Posted on 12/29/2010 10:30:35 PM PST by Kaslin
Five dollars per gallon of gas by 2012! A former president of Shell Oil considers this likely. The average price on Christmas Day for a gallon of regular gas reached $3.28 in Los Angeles County, the highest price since October 2008. In one month, the price rose 13 cents, up 35 cents year to year.
Where are the calls to sic Obama's Justice Department on Big Oil to hold the oil companies accountable for "market manipulation"? Why aren't we hunting down the amoral "oil speculators" responsible for repealing the law of supply-and-demand in order to line their pockets?
During President George W. Bush's administration, we constantly heard demands to hold the President accountable for "Big Oil's price gouging." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just two years ago, knew exactly whom to blame for "skyrocketing" oil prices: "The price of oil is at the doorstep; $4-plus per gallon for oil is attributed to two oilmen in the White House and their protectors in the United States Senate."
In 2007, when the average national price ranged from $2.17 to $3.22, then-Sen. Barack Obama demanded that the Federal Trade Commission investigate Big Oil for "price manipulation." In 2008, presidential candidate Obama urged the Justice Department "to open an investigation into whether energy traders have been engaged in illegal activities that have helped drive up the price of oil and food."
Obama also called for "a windfall profits penalty on oil selling at or over $80 per barrel." As of Christmas 2010, a barrel of oil sold at slightly above $90. What happened to the windfall profits tax?
Yes, back then the average price per gallon was four bucks. But blaming "oilman" Bush for high prices began when the average price was well below today's $3.05 national average.
The average price was $1.72 on March 5, 2003, when CBS News posted a story online with this headline: "Dems Blame Bush For High Oil Prices." It referred to an investigative report by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Levin blamed Bush's post-9/11 decision to increase the amount of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by 40 million barrels in 2002 -- bringing the total to 600 million. Levin said, "We're confident this had a significant impact on the price of oil in 2002." Never mind that the Bush administration called the amount of oil diverted too small to matter.
The average price was $2.80 on April 22, 2006, when USAToday.com posted an article with the headline "Democrats blame Bush for high gas prices": "Consumer gasoline prices continue to soar as the Bush administration places too much emphasis on drilling reserves and not enough on alternative fuels, Democrats said." The article quoted Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who praised Brazil's "energy independence." "In Brazil," Nelson said, "drivers are filling up their cars with ethanol instead of gasoline."
Not exactly, Sen. Nelson.
Brazil may be "energy independent" in that it imports only a small percentage -- 649,000 barrels per day in 2009 -- of the oil it consumes. But that makes Brazil the 19th-highest oil-importing country in the world. Its economy relies heavily on oil that is domestically produced and consumed. Brazil is the seventh-largest consumer of oil in the world and the ninth-largest producer. Its famous -- and heavily government-subsidized -- sugar cane-based ethanol fuel is actually a blend that uses approximately 75 percent gasoline.
As for U.S. ethanol, which is made from corn, Nobel laureate environmentalist Al Gore recently called it a bad deal: "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol. First-generation ethanol, I think, was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small. ... The size, the percentage of corn particularly, which is now being (used for) first-generation ethanol definitely has an impact on food prices. The competition with food prices is real." Why did he once support ethanol? He admitted that he'd wanted to help farmers in Iowa, site of the nation's first caucus, since he "was about to run for president."
The silence over the recent price run-up is yet the latest example of left-wing hypocrisy. It was always about bludgeoning Bush rather than a sincere conviction that Big Oil was cheating. How else to explain the absence of demands for investigations?
America could achieve "energy independence" if producers were allowed to drill in Alaska, the lower 48 and offshore, where substantial amounts of untapped oil remain off-limits. Obama, who currently squanders hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars by "investing" in alternative energy, possesses no more control over the law of supply-and-demand than did "evil" Oilman Bush.
I've been doing that for a while now. The past few years. The price of fuel, gas, taxes is what is hitting me hard. I've cut down, gone without a lot of things. I don't have anything else to cut down. I'm living practically Amish-like. I was hoping that one day I'll be able to afford cable but now that's an impossible dream.
Make sure you have a good pair of gloves. Hay hurts!
Nobody to blame except Obama and other democrats for the ban on drilling and the high cost of oil,liberals you got what you voted for shoe sales to increase lots of walking to ensue.
You got that right, the only ones to blame is the arrogant pos, who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, the rats in the House and Senate and the idiots who voted for him
I agree with you 100 percent. You are one of those who paid attention, just like I did
Oh I remember that very well. I also remember that when Pelosi; who was the one complaining about the gas prices when it rose to $2.60 promised to get the price s down, but instead of going down it went up to over $4.00. It only went down because President Bush lifted the ban on drilling and that is a fact
Right now all is worked on paper, passing laws, plans to steal from us. Guns can’t stop that.
But not paying taxes would. It would depend on the majority of the people withholding their taxes on April 15. It would start the shooting war or starve the beast.
Al Gore advocated $5/gal gasoline in his book to reduce “global warming”.
The plan of the leftists continues.
I had my mother invest into some oil stocks quite a few years ago but she still gets ticked when gas prices go up even though she makes much more in the oil stocks than she spends on gas as she drives only about twenty miles per week.
I had a co-worker who fervently believed Bush called the oil companies and told them to raise the prices. He used to curse Bush in the lunchroom every time the price went up. I wonder what he’s thinking now. I prefer to blame Obama and his oil buddies. I’ll use that on all the idiot Dems who used the “Bush and his oil buddies” refrain ad nauseum.
Hey! how did you get your hands on moochelle’s fork?
If you want petroleum, you gotta drill.
...and then blame failure of Cap and trade to pass (that one is hard because the Senate never put up a bill for a vote) , and blame greed and corporate profits. Some at MSNBC were doing that just yesterday. We have seen it all before.
Hmm. My math shows a different answer.
Gas is currently 100p per liter (last I heard about 3 or 4 days ago). They run on an imperial gallon rather than a U.S. gallon, so the conversion from 100p to US $ is 100 x 1.54 so 100p is $1.54 per liter. Multiply that by 3.8 (US gallon) and I come up with $5.85 per gallon.
Am I making a boo-boo somewhere?
Not paying taxes could get individuals in trouble unless everyone refuses to pay. Maybe another option would that everyone pay taxes on April 15 and not a day sooner. All those that are to receive a refund should file ASAP.
I wonder if one could legally not pay the taxes to the government but put the money into a special account. This would show that there is intent to pay but not to this present government.
An imperial gallon? I didn’t know there was a difference. I’ve been comparing apples to oranges all along then...
Obama plan is working, and then when noone can afford to look for work, who is laid off, then they will have to go on welfare....it’s ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’...just like the marxists planned.
Just remember that $5 gas hurts conservatives more, because the red states are more rural, and most of heavy blue is inner city with buses. Think about it!
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