This morning NPR reported that the national average for gas prices hit $2.21 a gallon. That left me wondering about the pass Bush is getting over this from the national media. If Clinton were president when such a thing happened, we’d be hearing a lot of stories like this:
“Today, President William Jefferson Clinton took time off from his busy schedule of strangling Baby Jeebus with his bare hands in order to personally raise gas prices to over $2.20 a gallon. His negligence on energy policies has totally destroyed the American economy, so much so that Americans with rats in their homes will soon consider themselves the lucky ones – becuase they will have something to eat.”
Haven’t seen ANYTHING linking Bush’s Middle East adventures with rising gas prices, or noting that Bush is an oilman from an oil family and isn’t it interestng the way oil prices keep going up?
If we had a liberal media … any kind of liberal media … I should think we’d see a LOT of stuff like this. It’s almost like the media is dominated by conservatives nowadays …
The problem with the liberal media is they are more intellectually honest than their conservative brethren, and can’t bring themselves to stoop to illogical arguments that won’t hold up to the scrutiny of reason. Too bad.
Lemme see if I have this right: They vote, they get to drive cars, they can show their knees in public, and they get to form bongo circles? Too far. That is going too damned far.
The whole mystery about oil prices is this: before the Gulf War II, Iraq was pumping small amounts of oil (before GW I, they were the No. 3 producer in the world). Iraq has a capability to pump 3million barrels per day (if all the firlds were operating). Now, it is claimed that SA is producing at capacity (something like 5.5 million barrels/day). So why are oil prices through the roof? Or is Iraqi production actually falling?
Oil briely topped $60.00/barrel yesterday-if the evil Bush regime was so obsessed with making money, wouldn’t they be pushed Iraq to produce like crazy?
They could, in complete intellectual honesty, note the connection between the GOP’s successful blocking of all attempts to raise the motor vehicle fuel-economy standards during the past 15 years, and our contribution to world oil demand, which in turn puts upward pressure on oil prices.
While it’s true that there are other major contributors to oil demand these days, and so demand would force prices up anyway, our planning ahead would have at least meant a slower rise in world demand.
Serious people are starting to talk about $100/barrel oil.
In the words of Rocky Balboa, “You shoulda planned ahead.”
Consumption in India and China is rising, and will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. With like 3 zillion people between them, it’s only natural that prices rise as demand rises.
Gotta finish the statement before I hit the send button. We think nothing of paying 25 cents more per gallon on a day to day basis, yet if we want to raise the tax on gas by one half cent per gallon to address road improvements, you would think that tax would singlehandedly make economic growth come to a halt.
Last I heard, Iraqi production was…bumpy. It’s not too hard for insurgents to blow up oil pipelines and such. But the main thing is, world oil demand has been going up by roughly 2 million barrels per day, per year. And apparently the whole transporting, refining, and distribution system - pipelines, tankers, refineries, the lot - is close to maxed out.
Well, bitch to your government about it. The gas tax you guys pay over there is why it cost so much; pre-tax, US gasoline and UK petrol are about the same price.
I routinely paid around 1.35 a gallon around 1981 (and I have reliable records showing I paid something like 1.50 on a trip to California in 1985). Assuming a 3% inflation rate (no clue what the overall rate has been in the past 24 years, so that’s really a WAG), today’s price should be 2.66. So we’re still getting off much cheaper than we “should” be. The complaints are because most of that price change has happened in the past 2-ish years, after nearly 2 decades of insanely low prices.
Hah! Denmark is a net exporter of oil. Suck it up fools! Norway even more so. Norway has more money that they know what to do with. They’ve got enough in savings that the whole damn nation can go on a 10 year long vacation on Ibiza and still have enough for a tacky t-shirt.
Anyway since you decided to turn the mighty dollar into a wood currency and oil is trade in dollars, oil costs about the same as it did some years ago.
Oh, we do, in a good-natured and half-hearted Brit kind of way, but we’re pissing into the wind. I mean, income tax was a temporary measure at 6d/£1 (2.5%) to fund the Napoleonic War, and look how that’s turned out. Once the government gets its fangs into your money, it likes the taste of it.
We protested to some purpose at the back end of 2000 when it first hit 80p/litre, but we’ve just gritted our teeth philosophically this time. Just as well I ride a mo’bike that returns about 60mpg really.