According to CBS News, Wall Street is to blame for high gas prices...

Yesterday I was stuck watching the Complete Bull Shit Evening News, something I vowed never to do again after Dan Rather tried to rig the 2004 Election by running a fake news story.

They did a story about how even the NYT's news polls have The Obama (Praise His Name)'s popularity in the shitter. The reason? Americans blame him for high gas prices.

Now at this point, the anchorweasel asked the NYTweasel if this was fair and if there was really anything the President could do that affected gas prices. They wrung their hands and said there really wasn't. All he could do was tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the eeeevil Wall Street speculators were doing far more to run up the price of gasoline than poor ol' President Obama.

Do these people not understand cause and effect? Do they not understand 6th grade level economics? Or do they really think the average CBS Evening News viewer is so stupid and gullible that they'll believe anything they see.

After bungling the handling of the BP oil rig disaster, they imposed a moratorium on new drilling. When that turned out to be illegal, they just had a defacto moratorium by not issuing any new permits. They stonewalled new refineries, blocked the Keystone Pipeline, and obfuscated drilling in other parts of the United States.

All this has a strategic effect in driving up the price of gasoline. Hell, one of The Beast's henchmen is even on record, saying that the Administration would like US prices to get to the level of European prices. So how is it that anyone with two functioning brain cells can take CBS, the NYT, or The Beast seriously!?

Out of curiosity, since you've been in both places recently, how do gas prices in your home state compare to those where you live now?

Whoops. Forgot about his handling of the Middle East and Iran as well.

Eh. I don't actually know. Gas is kind of a commodity to me. I need it, so I pay whatever the price is and put it on the credit card. I do pay attention to where cheaper gas is locally, but not actually what the price is.

So I'd probably just wind up going on Google to look up gas prices, truth be told.

The interesting thing about being in the sticks is that groceries are significantly more expensive than in a city--while actually having much worse selection. I'm actually perplexed by why anyone would live in this godforsaken hellhole.

So this is just a reprise of the thread you started four days ago. That's honest.

Groceries have to travel farther from the manufacturer/distribution point to get to outlying regions. Telecom services cost more to provide in lightly populated areas as well, but prices there are no higher than they are for city dwellers. How 'bout that?

Yep, B. Hussien has done everything wrong. Which is why unemployment is decreasing, the Dow is soaring, the economy is recovering, Arab states around the world have thrown off the shackles of oppression, Bin Laden and Kaddafi are dead, North Korea is very slowly thawing and the Chicago Bulls are the best team in the NBA.

Because Obama has done everything wrong.

And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.

You call that "soaring"? I call it not plunging as badly as before.

Another lie the Kool-Aid drinkers love to spout.

And voted in ultra-extremist islamic states. Oh yeah, they're much better off.

Bin Laden has been dead for years, and Kaddafi was killed by his own people, not the Bamster.

Until they decide to pull another switcharoo like they did during the Clinton years.

Only fags like basketball anyway.

FTFY

actormike shits up the thread with dewy-eyed stupidity, then Blackdove minces on in to make it worse.

At least he was funny

Since you can't grow hair, try growing a sense of humor instead.

You might be funny if I were still in the 5th grade, asshammer.

I sure speculation is part of the reason gas prices have gone up though generally futures markets tend to make product prices more stable not less so on balance they're a good thing. Now, the real reason prices have gone up is because of huge increases in demand from Asia (especially China and India) while supply is tight due to the oil embargo slapped on Iran.

The good news is the high prices mean companies are now investing big to develop new sources (something they wouldn't do 5-6 years ago when oil was $40 a barrel) so in the future supply should increase and maybe even outpace demand growth. The bad news is it will take 5-10 years for those new supplies to hit the market. The single biggest thing we can do to dramatically lower prices in the short to medium term is reach some sort of political solution with Iran which would result in removal of the oil sanctions as that would add millions of new barrels on to the market in a single day.

Who knows if that's possible though.

This just in: Chu is having to eat his words:

Sure. OK, Baghdad Jay, but if Chu's views ran contrary to Obama's planned energy policy, then why on earth would he make him Energy Secretary?

Summarized for easier reading.

Somehow this reminds me of another quote...

If gas prices are Obamma's fault then why are the rest of the world suffering with soaring gas costs too??

This is America. We don't give two shits about the rest of the world unless they have something we want (or want to bomb.)

Barack Obama owns these gas prices. Any other claim is willful ignorance and a clear sign of someone desperately flailing about to protect hiim. Much in the same way that Obama himself continues to blame George Bush despite him being in office for more than three years and continuing to use Bush policy when it is politicially adventageous for him to do so. Here are a few facts about Barack Obama's energy policies that have led us to where we are today:

- Immediately after taking office in 2009, Obama canceled 77 leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah.

- In January 2010, Obama issued new regulations making it more difficult to develop energy resources on federal land.

- After the BP oil spill, Obama needlessly instituted, not one, but two outright drilling bans in the Gulf of Mexico.

- After rescinding his outright offshore drilling ban, Obama then refused to issue any new drilling permits in the Gulf, a policy that the Energy Information Administration estimated would cut domestic offshore oil production by 13% that year.

- Under Obama, in 2010 the federal government issued the lowest number of onshore leases since 1984.

- Under Obama the federal government has leased less than half of the offshore acres that President Clinton did.

- The Obama administration held just one offshore lease sale in all of fiscal year 2011. President Bush’s energy plan called for five.

- Obama is also blocking access to 19 billion barrels of oil in the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, another 10 billion barrels estimated in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast, and another 10 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

It is true that oil production is higher these days than it was, but it is only because of efforts on private lands where the government's power is restricted, otherwise, Obama would see to it that these options were also limited in order to appease his environmentalist base. I find it extremely difficult to understand how his supporters can make the claim that he is a 'energy friendly president' when the front page news have detailed just how far he is willing to go to stop the Keystone pipeline (not to mention the jobs that would have gone along with it), and his own energy secretary making it clear that there is ultimately no desire to work to lower fuel costs. It is more important to this administration to force people into alternatives such as battery powered vehicles despite the fact that these alternatives are probably 10 years from being ready for prime time.

All I can conclude is the supporters of this president are emotionally invested in him and cannot allow others to have the opinion that he is a failure when it comes to his horrific record on energy and the economy.

.double post

/thread


B/c some people can't understand that oil is sold on the open market. I wonder how many people bitching and moaning about the Keystone pipeline realize it's terminus was the Port Author Export Terminal?

Gas prices are only going to go up long term. China and India are gulping it down as fast as they can, while at the same time the oil we have is running out and the new oil we're getting is more expensive, both to extract (fraking, or deep water drilling) and then to refine. People, Businesses, and Governments that aren't preparing YESTERDAY for our high oil price future are morons and will pay the price for their [-]lack of foresight[/-] willful fucking head in the sand ignorance.

Because it's just inconceivable that we start taking full advantage of own resources and giving ourselves first-priority access to it rather than subjegating ourselves to the almight fucking global market.

Feb 17th:

Source

Six minutes ago:

Source

Are you suggesting we Nationalize the Oil Industry?!?!? Or that we just tell our oil companies "Hey guys, we realize you can sell this oil for higher, and that the investments you made to get at this hard to get stuff was based on the ability to do that, but we're not gonna let you do that. You can sell here in America for $34 a barrel, b/c that's what we've decided it is worth."

Which of those two paths are you advocating we go down?

This only applies if you think that there are other rational choices when it comes to Iran at the present time. Obviously the Europeans don't see another path, none of the Republican Candidates see another path.

Do you?

No, I'm suggesting we declare open season on any possible avenue of domestic drilling and refinement and see what happens. I'm not hearing any bullshit about global markets and futures trading until that's done.

You can blow your false dichotomies out your ass.

So you are going to ignore reality until you've got everything you want.

How... unusual for you.


Answer me this smart guy... at $100 bbl, how large are our reserves? If we were pump it all out over the span of.... what kind of time table are you looking at? Want it gone in 20 years? 30? Doesn't matter, you decide. Anyway, look at what we could produce if all our reserves at that price were exploited and then compare it to the rest of the world and you'll see how little effect we can have on world oil prices.

You may go choke on a bag of dicks now.

How the fuck should I know? It's all potential until we act on it.

Defeatist propaganda. What's the harm in trying?

Do you realize that that doesn't matter? More oil production regardless of who's doing the producing means more oil in the market, which means lower prices overall. Whether we use our own production or push it into the global market, the net effect is downward pressure on prices.

Nope. Showering all of creation with oil will have no effect. The only viable solution is to tax the rich more and subsidize electric cars.

See what I'm trying to get through UAs thick skull.

When it comes to cheap (West Texas Intermediate or equivalent) that is cheap to get to get to, we are running out. And what we DO have left is so small that it is a rounding error when OPEC is deciding how much oil to release in a given quarter.