Who's Responsible for Gas Prices?

[louis c]

See the differences between "Us" and "Them"?

When gas prices rose, it was all the talk. Every Obama basher on TV, Radio and in the press blamed President Obama for the increase in gas prices. Just a couple of months ago, the price was approaching $4.00 a gallon with dire predictions of $5.00 a gallon gas during the peak Summer driving months. Obama was surely to blame, as he vetoed the Key Stone pipeline deal. He over regulated the oil industry. Prices had doubled since he took office, and prices at the pump were getting worse. It was all Obama's fault.

The reality of the situation, we argued, was that no amount of drilling would have a dramatic or immediate effect on gas prices. It is a global market, set by global supply and demand. Demand was never lower in 10 years in the US, and supply was never greater than now. The President, any President, has very little to do with short term gas price increases (or decreases). In fact, rather than the prices increasing under Obama, they were holding steady, as the price of a gallon of gas was $4.10 a gallon in June of 2008, a true indicator. The low price of $1.87 a gallon in January of 2009 was a result of the depth's of the "Great Recession" and huge decreases in global demand as speculation was that we may not have a world economy that recovered for years and demand would continue to decrease.

Now, the prices have dropped considerably from just two months ago. Those dire predictions have been exposed as the political rhetoric they were. Yet, we remain silent. What remains is the same old "heads they win" and "tails we tie" game. In other words, just like the stock market, if things get better, it just happens. If things get worse, it's all Obama's fault. They never pay a PR price for their bullshit.

It's as if they rob a bank and don't get caught, they get to keep the money. But if they get caught, all they have to do is give the money back and we forget about it. They can't lose.

We shouldn't let them get away with it. And by "them", I mean all the Obama haters in the media or holding public office.

Link;
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/24/12385891-gas-prices-drop-15-cents-in-the-last-2-weeks?lite

[Turbineguy]

1. Who's responsible? That depends.

Now if there's a Democrat in the White House it's the President's fault that gas prices are high. Obviously. But if there's a republican in the White House it's the fault of all those librul freaks that drive small, fuel efficient or hybrid cars. And those assholes on bicycles, they're the worst!

What a silly question, everybody knows that.

[SoutherDem]

2. You took the word right out of my mouth

[sandyshoes17]

3. OMG perfect timing

Had my Italian Sunday dinner with my family, including RW BIL, we are trained not to talk politics, but we were all getting up to leave and my dad says " you see the gas is going down", RW BIL says its because it's an election year. He just wants to get Re-elected, these people are impossible. No talking to them

[louis c]

6. I know the type

I deal with them all the time.

I was called a Socialist today by a moron. He gets a government check, and called me a Socialist while I work in the private sector.

I asked him if he could define a Socialist for me. He gave me a blank stare.

I told him that Socialism is when everyone works for the government ( I know, it's a very simplistic definition, but it served my purpose). So I told him that I don't get a government check, but he does, so, by definition, he is really the Socialist. At least until he sends his check back.

[longship]

4. Rachel said it perfectly; Petroleum is fungible.

It doesn't matter where it is pumped out of the ground because it's all going to go on the world petroleum market anyway.

I think gas prices are lowering because of strictly economic conditions. The world is in recession so people are using less petroleum. That drives the price down.

Econ 101!

[Turbineguy]

7. Gas prices also respond to factors inside the fuel markets.

Nearly half of refined oil becomes gasoline (19-20 gallons). Therefore an increase in diesel fuel (9 gallons) or jet fuel (4 gallons) demand met by a production increase would result in a gasoline overage. Therefore a drop in price as gasoline does not store well and has to be sold.

[tabasco]

5. Assholes like this:

[Ghost of Huey Long]

8. Perfect talking point- point the finger at the real culprit The Koch brothers and other Speculators

The same people who are gaming the market are using that money to buy our elections.



How Koch Became An Oil Speculation Powerhouse
From Inventing Oil Derivatives To Deregulating The Market
http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/?mobile=nc

October 6, 1986: First oil derivative is introduced to Wall Street by traders at Koch. Koch Industries executive Lawrence Kitchen devised the “first ever oil-indexed price swap between Koch Industries and Chase Manhattan Bank. “Documents reveal that Koch is also participating in the unregulated derivatives markets as a financial player, buying and selling speculative products that are increasingly contributing to the skyrocketing price of oil.gas prices

Excessive energy speculation today is at its highest levels ever, and even Goldman Sachs now admits that at least $27 of the price of crude oil is a result from reckless speculation rather than market fundamentals of supply and demand. Many experts interviewed by ThinkProgress argue that the figure is far higher, and out of control speculation has doubled the current price of crude oil.

[Ghost of Huey Long]

10. Koch brothers wealth grew from $7.5 billion to $50 billion in last seven years

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. A person known as

Low Demand.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Speculators. n/t

[Spider Jerusalem]

12. Not "who", "what".

The international market price of oil is responsible; that price is determined by Brent crude, not West Texas Intermediate. Brent trades at anywhere from $10 to $20 more per barrel than WTI. And when the US can only provide for approximately half of its total oil consumption from domestic sources, the fact that US demand for fuel has gone down and supply has gone up doesn't actually matter, because the global market still supplies half of the demand. And international demand-driven pricing is largely the result of increases in consumption by China, by India, by developing countries; honestly the decline in oil prices we're seeing now is a bad thing, because it's a signal that demand has slackened, which means economic recovery has stalled or reversed in much of the world (this on the back of Europe's problems and China's slowdown).

[PotatoChip]

13. Yes the silence has been deafening.

The R's and the MSM would not stop talking about it when gas prices were up, but now that the prices are going back down- nothing, crickets.

I think the problem for us is that we are too honest to twist the falling prices into a positive for President Obama as the R's would do if one of theirs was in the WH. That is one part of it anyway.

The other is that even if some on our side were to make that point, the MSM would just ignore it and them; finding some other RW meme (such as the current Fast and Furious BS) to hit us over the head with.