Blogs by David A. Schwinghammer
Gas Prices
3/13/2012 7:18:38 AM
Latest polls blame Obama for high gas prices.
The latest national polls cite only 35% approval of Obama's handling of gas prices. Newt Gingrich is campaigning on the notion that he can get them down to $2.00-$2.50 a gallon.
He's playing the old Sarah Palin card, "drill, drill, drill." But we can never drill enough to satisfy our needs. We can, however, screw up the environment worse than it already is. Obama wants to promote drilling and clean energy, like ethanol, solar, and electric cars. When a solar energy company like Solyndra, which received federal money, goes bankrupt, the Republican party attacks, ignoring the fact that we only have another hundred years of oil, if that, considering how fast India and China are ramping up. Don't these people have any grand children? Don't they want energy independence? It's hard not to believe the Republican party is only interested in catering to the big oil companies. It's not a coincidence that they oppose Progressivism; the opposite of Progressive is regressive, and that's not a good word.
So what's really going on? Experts claim the Iran nuclear arms crisis is mostly to blame and/or the shutting down of oil refineries to prepare for summer. Others claim that the futures market is the bugaboo since there doesn't seem to be a shortage. The U.S. doesn't get oil from Iran, but others like South Korea are worried they won't have enough to keep their thriving economy going, and they do get quite a bit of oil from Iran. They'll pay more.
Personally I just don't trust the futures market. When you have characters like the Koch brothers involved, why would you trust oil billionaires not to tinker with prices to ensure that the economy doesn't come charging back as it appeared to be? They don't want it to; they want to elect a conservative Congress and president. For the uninformed, the Koch brothers, Charles and David, are instrumental in running the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank. They also donated money to and were in touch with Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who took away negotiation rights for teachers, provoking massive demonstations.
What's to prevent somebody like Charles Koch from buying oil futures himself to jack up prices? He could do what the Mexican cartel does when they want to buy guns from America.
They hire "straw men" to do it for them, American citizens who take advantage of our loose gun laws to make an extra buck. This has got to be illegal, kind of like insider trading. When gas was around four dollars the first time, some economist predicted it would go to seven dollars. The last time, it was six. Do you think that guy invested in oil futures, or was he like the columnist that George W. Bush hired to promote "No Child Left Behind"? These days they're predicting it will be four dollars before Memorial Day. Trying to make it happen?
The last time this happened Obama moved to free up oil reserves and the price of gas went right down. For some reason he doesn't want to do that this time. I don't think he has to; all he needs to do is threaten to do it. And he should use the bully pulpit more than he has. It appears he will as he held a press conference on the same day as Super Tuesday.
No Obama is not responsible for high oil prices and Newt Gingrich is being irresponsible to suggest that he can lower gas prices by drilling more. He has this reputation for being a smart man, but he keeps talking like a man with a paper posterior.
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