that Obama gave to his cronies – Solyndra – which then turned around and donated 100’s of thousands of $ back to Obama?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-4-22-dems-gas-prices_x.htm
The price of oil (gas) is a commodity.  There is some manipulation by  OPEC but they are not as effective today because the global reserve of known oil has grown by 5x  (just is the OPEC countries) since the 1980’s when we were told there would be no more gas.  This doesn’t not take into account Further OPEC no longer has a strangle hold on supply since there are many other countries – USSR, Canada, etc. that are now large exporters of oil.  Obama’s policies on CAFÉ standards are not necessarily bad, but even if they were put into place tomorrow, they would have nearly no effect on the price of gasoline in the US.  We should be exploring and processing more oil, where it is profitable to do so.  Put American workers to work.  Allow American corporations to make money and share it with their stockholders – US Citizens.  Rather than complain oil companies make too much money, invest in them and share the profits.  Oil prices are up because there is increasing demand (mostly from China and other developing nations), uncertainty in the middle east (certainly not helped by Obama promoting instability in Egypt, Libya and failing to control Iran) and a need for more production, to offset demand (failing to approve the pipeline, failure to build more nuclear plants, failure to open Federal wilderness to exploration, failure to allow drilling in the gulf – yet, lend money to Brazilian Oil to drill in the gulf).  If you want to be paranoid, it seems more like Obama is doing everything he can to destroy the US economy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves