Gasoline Price Tanks With Bush

Kick me in the butt but I saw a gas price in Missouri today at $1.35! Now tell me why it was over $4.00 per gallon just a few short months ago? It wasn’t a supply problem. It wasn’t a demand problem. Could the high price of gasoline just been political greed and pandering to close friends in the oil industry by George Bush? You bet it was!

Bush and company gave the green light to the oil markets to feel free to rape and pillage the masses. In doing so he gave the oil industries billions in gross profits per quarter and you can bet the farm who will be paying for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, his retirement, his book deals, and his monosyllabic world speaking tours.

You read it here first, George Bush is going to make Bill Clinton look like a cheap date when he pulls down more than a million dollars per speaking engagement. Don’t try and buy tickets for any of the speeches, oil executive board rooms only hold so many people and they need room to stretch. I’m thinking that his boardroom world tour will be sponsored by Exxon Mobil and of course security for the events will be sponsored by Haliburton.

Anywho, it’s nice to throw twenty bucks in the cars gas tank and it nearly fills it from empty. What the hell am I going to do with the other $40 dollars or more per week? Then I’m stuck with all this other cash because it won’t cost me $3,000 dollars to heat my home this winter too. What about all the money we are going to save at the grocery store now? Damn it this list is going to go on forever and ever! Maybe I’ll just toss all of the over inflated prices and cost reductions in the old savings account and call that my Bush Legacy retirement plan.

I won’t be crying for any of the oil companies when the price of gasoline breaks through the $1.00 per gallon mark. Not one damn tear.

Papamoka

Al Franken Gas Price Plan

Although gas prices have backed away from the $4.00 per gallon bench mark gasoline still has a long way to go to be affordable again for most American’s. As of today’s date, the cost for a barrel of oil is at $115.10 according to FT.Com. That is still double what most American’s can comfortably afford and with the coming winter, with far too many homes heated by oil, it will be a budget buster for everyone in the middle and lower classes of America.

While the Republican’s in Congress are invading an empty House of Representatives on summer vacation and screaming about an energy plan now for America they are refusing to face the fact that the price of oil is market driven and not supply driven. Saudi Arabia is not having a problem meeting supply, Hugo Chavez is not having a problem meeting oil supply demand? The same thing goes for every oil producing nation in the world. The only people that are having a problem with the price of oil and the supply of it is the many people and big oil businesses that benefit with record prices for oil and profit reports never seen before in the oil markets. Canceling loop holes for greedy investors on Wall Street is what needs to be done and Al Franken who is running for the Senate in Minnesota is 100% correct in thinking that tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) is the beginning of the path needed to take to see gas prices drop dramatically!

Over at the Star Tribune based in Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota they have this on Al Franken and his realistic opinion on dropping gas prices at the pump…

To lower gas prices, Franken proposes selling oil from reserves

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign disputes that the move would do much to ease pain at the pump.

By PATRICIA LOPEZ, Star Tribune
Last update: July 28, 2008 - 7:44 PM


With Minnesotans squeezed at every turn by high fuel prices, DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken pumped his own energy proposals on Monday while taking another swipe at rival U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

Franken said the United States should sell 50 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve between now and Election Day -- a move that he said would lower gas prices, generate revenue and deflate the speculator bubble that has helped send oil prices skyward.

Coleman, he said, refused last week to back legislation that would have lowered speculation and instead supports offshore oil drilling that Franken said would take 20 years to affect gas prices.

"People are hurting now," Franken said Monday at a news conference outside a St. Paul gas station, accusing Coleman of setting a Minnesota senatorial record for the most donations from oil companies.

Coleman spokesman Mark Drake said that the reserves are for emergencies and that little would be gained from such a sell-off. The United States consumes oil at the rate of 20 million barrels daily. Tapping the reserves, Drake said, would make an "incremental difference" in gas prices.

Drake said that Coleman supports increases in offshore oil drilling and nuclear, wind and "clean coal" power, and voted against last week's speculator proposal because it lacked an offshore provision.

Franken said that he supports renewable energy but that oil prices have risen to a crisis level, warranting a release from the reserve. Previous sell-offs under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton lowered prices by as much as a third, he said. - Star Tribune

I’m all for Al Franken’s plan and if the prices don’t drop to $2.50 a gallon or lower we should release another 50 million barrels! The cost of oil is killing the American Plastic industry and in doing so killing millions of hard earned jobs that can be outsourced to China where the cost of oil is offset by a government that regulates pricing to make its industry almost impossible to compete with.

Investing in America’s future means investing in alternative energy sources Al Franken has that thought and more built into his plan which also includes funds to insulate northern states homes to help them save on the high cost of heating in the coming winter.

If you think Norm Coleman is going to save Minnesota from the oil busting business on Wall Street then you need to look at his voting record and his current campaign financing. Norm Coleman has been a Bush clone long before McCain even thought it was “Hip”. When push comes to shove, Coleman has pushed the interest of American’s to the curb and his reward for doing so was noticed by his latest campaign contributors.

If you want to save money on next winters heating bill or the bottomless pit of your checking account and the gas tank of your car then vote for Al Franken and someone that will actually do something to CHANGE our nations energy policies! Even if you don’t live in Minnesota, send the guy five dollars to help him kick Coleman’s butt come November.

Enough is enough of this family values crap! All of the crew following George Bush make Tony Soprano look like a freaking saint! Smile in your face as they screw you over just one more time. Enough is enough protecting millionaires and the idiotic thought that trickle down economics actually works.

Somebody call Myth Buster’s and have them do a show on it and maybe then people will actually see the screwing over they are getting!

My thanks go out to the Gun Toting Liberal once more for inspiring me to write this post based on his post on Al Franken talking to just one Veteran for over an hour at an event. A must read if you ask me.

Papamoka

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Oil Market Bubble Starting to Bust

One of the things any investor does not want to hear is that their investment dollars are hurting people. That would be similar to Microsoft causing cancer by using their product on your personal PC. The stock would tank and Bill Gates would be stepping into a homeless shelter. Where Microsoft pretty much has a piece of every single personal computer in the world the same is true for oil. Bad news in any investment always trickles down and dollars move out of the investment not for the sake of greed but the sake of what is right. Investing in oil right now is like free basing heroine and thinking that all is well in the world while your investment high soars. The damage done is the reality of the investment in oil speculation. All around you the world crumbles and you think to yourself that you are good to go?

Over at the New York Times they have tons of opinions in this article and many of them actually make sense. The oil market bubble is about to bust..

Oil Prices Plunge for Second Day

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: July 9, 2008

HOUSTON — Oil prices headed in an unusual direction — down — for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, leaving energy experts to wonder whether the drop is the beginning of a lasting trend or just a brief pause before another surge.

Snippet

The rise in gasoline prices has not matched the rise in crude oil prices in recent months, largely because Americans are driving less, buying fewer gas-guzzling vehicles and riding more mass transit where it is available.

MasterCard reported on Tuesday that American drivers decreased their consumption of gasoline in the days leading up to and including the Fourth of July weekend by nearly 4 percent from the year before. It was the 21st consecutive week of lower gasoline consumption in comparison with last year.

Snippet Part 2

But some energy experts say the price could drop further. They say it is possible that the kind of “demand destruction” for oil that is taking place in the United States and Europe could spread to China, India and other countries that subsidize gasoline and other energy supplies.

Governments in China, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have cut subsidies at least modestly in recent months because of strains on their budgets, and further subsidy cuts are considered likely, especially if oil prices continue to go up. Once their consumers see higher prices, they would be expected to cut their consumption. - New York Times

What is happening right now on the world commodity markets is bad news when it comes to anyone that is dealing in the oil market. Even the Saudi’s are crying foul on the inflation crisis going on in their nation. Food prices are through the roof, but gas is still forty five cents a gallon in the kingdom. I’m not sympathetic with the Saudi people but I am a realist. Oil rich nations are not controlling the price of oil, dollars are, and those dollars are coming from economies like the United States that are expanding even in the face of oil prices rising to never ending highs.

This is where investments meet the road of reality. Joe Six Pack has a 401K where the biggest gain in his retirement fund was in the oil commodity markets. That increase in investment is offset by the cost to feed his oil burning furnace and the fact that his Joe Six Pack pickup truck now cost a couple of hundred dollars a week to feed so he can get to his construction site job. Then he has to pay double or triple what he did last year to heat his home, double to feed his family, double for just about everything he paid for just a few years back. Where is the investment gain?

If the world financial markets are responsible for the rape of your checking account every single month then you need to rethink your long term investments. It can’t be put any more simple than that. It’s your checking account and retirement plan, only you can decide how to invest your money. Just don’t bitch when gas is $12 per gallon. All of our retirement dollars are moving this feeding frenzy in the oil markets and if those dollars are removed then the appetite is no longer there. Or am I wrong?

Papamoka

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$12 Per Gallon Gas is Cool With Republicans

Not that you need to hear this but every single energy bill in recent years where Big Brother Oil was involved has taken a nose dive in the ring of our nations government. Things that make you go Hmmm?

Current legislation would have imposed heavy taxes on Big Brother Oil if they did not invest the mega profits into alternative energy sources. Oh, and it would have stripped out $17 Billion in tax credits for Big Brother Oil Incorporated in Washington D.C. Republicans in the Senate killed it. There was a small service, no flowers, no formal funeral. Just a bunch of folks from the Senate going “Oh Gee Willickers?”

Over at the New York Times they have this on the Republican Party in the US Senate telling the American People that $17 Billion in US Treasury funds are better spent by Big Brother Oil than you pesky gas guzzling near do wells…

2 Energy Bills, Including Windfall Tax, Stall in Senate

By DAVID STOUT
Published: June 11, 2008

WASHINGTON — A Democratic proposal to impose heavier taxes on big oil companies stalled in the Senate on Tuesday as Republicans and Democrats offered different ideas on how to deal with soaring energy costs.

A bill that would have rolled back some $17 billion in tax breaks on Big Oil and pressured the companies to invest in new energy sources by hitting them with a windfall-profits tax if they did not failed to get enough votes to move forward. Fifty-one senators voted to bring the measure up for consideration, but that was nine short of the number needed under Senate rules. Forty-three senators, most of them Republicans, voted “no.” - New York Times

And people wonder why the Republican Party is looked at as the party of big business and screw the rest of ya?

Is it just me or do all Republicans feel that Exxon/Mobil needs a huge chunk of that $17 Billion in tax credits? Hell Exxon could almost pay for the whole program in one quarters profits! That is clear profit!

Oil profiteering is reaching the point of genocide of our nations commerce. In doing so they are killing the beast that feeds them and that in turn will lead to the days of Teddy Roosevelt where every Big Oil Brother will be and should be broken up into a family of thirty and forty Little Oil’s. History must repeat itself for the greater good of the nation and for that matter the world.

In some respects I understand Hugo Chavez for privatizing his nations oil markets. When one organization thinks it owns the nations government, has that nations commerce by the throat, then government must step in with a heavy hand. Just my opinion. No Commie innuendo’s applicable. It works for New Hampshire with the control of liquor?

Do we need more Republicans in office to protect and defend the rapist’s of our economy. Is rape good and defending the victims in this oil market gone mad bad?

At one point in the price per gallon of gasoline the Oil Market will kill all of our world economy and the ones profiting the most from it will walk away clean as a new born babe. That isn’t just an assumption it is a cold hard fact. Every single product you use as a human being is in some way or form connected to the price of oil. Millionaire Republican’s killed this bill simply because they do not face the reality of someone living in the lower classes. Paying double for heat, double for gas, double for food, double for everything you need to survive is not a priority when you have a million dollars. It’s irrelevant in their minds. Tell that to someone surviving on Social Security! Then it becomes extremely RELEVENT!

The only question to ponder is at what point does the world economy collapse based on the price of oil per barrel? Make no doubt about it, that point is coming very soon. You can almost mark it on your calendar as oil spikes nine and ten dollars a day based on nothing than speculation.

There is something not right with the pricing of oil and I’m just guessing that the multiple billions of profits from all of the oil companies per quarter across the world just might have something to do with it. Excessive oil prices is wiping out the bottom layer of our nations economy. Without the bottom income earners the middle will collapse, without the middle the top will cave. Domino effect and that we can thank the Republican party for. Just for giggles, President Bush was going to Veto this bill if it passed.

In that respect, the meek shall inherit the Earth. It all comes down to oil and economics. One can not live without the other and in that respect any economy can not be hijacked by the price of oil without serious government intervention.

Papamoka

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Strategic Petroleum Reserve Politics

Deep in the south of America are huge stock piles of oil that our government has been pumping into enormous salt caverns since the days of Jimmy Carter. The oil that is pumped in is bought on the open market and kept in reserve for a reason. In times of national and world distress the American economy can not afford a blip in supply if the nations supplying that oil can not do so.

When it comes to tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) it is at the behest of the President. Something that the current occupant of the White House has failed to do with the run up of commodity pricing on the open markets for his own personal reasons that are known only to him. Some people would say that he has a grudge against American’s simply because he is not popular by even the closest margin of percentage points in the middle and lower classes. Thus he has not tapped the SPR to help American’s where it hurts, not just its people but its businesses that rely on all oil based products.

In to save the day (in her own mind) is House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Her idea of a temporary fix to save American consumers five cents plus at the pump is to stop filling the SPR and this is what Reuters has to say about it…

House speaker asks Bush to stop stockpiling oil
By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday called on the White House to temporarily stop sending crude oil into the nation's emergency stockpile.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she was calling on President George W. Bush to work with Democrats to find a way to "temporarily suspend" oil deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The White House immediately rejected the plea. "We don't believe the fill rates have a meaningful impact on oil supplies," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
"We continue to fill the reserve to provide an added layer of protection to the American people in cases of severe supply disruption."

Pelosi said suspending deliveries would save drivers 5 cents to 24 cents per gallon at the pump.

As U.S. benchmark crude oil prices hit a record near $120 a barrel this week, the Bush administration insists that filling the reserve accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of daily supply, and has no meaningful effect on prices.

The nearly 701 million barrels of crude oil stored in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas are meant as a supply buffer in case of major supply disruptions like the 2005 hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast oil patch. It was created by Congress in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo.

Current shipments come to about 70,000 barrels per day, while the United States uses about 21 million bpd. - Reuters

Stopping the filling of the SPR is a very bad idea that will never save a penny at the pump for consumers. The price on the open market for oil will continue to rise simply because the investment potential on the commodity market is driving billions of new money every single day into it. Kiss the nickel or quarter savings away within one weeks time. Supply is not the problem! Market manipulation is driving the price higher and higher and that will not end till the government really thinks about it.

Nancy Pelosi should have the guts to stand up and demand an investigation into the top thirty commodity brokers and open up their books under a federal investigation. What is that old saying about following the money? Does she have the guts to do it and follow it up with a knock out punch? I don’t think so. Neither does Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.

Do you personally believe that the average American family in the middle and lower class has the billions of dollars that is flooding the markets to drive the price up? Where might that kind of free cash flow come from? Anyone other than me thinking that the oil companies with record profits in the tens of billions of dollars per quarter might want to make sure those CEO bonuses continue for the long term? What are these companies doing with all that cash while you forgo the better cuts of meat at the market? What are they doing with all that cash when you have to tell your kids that you have to cancel their after school program because the gas to get them back and forth to practice and games is just killing the family budget? What are they doing with all that cash when a tank full of gas is now approaching a days pay for someone at minimum wage?

Wait this story only gets better. How do you defend the future needs of your nations energy needs? You make it impossible for the SPR to ever pump another barrel of oil. Same article from Reuters…

Democrats in the Senate are also pursuing legislation that would require the Energy Department to suspend shipments to the reserve if prices are too high.

Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he would seek to attach an amendment to an upcoming supplemental appropriations bill that would forbid the government from sending oil to the SPR if oil prices are above $75 a barrel.

"I believe I have the votes," Dorgan told reporters. "I think I'm going to be able to get this dome." - Reuters

Why not just put a bullet in my kids energy backup future Senator Dorgan. Why not just tell the Saudi’s and all the other oil producing nations that we give up? You win, feel free to rape and pillage our open market society and have your way with us, our children, and our grandchildren.

The SPR is there for a damn good reason and if the market is out of control then President Bush is obligated to intervene during this energy crisis built up by Wall Street. America’s economy only works if the workers at the bottom of it can get to work and the price of gasoline is slowly making that possibility not probable. Releasing one to two million barrels a month from the SPR till the market calms sends a message that tells the market that this is not something you want to heavily invest in. Secondly, if the President initiated full investigations into the oil commodity market it might just stop the endless run up of what basically will kill this economy and its peoples way of life goodbye.

That will not happen so maybe Senator Obama, Senator Clinton and Senator McCain should pay close attention to this topic. After all one of them will be sitting in the White House come January of 09 and this topic just might come up.

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com, Bring It ON! , and To the Center

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