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Obama Administration Tap Dances on Oil

By Larry Johnson on March 14, 2012 at 11:32 PM in Current Affairs

The Obama team, especially his aloof, detached Secretary of Energy, are dropping the ball and failing to act decisively to produce more oil, improve oil refinery and lower the price of gas. Nope. The Obama policies are driving the price of gas up. What proof do we need? I’ve got the video:

Okay, so maybe that isn’t the Obama Administration. Actually, we shouldn’t insult the chimps. They are damned talented and able to do the “Irish” thing. The Obama gang? Not so much.

Check out the little brain on Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, (we’ve got the before and after):

So he was for “paying more for gas” two weeks ago.

Now? Not so much?

Steven Chu may be a Noble prize winning physicist but, when it comes to economics and oil production, he is a moron. A smart person would not speak the stupid shit he has said. Hell, Forrest Gump would know better than to call for raising the price of gasoline.

Go back and watch the dancing chimps and decide for yourself–Steven Chu was tap dancing like a rat on crack in walking back his outlandish policy of wanting to impose higher gas prices on Americans.

Anonymous

Wow….At first I thought the video was from the shindig at the White House tonight.
http://www.theindependentview.com Matthew J. Weaver

It is criminal that Chu was allowed as secretary and taking lead on gas prices since he doesn’t even own a car and I’ve yet to hear him say he even drives or has a driver’s license. As bad as the government motors debacle of placing non-car owners and non-drivers in charge of the company.

Though I guess Chu serves the purpose of driving up prices and the others in redistributing the companies to the unions. Two wonderful selling points for Obama’s re-election.
http://profile.yahoo.com/DXEH5226VXYIM22E66OTQCVPRE Jacqueline S

Chu’s wife owns a Beautiful 7 series BMW. Very fuel efficient if you know what I mean.

Anonymous

This high price gas thing is just for the little people you know.

Anonymous

Chu is a rabid environmentalist who could care less the pain people are feeling with high gas prices in his idea of the greater scheme of things. It’s all for our own good in the long run, doncha know.

A visionary like Chu, and many others like him in the environmental community are unable to see anything outside of their narrow ideology.

Nothing will convince these smart fools that just because they want something to be true that it is true.

They believe themselves to be sooooo much smarter than the rest of us that their vision, being for our own good, can be inflicted on the dumb people. If it cause the poor peasants some pain, well that’s just too bad. Of course people like Chu, having the wherewithal to pay the price don’t feel the pain along with the hoi polloi.

Sounds like Chu got spanked and was forced to recant something he believed. Makes for an interesting tap dance and damn poor governing.

Anonymous

“Auntie” Marge – Funny toon! Even for an environmentalist like me. And I agree with your point – practical application is needed. Along with a real understanding of the effects on the general population.

Anonymous

Morning Niece Linda!

You hit the nail on the head when you said practical application.

I recycle religiously. I compost. I make and give away fabric shopping bags to stop, in my small way, the use of plastic and paper shopping bags.

But you don’t get rid of all the paper and plastic shopping bags before everyone has the re-usable kind. That’s dumb. Wishful thinking is not a plan.

I really do believe in time that wind, solar- and yes even switch grass and algae can/will be a part of our energy program.

If they are viable someone will make a way to make them work efficiently and make a ton of money from them. That’s free enterprise. That works a lot better IMO, than government intervention and innovation.

Anonymous

Absolutely agree!!

Anonymous

The New Three Stooges: Harry, Surly and O.

Who knew “the boys” were prophets?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2it6acqnrg4&feature=player_embedded

Anonymous

Perfect!

Anonymous

Marge,

What exactly are you complaining about? The U.S. pays the lowest price for gasoline, by far, amongst all developed countries. In addition, with the very warm winter and a record low natural gas price most households are seeing much lower energy bills, which generally has so far cancelled out the effect of the higher price of gasoline at the pump.

Chu made his comments in 2008, well before the recession had really gained steam and before Chu was even in government. He was talking about how a gradual rise in the gasoline price over a 15 year period could benefit the U.S. over the long-run, as it would lead to the development of more efficient cars, home heating systems, etc. and move us quicker away from fossil fuels. What is wrong with that?

He has since said that given the depth of the recession he is not advocating for higher gasoline prices now. There is no need to jump all over Chu for political reasons like you, LJ and GOP seem to think you need to do. He has said or done nothing wrong. I feel you like many on NQ just react to what you read on the Internet or on FOX, which does not give you the whole story. Why don’t you actually try and find out all of what Chu was saying and importantly know the context before you comment?

“The quote came from September 2008, when Chu — then the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — talked to The Wall Street Journal about the benefits of having gasoline prices rise over 15 years to encourage energy efficiency.” Many scientists and economists have talked abou this over the years.

We are in the fourth year of a presidency or since Chu made that statement and there is no evidence that Chu or anyone else has been pushing for higher gasoline prices? It is just a BS gotcha statement, but with no actual evidence that anything came out of it.

Anonymous

Heck, I thought that the lack of understanding about what’s going on here in the real world had more to do with the fact that the restrooms at the WH were hard to get into because of all those darned czars trying to use them–clouds the mind when you got to go. Don’t insult the chimps–I’ll take chimps over czars any day of the week.

http://videos2view.net/irish-dance.htm
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W6RLFUOLWP23SJ5RQHENEPHKME David L

At least the chimps were on the same page, no one in this administration has a clue !!
Anonymous

This is one Obama cannot blame on Bush. Obama inherited lower gas prices.

The higher gas prices are intentional because of Obama’s belief that the federal government can control and direct the economy. He believes as does Chu that the U.S. must get rid of all fossil fuels and the only way to accomplish that is with heavy government investment into alternative “green” energy and higher prices for oil.

While accomplishing that Obama does what he is good at – blame the higher gas prices on anything else going on in the world.

The problem with his blame game in this case is that Bush was confronted with similar problems such as Middle East tensions and the high demand for oil from India and China.

In July 2008 Bush by executive order opened up U.S. land and coast to more oil drilling. Within a week, crude oil prices – which had previously been climbing since January – began to decline and did so each and every week thereafter for the balance of his term.

Obama could do that. He does not want to. So he and his press secretary have the audacity to outright lie to the nation. What Bush did and Obama can do will never be reported by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Politico, NPR or any of the plethora of left wing media.

Anonymous

Hokma: “Within a week, crude oil prices – which had previously been climbing since January – began to decline and did so each and every week thereafter for the balance of his term”…
But of course, this had nothing to do with it being an election year, does it?

The price of gas had been steadily climbing all throughout his term, with “his” the highest prices still higher than “Os”… And why was the prices so high with W? Strategic Oil Reserves. If the seller has a captive buyer (Uncle Sam) who is willing to pay any price for crude, then you’d better believe that the price will be high….even if it means the average consumer will pay more at the pump.

Anonymous

Bush wasn’t running for anything. The price of crude had gone too high and we needed to begin to become more energy independent. This was only one measure which was to open up more U.S. territory to extract oil.

The two reasons for the steady increase in crude oil prices during Bush’s term was (1) rapidly increasing use by China and India and (2) the uncertainty we created with the invasion of Iraq. The crude oil price has always been based on simple supply and demand of oil.

When he opened up off shore drilling as an option the result was a rapid decline in crude oil for the balance of his term, although never back down to where it was before he took office.

What Obama did was reverse Bush’s executive orders and imposed greater restrictions on drilling where he could, so throughout his term Obama has been responsible for very high gas prices.

Hopefully this chart comes through:
http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice0711.gif

http://noquarterusa.net Larry Johnson

Hok,
Please repost link.

Anonymous

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice0711.gif

Roger Elder

You have to right click and save the picture local to your pc and then upload it using discuss. It can’t be linked off the host server apparently. I would do it but can’t find the article it came from.

Anonymous

True W wasn’t running running for office, but a GOP candidate sure was. “Hey, the GOP got the prices down, so let’s keep them in office…”

The meteoric rise in oil prices didn’t come until after we’d invaded Iraq. If it were only about Iraq, the prices would have risen to $3+ before the invasion.

Now, I’m no defender of “O” and I hope you realize that. I’m no obot troll, Hokma, you know that right? But O has kept oil discovery and production at the same levels as W. Now, there was a lull after the BP disaster, but he hasn’t shut the oil companies down at all. I’m in west Texas right now and the place is booming (right now) despite big bad O being in the white house.

Another driver of the gas prices these days is that since the ’08 recession, the oil refining capacity has dropped due to the oil companies shutting down capacity. Nobody is telling them to make less fuel, they did it themselves. There hasn’t been any requests for new refineries in 20-30 years. Basic Econ 101…they like that supply is tight, because they can say they need high prices.

ALL this despite the fact that demand has been flat since ’08.

ALL this despite continued record profits from the oil industry.

ALL this despite the Keystone XL pipeline, which O wants to get in place, that won’t help our domestic supply at all. It is owned and run by foreign companies and would take the crude overseas.

Everybody thinks O is so against big business, but when you look at what he’s really done, he’s made a lot of “concessions” to industry, including oil/gas. —> Which is one huge reason he is in deep doo doo with his D base…he’s TOO friendly with nuke/oil industry.

I’d be for higher gas prices too, if it meant the end of the oil/gas “entitlement” programs. We’ve done it with the ag biz (i.e. milk prices) we can do it here, too.

http://noquarterusa.net Larry Johnson

CES,
You are dead wrong on what Obama has done with respect to encouraging and expanding oil discovery and production on Federal lands. He has cut back dramatically.

Anonymous

Larry, with respect, I never limited my assertion to just federal lands. Oil production in the US is up 11% since 2000, mostly on private lands.

And all that graph shows is the OPEC (ie. not US) shut THEIR production targets in late 2008, which reduces supply, which then leads to an increase in price. Which affirms, in part, my assertion. The US strategic oil supply stopped buying oil at the end of Ws term, so without that artificial demand, the price dropped, which led OPEC to cut supply.

That graph doesn’t show US production, the number of leases, the number of new lease requests, nor the input/outputs of domestic refinery capacity.

If someone can link to THAT data, I’d appreciate it.

http://noquarterusa.net Larry Johnson

Are you really this fucking obtuse? Seriously. The fact that domestic oil production is up is a direct consequence of Bush policies. Obama, by contrast, has drastically cut back on offshore drilling and drilling on Federal lands. Stop arguing apples and oranges. Please cite the specific policy Obama instituted that accounts for the increase in domestic production? You can’t because he has not done anything on that front.

Anonymous

Not obtuse, I hope.

The claim being thrown out to the media is that our gas prices are high because oBlunder’s policies are all of a sudden limiting domestic oil supplies, and that is why our pump prices are high.

But, regardless of whose policies help/hurt, the total production is UP. And yet our pump prices are also UP.

So again, supply is up, but prices haven’t dropped. The only apple and oranges that apply is saying that because he’s cut back on federal land drilling lease approval rates, our pump prices are high. It’s a red herring.
Anonymous

“Obama, by contrast, has drastically cut back on offshore drilling and drilling on Federal lands.”

Bullshit. Care to provide any proof to support your claim.

There has been a slight drop in production on Federal lands, but that is based on an industry decision and not a lack of permits or leases.

The industry has just decided to produce less on these lands and use their resources elsewhere.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/216023-blm-chief-defends-oil-program-amid-federal-lands-production-dip

And some margin increase in oil production on Federal lands will have no impact on the global price of oil or the price of gasoline in the U.S. The increase in production would be too small and the production is sold at world prices.

Anonymous

http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pdf/sec1_30.pdf This was the original source of the information that showed a drop of 40%. Not surprisingly Obama has changing the numbers to make sure he doesn’t look bad. Unfortunately for Obama the original data was saved and reported on. Takje your left wing communist garbarge to the Daily Koz where it is appreciated.

Anonymous

Back to censoring my comments again. Lame. And I even had a like.

Why don’t you give us any actual facts to support your arguments?

First of all oil production up has nothing to do with Bush. Two things have been driving oil production in the U.S.; new fracking technology that has only become available in the last few years and the high price of oil.

Second. Obama has not reduced oil production on federal lands. It was down slightly in 2010 after being up in the last couple of years largely because the industry has chosen to not drill as much on federal lands and moved their resources to other areas, principally to shale drilling on non-federal lands. There are plenty of federal lands, reserves and offshore oil areas the industry can use if they want to and are not currently exploiting. Plenty of land is open to them.

Read:

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/216023-blm-chief-defends-oil-program-amid-federal-lands-production-dip

2/3 of federal oil permits sat idle in 2010. They industry was not using them. Read this:

http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2011/01/13/2

“Please cite the specific policy Obama instituted that accounts for the increase in domestic production?”

There is no specific policy, nor should there be. Government is not involved in oil production, other than collecting royalties and opening land to energy exploitation, which there is plenty open already.

Anonymous

LJ why don’t you tell us what specific policy or legislation Obama has inacted which has held back energy production in this country, which is currently booming?

Anonymous

Back to censoring my comments again. Lame. And I even had a like.Why don’t you give us any actual facts to support your arguments?First of all oil production up has nothing to do with Bush. Two things have been driving oil production in the U.S.; new fracking technology that has only become available in the last few years and the high price of oil.Second. Obama has not reduced oil production on federal lands. It was down slightly in 2010 after being up in the last couple of years largely because the industry has chosen to not drill as much on federal lands and moved their resources to other areas, principally to shale drilling on non-federal lands. There are plenty of federal lands, reserves and offshore oil areas the industry can use if they want to and are not currently exploiting. Plenty of land is open to them.Read:http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wi…2/3 of federal oil permits sat idle in 2010. They industry was not using them. Read this:http://www.eenews.net/public/G…”Please cite the specific policy Obama instituted that accounts for the increase in domestic production?” There is no specific policy, nor should there be. Government is not involved in oil production, other than collecting royalties and opening land to energy exploitation, which there is plenty open already.

Anonymous

LJ is absolutely on target with his assessment.

The fact is that the vast majority of America’s new oil and gas production that Obama brags about happens to be on private lands in states like North Dakota, Alaska and where you are in Texas – not on Federal land. Production on Federal land is down 40% under Obama. Where you are in Texas is NOT a result of Obama.

The fact is that oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago. Also under Obama, the U.S. had the lowest number of onshore leases issued since 1984 and he had only one offshore lease sale which was in 2011.

He rejected the Keystone XL pipeline which deliver oil from Canada to relieve some of the pain of high prices.

Obama has been threatening the oil industry with tax hikes and eliminating subsidies.

Also fracking which is a proven oil and gas extraction process is going to be subjected to overly burdensome regulations by the EPA.

When it comes to nuclear energy, that is another area where Obama found ways to make sure if would not increase. By pushing the nation further from a solution for nuclear-waste disposal, Obama damaged the prospects for nuclear energy expansion. The NRC can only license new reactors if it expresses confidence that the spent nuclear fuel from the reactors will be disposed at an off-site facility.

The energy policy by Obama is written by the environmental nut jobs and is causing further economic havoc.

All Obama has to do – with or without a teleprompter – is go before the American public and reinstate the Bush’s policy expanding off shore drilling and you will see crude oil prices decline immediately.
When he and Jay Carney say that the GOP are lying when they claim that the President can bring the price down to $2.50 a gallon – well, he and jay Varney are lying.

Now he is going to tap into the Strategic Oil Reserve to get re-elected. He should be impeached over this. Thew Strategic Oil Reserve is only to be used in time of a national crisis like a war or if Iran shut down the Straits of Hormuz – NOT to save his sorry ass to get re-elected.

Anonymous

Keystone wouldn’t help domestic gas supply, it’s mostly being shipped overseas because we actually have a surplus in the US gas supply. And has approved parts of it recently, right? Its gonna go through, just with a different route.

I’m for nuke energy, which is why I shake my head a the far left enviroweenies. Axelrod is a nuke guy, so I’m surprised there hasn’t been more push from that sector.

And I’m sorry, unless you’re surrounded ny NG frak sites, you don’t realize who much somebody ANYBODY needs to watch these drill companies. Burdensome regulations? People’s lives and health are at stack and the drillers have been shown to not be safe, especially in urban drilling environments.

Our local city just upped the permit fee $2500 to handle all the fire and hazmat responses they’ll need based on recent history of incidents here.

Anonymous

In ’07 and “08 Bush was pushing for greater expansion of not just oil but also nuke and biofuels. He was getting resistence from Pelosi and the enviro groups – the latter is now dictating energy policy for sure.

Anonymous

How does a keystone oil pipeline that would take years to develop, would largely ship a relatively small amount of oil for diesel fuel to the gulf coast for refining and exporting impact the price of gasoline today. Whether that oil gets ship across America or not it will still go on the world market. More looney logic from you.

Anonymous

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS1&f=M

US Field Production of Crude Oil..

2,117,512

2001

2,097,124

2002

2,073,454

2003

1,983,300

2004

1,890,107

2005

1,862,259

2006

1,848,450

2007

1,811,816

2008

1,956,596

2009

1,998,137

2010

2,070,494

2011

( thousands of barrels)If that data is relevant and accurate, we’re almost back to 2003 levels, after dropping during Ws admin.
Anonymous

LJ why don’t you provide any actual proof or facts to what you say. You are just talking out of your ass. Oil production is booming in the U.S. right now, since 2009. There is no need to open more Federal lands. The U.S. oil industry has plenty of unused reserves, lands and offshore areas that they are not even using that they can tap if they want to.

Roger Elder

Some of the most brilliant “book smart” people lack the common sense of average people. The problem isn’t with these “book smart” people. They have their places and when used properly they can be invaluable… the problem lies in giving authority to these “book smart” people who are only intelligent in theory and who cannot or have not had to actually do anything in the real world outside of that world of theory. This is no doubt a genius… so what? Honestly academia is full of geniuses. It seems we need more people who can do things… people who have actually done things in real life and less folks who only have ideas. Ideas are only great when they are realized. Maybe we can get people who have “done” to replace the folks that “can”… or that just say “we can”.

Anonymous

Great point R. Elder.
I think Einstein said it well

Roger Elder

I like the fish and monkeys analogy. I think exactly exactly sums it up. How many academic people do we need outside of academia? These people have their places. Being on a presidential cabinet isn’t one of those places. Having someone who understands energy and the production of energy and who has “done” things in real life would be better… and this person could hire a personal cabinet of academic people to advise him or her as needed and to come up with ideas… but these folks don’t belong in charge.

Anonymous

and….I will bet that the republicans will shoot themselves in the foot by overplaying this hand…..

Roger Elder

More concern? But seriously everybody knows republicans are the “drill baby drill people”. This can’t be overplayed once gas hits $5 everywhere. It will be an albatross.

Anonymous

This is really an under-reported story….

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=2

Anonymous

This was their derivatives guy. He liked GS enough to stay 10+ years helping run the the derivatives scam. Now he has a conscience? They keep them about 10 years until they are used up and then let them go unless they are going to be partners or directors. He obviously wasn’t on that track and did not like it. So he writes an editorial about how awful they were (true) and he wasn’t (untrue).

Anonymous

Chu-algae hasn’t changed his mind. He’s just being a team player. As a member of the exclusive Nobels-R-Us country club, like his boss, Chu is just following the company line. In short, it goes a little something like this:

“Those damned voters. We’ve been doing our best to convince them that what they should be caring about is Sandra Fluke’s immoral contraception costs, bad names Republicans call women and the foreign objects they want to stick in their vaginas. Who’d a thunk that people would actually CARE about the economy after all the bamboozling we’ve done? What do these rubes expect?

We still have favors to our green buddies to pay off before the election. Green energy, that’s the ticket. Doesn’t have a thing to do with no conomy. E’s or anyone else’s. But we’re going to talk about it because you want to hear it. And that’s all we care about. No, really.”

Obama’s Green Energy Plan is to borrow money from China and burn through the cash. On so many levels.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hank-DeCat/100001190387982 Hank DeCat

OT — but I found this story interesting. The Obama camp paid $345,000 for that Obama propaganda, oops, I mean “biopic,” “The Road We’ve Traveled.”

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/14/fec-records-obama-campaign-paid-345000-for-guggenheim-film-biopic/
Anonymous

Ancient Chinese-American proverb says: Once Chu say it, Chu can’t take it back.
Anonymous

LJ,

You complain about intellectual honesty, but why don’t you have some yourself.

All politics all the time with you and no intellectual honesty.

You know nothing about oil economics or are just playing politics like your buddies on FOX News.

The U.S. government has very little ability impact the price of oil and gasoline. It is ultimately set in international oil markets. Even OPEC has a hard time at time influencing the price of oil.

Drill Baby Drill or more refinery capacity will do very little in impacting the overall global price of oil.

How exactly are Obama’s policies driving the price of oil/gasoline up? Please explain.

The price of gasoline has go up and down the exactly the same in all countries of the world (see chart below). In the chart below gas prices have tracked very closely in all of these countries for nearly 2 decades despite different systems of government, different energy policies, and numerous national level crises and regime changes. How do you explain that prices go up and down exactly in the same in other countries when Obama’s policies have the President of the U.S., can do little to effect gas prices. Anyone who says different is misleading you.

Here is a chart showing the price of gasoline in Canada and the U.S. The price has moved exactly the same. So how does that work, when Obama policies have no influence in Canada? How have his policies also moved the price up in Canada? They have not. It is the global market that sets the price of oil and therefore gasoline.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USA Average&city2=Canada Average&city3=&crude=n&tme=60&units=us

Right now there is an oil production boom in America. Production levels in this country are at levels not seen for 10 years. Oil and energy production is booming under Obama. The number of oil rigs currently in operation in the U.S. is now at highest on record.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-16/us-oil-boom/52053236/1

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/energy/article/U-S-oil-output-set-to-boom-3345237.php

As far as Chu is concerned you need a little bit of context. He was talking theoretically in 2008 about how higher gasoline prices over a gradual 15 year period could help transition the U.S. to better fuel efficiency and move the country away from oil.

I also thought you were a capitalist. Why should any government be interfering in the free market of gasoline and oil prices? By the way America continues to pay some of the lowest prices for gasoline on the planet, so what are you complaining about. With much lower home heating costs because of a 10 year low in natural gas prices and a warm winter the average households energy costs have a actually not gone up all that much yet.

By the way when the political risk around Iran settles down (which could be worth as much as 30% of the price of oil) and the gasoline price goes down are you going to be giving credit to Obama?

***

[American Petroleum Institute's Rayola] Dougher said that if all federal land was open to oil drilling — not just offshore but Alaska’s wildlife refuge and all federal land in the West that isn’t a national park — the country could produce an extra 2.8 million barrels of oil a day by 2025.

Being that she represents the oil industry, Dougher gave the idea a hard sell.

She said it would create another 500,000 jobs, add $150 billion each year to government coffers and shave a significant chunk off the country’s foreign trade deficit.

But one argument she didn’t make was lower prices.
“How would that play out in the market, what impact would that have on prices,” she said, “we just don’t know.”

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/25/news/economy/oil_drilling_gas_prices/index.htm

The problem is this: While increased oil and gas drilling in the United States may create good-paying jobs, reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower the trade deficit, it will have hardly any impact on gas and oil prices.

That’s because the amount of extra oil that could be produced from more drilling in this country is tiny compared to what the world consumes.

Plus, any extra oil the country did produce would likely be quickly offset by a cut in OPEC production.

“This drill drill drill thing is tired,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which calculates gas prices for the motorist organization AAA. “It’s a simplistic way of looking for a solution that doesn’t exist.”

Anonymous

Here is the chart comparing Cdn gasoline and U.S gasoline prices. The prices move exactly the same. How do you explain that? How do you explain that Obama’s policies have changed gasoline prices in Canada exactly the same? Makes no sense what you say. The answer is that the price of gasoline is set by the price of oil in world markets. It moves up in all countries the same independent of what the U.S. or Obama does.

Anonymous

You are making a fool of yourself but nearly as much as Obama is. This one he cannot blame on Bush – or the Middle East – or tsunamis – or oil spills – or whatever other fantasy excuse he has.

He is clearly responsible.

His releasing oil from the strategic oil reserves to save his sorry ass should be an impeachable offense. Want to know why?

Anonymous

Hokma your reply as usual has little substance or actual evidence to support anything you have to say. You are just talking out of your ass.

How do you explain the price of gasoline moving exactly the same in different countries around the world? How is that Obama fault? You and LJ make no logical sense and have zero knowledge of what impacts the price of oil and gasoline. Go Google “what determines the price of gasoline” and pick a credible source and read it.

By the way Americans are not buying your, the GOP and FOX’s BS on gasoline price.

“When asked what the main reason behind the price increase was, some 38 percent laid the blame on “the manipulation of prices by large energy companies.” Twenty-eight percent cited “tension in the Middle East, particularly over Iran and nuclear weapons.” Well down the list were “the policies of President Obama” (14 percent) and “the policies of congressional Republicans” (5 percent).”

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/poll-shows-public-supports-obama-on-gas-prices-20120312

The American population is not as ignorant as you are.

Also:

“Americans put somewhat more stock in the Democrats’ policy of conservation and development of alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power, than they do in the Republicans’ emphasis on greater domestic production of oil and gas. Fifty percent of respondents said that the Democratic approach “would do more to lower fuel prices,” while 42 percent went with the GOP approach.”

How do you explain this from the conservative WSJ:

“U.S. gasoline prices, like prices throughout the advanced economies, are determined by global market forces. It is hard to see how Mr. Obama’s policies can be blamed.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204781804577267690888223980.html?grcc=d3ac29ddb30893064f601ae86aa5b960Z9&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_personalfinance

or this from the Koch funded CATO:

It’s Not Obama’s Fault That Crude Oil Prices Have Increased”Is President Obama responsible for spiraling price of gasoline? Republicans say yes, but the facts say no.”

http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/its-not-obamas-fault-crude-oil-prices-have-increased

What do you got?

Anonymous

What do I got? A brain.

Clearly you don’t because you don’t have an original thought in that space between your ears.

All you can do is find commentary that suits your POV. Concerning the links you provided they are dead wrong – I don’t care who is funding them or what political party they belong to.

Nutting in the WSJ article said: “When Mr. Obama was inaugurated, demand was weak due to the recession. But now it’s stronger, and thus the price is higher.” That is B.S. The recession started over a year earlier. The fact is that demand in China and India are what are driving demand up (get it?). The only event that forced prices down was Bush removing the mandate against off-shore drilling in July 2008. The CATO article is also wrong. The increase in U.S. oil production is inspite of Obama’s fairy tale green energy policies because the increase is due only to private land production which offset major declines in federal land production.

Obama’s energy plays have all failed and anyone who bothers to understand the numbers and reason on their own can only conclude that Obama has been a failure.

Anonymous

So now you are admitting that the recession started before Obama was elected. How does that jive with you blaming him for the recession?

“The only event that forced prices down was Bush removing the mandate against off-shore drilling in July 2008.”

So you are smarter than every energy analyst on the planet. You actually believe that some kind of mandate against offshore drilling was responsible for pushing the worldwide price of oil down in 2008? You do not think it had anything to do with the global recession? Looney logic!

You claim these articles are wrong, but actually provide zero proof or supporting evidence to back up your BS. You are like a kid. I say it is so, so it must be so.

Give me just one article or link from a credible source that explains to me that Obama is responsible for the change and volatility in the worldwide price of oil or even U.S. gasoline prices?

Anonymous

“How does that jive with you blaming him for the recession?”

One more time . . . . President don’t create recessions are end recessions. All they can do is intervene and cause a recession to deepen and prolong. In the most recent recessions both Clinton and GW Bush did not intervene and the recessions were brief. Obama intervened and made this recession the worst in history since the Great Depression.

As far as your comments that are shallow and are not worth responding to.

Your guy Obama came into office with “the thinnest resume of any incoming President in history” (Henry Stern, President of NY LIberal Party). He has been completely over his head and a failure except at two things: (1) reading teleprompters and (2) singing.

Anonymous

The recession of 2007-2009 was different. It was not a straight business cycle recession. It was largely based on a financial system that got over-leveraged with risk resulting in its near collapse and a massive contraction of credit. This was largely due to both a bubble housing market, bad mortgages and an unregulated Wall Street that put too much risk into banks and other financial institutions.

30 years of deregulation by both the Dems and the GOP, but mostly the GOP set-up the country and the world for that downfall. Also, we had a Bush President who compounded things or at least made it more difficult to solve or smooth out the recession given the record debt and deficits he ran up. Although Bush may not have himself caused the recession, he certainly promoted an environment of no regulation or enforcement, big risk taking and putting massive trust in the free market to get it right every time.

The reason the 2002 recession was brief had nothing to do with Bush. The 2002 recession was relatively narrow in scope, focused primarily on the technology and telecom sector. However, the jobs recovery in 2002 and 2003 was actually slower than this recession. We have actually created significantly more jobs bounce back from this recession than we did in 2002/2003.

Obama was as qualified to be President as any. He was and is exactly the kind of person we need to be President to get us through the mess left by Bush and all those years of GOP control. Obama has done a very good job at getting us out of two wars (that he did not start), getting the economy and job creation growing again in a very short period of time and gaining the U.S. some respect again in the world. Universal healthcare will also be a major achievement and then if he gets a second term it is clear he wants to tackle the deficit and debt. If he does that he will be in pretty good standing among Presidents.

Anonymous

You are entitled to your worthless opinion. But you are not entitled to your facts. First learn eco 101. Your comment is B.S.

Anonymous

http://www.mrc.org/node/27536

The Business & Media Institute examined all the broadcast network
news reports mentioning gas prices during each of those time periods
and found ABC, CBS and NBC aired more than 2 ½ times more stories (63
stories to 24) in 2008 than they did in 2011.

But it was more than just the amount of coverage that showed the
media’s willingness to spin gas prices one way under Bush, and another
way under Obama. In 2008, network reporters mentioned “Bush,” the
“president” or “government” in gas price reports 15 times more often
than in 2011 under President Obama (15 stories to 1). A number of
stories portrayed Bush as out-of-the-loop when he was asked about the
possibility of $4-a-gallon gas and hadn’t yet heard that prediction.

In contrast to the 15 reports referencing the Bush administration
when gas prices were “through the roof,” the only 2011 story to mention
the president was NBC “Nightly News” on Feb. 24. Tom Costello’s report
on the impact of surging gas prices quoted President Obama who was
“optimistic.”

Anonymous

The Business & Media Institute? Boy, that is a credible source of information.

Democrats did not blame Bush for high gas prices. They blamed oil speculators and Wall Street. If you disagree then prove it.

The reality is neither Bush nor Obama has or had any impact on gasoline prices.

However, we should move to try and take the speculation element out of the oil market, although that may be impossible to do, given it is a global market.

Anonymous

Why certainly, asshat…

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/02/video-flashback-obama-and-dems-blast-bush-for-gas-prices-in-2008/

Anonymous

Wow! I can hardly recognize PPAA with all that egg on his face.

Anonymous

PWNED!!

Anonymous

Most of those quotes do not even mention gas prices, but oil industry profits, the influence of energy industry under Bush, talking about big oil and price gouging, etc. Very few of those quotes actually say anything about gas prices or blame Bush.

Those selective quotes are often out of context. Lets take one of them:

That video quotes Obama as saying:
“So what have we got to show for all that experience?” Obama asked. “Gas that’s approaching $4 a gallon.”

He says nothing else in that speech that blames Bush for high gas prices. In fact, what Obama is saying is that despite all the efforts by the Bush adminstration, all the coziness with the oil industry they have not been able to move gas prices. He is saying the opposite you claim. He is not blaming Bush for the price of gas, he is saying we cannot control the price of gas.

The Democrats message has been the same for many years now, “we cannot drill our way out of this.” Despite all the efforts of the Bush WH, the price of gas has still gone up. That is different than blaming Bush for the high price. There is a difference than what the GOP and FOX is saying now about Obama.

Anonymous

Like I said, overplayed…. Santorum… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/rick-santorum-north-dakota-oil-boom-town-epa-regulations_n_1304926.html

North Dakota is experiencing a boom in the oil fields. There are some 18,000 unfilled jobs. 1/3rd of those are in the oil patch… Take a lookie for yourself… http://www.jobsnd.com/ . The real problem in ND is not the regulators, but the boom has overtaken the infrastructure…

By the way, many Governors have more powers than the President does during an energy crisis. ….

But most of this pricing crap is due to the speculators and or course a real lousy energy policy……

..
Anonymous

Like I said… Weak,,, But this poll to is way to early….

Romney Leads GOP Contest, Trails in Matchup with Obama
Gas Prices Offset Good News about Jobs
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2218/mitt-romney-rick-santorum-newt-gingrich-ron-paul-barack-obama-health-care-law-gas-prices-republican-presidential-primary-race-gop-democratic-enthusiasm-gap?src=prc-newsletter
Anonymous

Barack Obama told a group of numb Kool-Aid drinkers in 2008 that

“We have to make sure people are making good decisions about
cars.” And dealing with high gas prices is a sacrifice I expect
Americans to make.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJ0YfUknfE&feature=player_embedded
Anonymous

Barack Obama told a group of numb Kool-Aid drinkers in 2008 that

“We have to make sure people are making good decisions about
cars.” And dealing with high gas prices is a sacrifice I expect
Americans to make.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJ0YfUknfE&feature=player_embedded
Anonymous

ONCE AGAIN CENSORING MY POSTS AGAIN. TRULY LAME.

LJ,

You complain about intellectual honesty, but why don’t you have some yourself.

All politics all the time with you and no intellectual honesty.

You know nothing about oil economics or are just playing politics like your buddies on FOX News.

The U.S. government has very little ability impact the price of oil and gasoline. It is ultimately set in international oil markets. Even OPEC has a hard time at time influencing the price of oil.

Drill Baby Drill or more refinery capacity will do very little in impacting the overall global price of oil.

How exactly are Obama’s policies driving the price of oil/gasoline up? Please explain.

The price of gasoline has go up and down the exactly the same in all countries of the world (see chart below). In the chart below gas prices have tracked very closely in all of these countries for nearly 2 decades despite different systems of government, different energy policies, and numerous national level crises and regime changes. How do you explain that prices go up and down exactly in the same in other countries when Obama’s policies have the President of the U.S., can do little to effect gas prices. Anyone who says different is misleading you.

Here is a chart showing the price of gasoline in Canada and the U.S. The price has moved exactly the same. So how does that work, when Obama policies have no influence in Canada? How have his policies also moved the price up in Canada? They have not. It is the global market that sets the price of oil and therefore gasoline.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USA Average&city2=Canada Average&city3=&crude=n&tme=60&units=us

Right now there is an oil production boom in America. Production levels in this country are at levels not seen for 10 years. Oil and energy production is booming under Obama. The number of oil rigs currently in operation in the U.S. is now at highest on record.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-16/us-oil-boom/52053236/1

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/energy/article/U-S-oil-output-set-to-boom-3345237.php

As far as Chu is concerned you need a little bit of context. He was talking theoretically in 2008 about how higher gasoline prices over a gradual 15 year period could help transition the U.S. to better fuel efficiency and move the country away from oil.

I also thought you were a capitalist. Why should any government be interfering in the free market of gasoline and oil prices? By the way America continues to pay some of the lowest prices for gasoline on the planet, so what are you complaining about. With much lower home heating costs because of a 10 year low in natural gas prices and a warm winter the average households energy costs have a actually not gone up all that much yet.

By the way when the political risk around Iran settles down (which could be worth as much as 30% of the price of oil) and the gasoline price goes down are you going to be giving credit to Obama?

***

[American Petroleum Institute's Rayola] Dougher said that if all federal land was open to oil drilling — not just offshore but Alaska’s wildlife refuge and all federal land in the West that isn’t a national park — the country could produce an extra 2.8 million barrels of oil a day by 2025.

Being that she represents the oil industry, Dougher gave the idea a hard sell.

She said it would create another 500,000 jobs, add $150 billion each year to government coffers and shave a significant chunk off the country’s foreign trade deficit.

But one argument she didn’t make was lower prices.
“How would that play out in the market, what impact would that have on prices,” she said, “we just don’t know.”

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/25/news/economy/oil_drilling_gas_prices/index.htm

The problem is this: While increased oil and gas drilling in the United States may create good-paying jobs, reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower the trade deficit, it will have hardly any impact on gas and oil prices.

That’s because the amount of extra oil that could be produced from more drilling in this country is tiny compared to what the world consumes.

Plus, any extra oil the country did produce would likely be quickly offset by a cut in OPEC production.

“This drill drill drill thing is tired,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which calculates gas prices for the motorist organization AAA. “It’s a simplistic way of looking for a solution that doesn’t exist.”

Anonymous

You talk about “intellectual honesty.”

First that requires an intellect which clearly you do not have.

You do not have an original thought and just copy and paste garbage from liberal blogs

The fact is that every one of your issues and questions have been answered previously and more than once. So either you simply wish to either ignore it or you are functionally literate.

Anonymous

Hokma is is called provide a link to a credible source to support your argument. You should try it some time.What “liberal” blogs are you talking about?

Anonymous

You want a link? Use it:
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Yourself-Developing-Critical-Freshman/dp/0534518583

Anonymous

Hokma your debating skills are lacking. You should try harder at making your arguments. You are in the GOP bubble.

Anonymous

I am a very compassionate person and would never consider debating someone who has a complete intelligence deficiency like you.

You wanted a link, I gave you one – use it.