Pelosi: Gas $4 "thanks to the two oilmen in the White House", Drilling a "hoax"

What is her target audience for this press release? Her own San Fran constituents? The loony left, in general? All Democrats? Middle America?

And how long has she been calling it the New Direction Congress?

ETA: Dated 07/30/2008.

This isn't new. I submitted something similar to this a couple of weeks ago regarding Pelosi and her mindless, downright incorrect rants.

Pelosi is an idiot and is flat out incorrect about drilling for oil.

So drill already.

Drill on lands already opened up to drilling.

Not only that expand our drilling so that we are less dependent on foreign sources for our oil.

Why do you care what Nancy Pelosi's opinion is concerning oil or anything else? Are you in her her district?

Because she is the Speaker of the House right now. She is also one of the morons who is currently seeking to increase the gasoline tax by 10 cents per gallon.

I didn't think it was that tough to figure out. You obviously aren't as intelligent as your bird brained buddy huh?

Nope. Drill where the oil companies think they'll find lots of oil.

Now you're getting somewhere. It's perfectly reasonable to cast doubt on Pelosi for decrying the price of gas while wanting to increase the gas tax. But just posting "here's what Nancy Pelosi thinks!!!!" without context or commentary is just chickenshit.

BTW, I don't know who "my bird brained buddy" is.

Those leases with reserves that can be drilled are being drilled.

Perhaps when oil companies run the government.

That's too bad. It must be a lack of education or intelligence apparently.

Perhaps the government should pull its dirty hypocritical nose out of private enterprises business. Such as getting out of the way when they desire to drill oil on land they've purchased, have leased or own.

Oh come now, Kirk, surely you aren't so ignorant of the reasons behind mineral extraction laws.

When?

He's like Frankenstein's Monster: RRRR....GOVERNMENT BAD....RRRR....FREE MARKET GOOD....RRRRR....

While you are like Karl Marx... big government good. Big government will take care of my sorry rear end because I'm not capable of being responsible for myself.

The government? I assumed we were talking about what was good for the economy...

What is so funny in threads like this is the total ignorance displayed by many of the drill now folks regarding market economics. The price is going down a bit because demand is down, but fundamentally, there is an equilibrium point where the price will settle. If drilling tomorrow would magically mean more gas tomorrow (something it would not mean), the long term price wouldn't change. People would start to backslide on efficiency measures, driving up demand to match the new supply, sending price back to the $3.75 or $4.00 point that happens to be the equilibrium.

Drilling might have a short term psychological impact. For any drilling to make a lasting impact, though, it would have to be at a substantially greater level than even the most enthusiastic oil rooters believe possible.

Which has been repeated over and over. Guess what happened as soon it was announced that the federal government was going to allow oil companies to drill for additional supplies of oil. That's right, prices have been dropping consistently.

It doesn't take much to increase the price of oil, why do you think it would take all that much to decrease the supplies.

You are for whatever reason ignoring the obvious. You are also demonstrating in my opinion a lack of understanding for the laws of supply and demand.

What is it about government kool aid that you find to be so tasty Dan?

See, here's the psychological impact. Will it lead to a long term price drop? Not unless China and Indian enter recessions. We can no more control the price of oil than OPEC can. There are too many powerful parties with divergent interests. It is a flawed market, to say the least, but it still functions according to market theory.

No, it will not lead to long term price drops. Why in the hell do you think people are calling for more drilling? We need more oil in the system for prices to decrease and stabilize.

What is it about the left and Democrats that can't seem to grasp simple concepts of supply and demand?

I'm like Karl Marx? Funny, I don't recall writing The Communist Manifesto...

Really, no, just a minute...



Kirk, you are priceless! People are calling for more drilling because it makes for good politics. It has nothing at all to do with economics. And yes, more oil would lead to lower prices if it is enough to over satisfy current demand. That is far more than what anybody is going to get from ANWR and off shore. I understand supply and demand all too well. What I understand is that we have a very minimal (virtually non-existent) ability to modify oil supply, which leaves us with demand as the only lever.

The price of a barrel of oil in 1998? $8.

Ten years later it hit almost twenty times that amount at $147 a barrel.

This isn't basic supply and demand. It's almost certainly a level of elasticity based on rampant speculation.

Yes, perception can alter that both in the short and long term.

Because there isn't twenty times the demand for oil now than there was in 1999.

Yes, drilling for new sources helps change that perception in the short term, as well as the reality of how much oil is available on the market in the long. And the longer we wait, the more prices go up.

And certainly US demand has decreased due to the amazing cost - we've seen a $20 drop in the last few weeks because of decreased demand.

And, of course, we'll need the oil in 5 years, and in 15 years, and in 25 years.

We should do what we can to get off foreign oil - but intentionally slitting our own wrists by not developing our own resources is absolutely idiotic.

I find it amusing she blames 'two oilmen' for the high prices. Remember a few weeks ago when Bush called for congress to begin drilling? Prices started to tumble. 11% in three weeks.

Are you sure she wasn't talking about a DIFFFERENT oilman?

Drilling has everything to do with economics. To say otherwise is to say that price is independent of supply and, clearly, that's wrong. If demand continues to grow and supply remains constant, the price will continue to increase.

You're not going to get there with conservation. You're not going to have 50 million hybrid cars on the freeways next year. You're not going to have the infrastructure to provide electricity for 50 million electric cars the year after that. There are still millions more gasoline-powered vehicles in the pipeline and that shows no sign of changing.

No, ANWR and some offshore drilling doesn't solve the problem by themselves. But countries all over the world are pouring money into oil investments so they can supply much-needed oil. We're a part of that.

I think if John McCain were smart, he'd try to cast the election as a referendum on increasing oil supply...

Being like someone doesn't mean you are that person. For instance, you are like a woman, but you still can't have babies.

While speculation and uncertainty do contribute to higher prices--and I'd argue they should--the bulk of the price is simple supply and demand.

Doesn't have to be. The price is what people will pay for the current supply.

If a person on a sinking ship needs to find a life vest and each passenger has one, he has no problem. If the boat is short a life vest and he needs one, he might have to pay a lot of money to get someone to forgo theirs. The demand is the same, the difference in supply only one vest. If ten or a hundred people need vests, a bidding war can easily ensue...

Absolutely. People need to realize that the real battle is not to get gasoline prices down...it's to keep them from going up more.

But demand can only decrease so far: most still have to drive back and forth to work, for example. And even reducing elective usage of gasoline has negative consequences: you don't patronize those hotels, ski lodges, restaurants, museums, etc. that rely on people travelling for their revenue.

Yep. Any change in demand now only shifts the curve a little. Because demand grows worldwide--don't expect that to change--you only buy a little time with conservation. And you do that at the expense of other things (all else being equal, you'd rather NOT conserve).

Agree 100%.