# Bill O'Reilly...economics genius! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 9, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896 "2005-09-09T22:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/1 "2005-09-09T22:58:19Z")
Brown bears shit in the woods…Pope is Catholic…Chicago Bears will suck this year…Bill O’Reilly is an idjit. > **[Bill O'Reilly: Blog Archive](http://www.billoreilly.com/blog)** > > Bill O'Reilly Official Home On The Web > [@](#): > > And to show Big Oil that we mean business, The Factor is asking all of you not to buy gas on Sundays. Gas-free Sundays will send a clear message: American drivers are mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore. Drive right by the gas station on this Sunday and every Sunday until the oil companies agree to sacrifice a small portion of their profits for the sake of the common good. > > Posted by [BillOReilly.com](http://BillOReilly.com) Staff at 9:01 PM You go get 'em Bill! ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/2 "2005-09-09T23:18:29Z")
The first thing that struck me when I read this is how stupid it sounds. I may watch his show tonight to see just how he thinks this scheme is going to work. The second was how much this sounds like a liberal college kid rant > [@Bill O'Reilly](#): > > …Oil companies are soaking Americans at the pump while raking in unconscionable profits. As one example, ExxonMobil will earn about $30 billion this year, and pays its CEO Lee Raymond $38 million. But where does that leave ordinary Americans who need gas to get to their jobs and schools? > > …The Factor is calling on the major oil companies to reduce their profits by 20%, which will enable the rest of us to buy gas without taking out a second mortgage. > > …until the oil companies agree to sacrifice a small portion of their profits for the sake of the common good. “Big Oil”? “Unconscionable Profits”? salaries of CEO’s? “The Common Good!” It sounds like something out of Michael Moore or Ralph Nader. Bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/3 "2005-09-09T23:20:02Z")
Excellent! Smithers, fire the Sunday staff. [/monty burns] ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/4 "2005-09-09T23:22:10Z")
“_Drive_ right by” ? Seems to me it might be a bit more to the point to _walk_ right by, or _ride a bicycle_ right by, or, to really rub their noses in it, _push the car_ right by. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/5 "2005-09-09T23:28:07Z")
Do you buy gas everyday? No. If you could not buy gas on Sunday, would you not be able to drive on Sunday? No. I would fill up on Saturday. If you could not buy gas on Sunday, would you not be able to drive on Monday? No. I would by gas. How would the gas company know there was a boycott? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/6 "2005-09-09T23:31:33Z")
Ah. This one’s good. I wonder if Bill really thinks that the total amount we spend on gas would go down. I did see a call for a boycott of Exxon-Mobil specifically, which is at least not blatantly stupid. Of course, the author wanted to continue the boycott until the price of gas was equal to the price of crude… ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/7 "2005-09-09T23:34:28Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Excellent! > > Smithers, fire the Sunday staff. > [/monty burns] LOL! Fucking Brilliant! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/8 "2005-09-09T23:49:02Z")
Let’s see – if we don’t change the amount of driving we do, but just avoid buying gas on Sundays. . . the oil companies would pretty quickly notice that their revenues on Sunday dropped to nothing, but sales on the other six days of the week went up, with the overall amount of gasoline sold remaining the same. After this went on for a while, they might decide to just close the stations on Sunday, thereby saving money and actually increasing their profits. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/9 "2005-09-09T23:56:29Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Let’s see – if we don’t change the amount of driving we do, but just avoid buying gas on Sundays. . . the oil companies would pretty quickly notice that their revenues on Sunday dropped to nothing, but sales on the other six days of the week went up, with the overall amount of gasoline sold remaining the same. After this went on for a while, they might decide to just close the stations on Sunday, thereby saving money and actually increasing their profits. Ummm… that was sort of the point of the joke, y’know… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/10 "2005-09-09T23:57:25Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Ummm… that was sort of the point of the joke, y’know… There are obviously people out there who wouldn’t get it. At least one of them has a TV show. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/11 "2005-09-09T23:57:54Z")
[Sounds like Mr. O’Reilly is unaware of a little website called Snopes.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp) Whether it’s to force them to donate to the relief or to lower prices, won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/12 "2005-09-09T23:59:55Z")
[Oops. This is the right link](http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/13 "2005-09-10T02:58:20Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > [Oops. This is the right link](http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp) I’m glad somebody posted that. Thanks. Of course, gas prices will eventually go down, though I’m not sure by how much. That’s just the nature of economics. Betcha O’Really takes credit for it. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/14 "2005-09-10T03:20:36Z")
A brief mention on NPR today about a congressional look at possible price-fixing in light of the record profits reported by Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, as well as a call for the POTUS to use the bully-pulpit for profit reduction and price rollback. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/15 "2005-09-10T03:36:32Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > After this went on for a while, they might decide to just close the stations on Sunday, thereby saving money and actually increasing their profits. _Exxxxxcccccellent!_ ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/16 "2005-09-10T04:14:15Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Of course, gas prices will eventually go down, though I’m not sure by how much. That’s just the nature of economics. Betcha O’Really takes credit for it. Best prediction I’ve heard all week. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/17 "2005-09-10T04:20:56Z")
I actually like O’Reilly usually…but this is crap. This great ‘plan’ of his reeks…probably because of what orifice he pulled it out of. Whats funny to me is the posters in this thread who also think this is loony…and the reasons. Its…like the world has gone mad. 😉 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/18 "2005-09-10T04:37:15Z")
Wasn’t that already tried in the 1970s, during the oil embargo? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/19 "2005-09-10T16:44:15Z")
Given the [success](http://mediamatters.org/items/200405020006) of O’Reilly’s last attempt at a boycott, I suspect that his real goal here is to make the oil companies richer. To wit, on 4-27-2003 O’Reilly claimed to have organized a massively successful boycott against France: > [@O'Reilly](#): > > We have boycotted France, and France is now feeling that sting. They’ve lost billions of dollars in France according to the Paris Business Review. To which Media Matters discovered: > [@](#): > > Media Matters for America found no evidence of a publication named “The Paris Business Review.” A [Google.com](http://Google.com) search revealed no mentions of “Paris Business Review,” “Revue des Affaires de Paris,” or any similar French name. A LexisNexis search for “Paris,” “France,” or “French” within five words of “business review” produced no relevant results… > > Furthermore, contrary to O’Reilly’s claim that France has lost “billions of dollars” due to an American boycott, American imports from France have actually increased since international tensions with France began in the months prior to the start of the war in Iraq in March 2003. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in February 2004, the United States imported $2.26 billion in French goods and services, up from $2.18 billion in February 2002. Hmm, I wonder if O’Reilly would be willing to organize a boycott of my business. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896/20 "2005-09-10T16:53:14Z")
Mr. O’Reilly clearly speaks in support of the solidarity and unified economic action of the proletariat against the running dog jackals of the ruling class! We of the Revolutionary Action Cadre of the SDMB (Trotskyist) welcome this advance in his political conciousness! Sadly, we must note with caution that he is prone to occassional spasms of rationality, fleeting and insubstantial. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-economics-genius/320896.md?page=2)