Not just $100/barrel. Price of oil now OVER $100 HIGHER than before invasion.

[Mugsy]

Via "Mugsy's Rap Sheet":

The week before the invasion of Iraq, crude oil peaked at $37.83 - (March 12, 2003).

Signs that war with Iraq might be avoided brought it back down to $31.67 on the eve of the invasion. The price of oil just five months ago on January 2nd of this year was $99.62. Friday, it jumped more than $10 a barrel... a one day record... to close at $138.54.



Two Conservative pundits in a March 2003 column noted:

"...a sharp decline in oil prices from their current $36 a barrel--close to a 12-year high--could help reignite the economy and spur war-wary consumers to start buying again. For example, if oil prices return to the low 20s after the war, that could inject $150 billion into the economy, far more than the rebates from President Bush's 2001 tax cut."

"$150 billion" is just slightly less than the latest $165 billion dollar supplemental to fund the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan for just the next eight months.

Five years later, the line immediately preceding that quote is even more interesting:

"Each $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil is like a $100 billion tax hike, slowing U.S. economic growth by more than half a percent over the course of a year. The $12 or so increase per barrel since November--insiders call it the "war premium"--threatens to tip the U.S. into recession. Conversely,..."

Keep in mind that the price of oil just jumped $11 *IN ONE DAY*.

<...>

As I've mentioned repeatedly on "Mugsy's Rap Sheet", before the invasion of Iraq, the very idea of $75/barrel oil was almost unthinkable. The consequences would be disastrous. And talk of $100/barrel oil was easily dismissed as "hyperbole", "science fiction", "irrational exaggeration with no basis in reality". No one would of taken you seriously if you predicted $100/barrel oil back in 2003. <...>

Does Barack Obama EVEN NEED to campaign over the next five months? Simply paraphrase Ronald Reagan at every opportunity: "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?[/em> $5/gallon gas and $150/barrel oil, a doubling of the National Debt to $10 Trillion in just eight years, unemployment over 5.5%, thousands dead and billions wasted in an unnecessary war of choice in Iraq launched on false pretenses, the man behind the attacks of 9/11 still free and recruiting more terrorists bent on attacking the U.S.. George Bush believes his record couldn't be THAT bad if you're willing to elect someone promising to continue his policies. Will you?"

The very thought that someone THIS incompetent is in our White House setting policy is frightening. The idea that this country could conceivably elect someone that would not only continue these policies but EXPAND upon them is too horrifying to even imagine.

Read the full article on "Mugsy's Rap Sheet".

[aquart]

1. GW Bush: Successfully raising the price of oil for Americans!

What a legacy.

[pleah]

2. K&R

[Miss Authoritiva]

3. For what it's worth...

Back in the 1970s, for a variety of reasons and having a variety of intended and unintended effects, the president (Nixon) and Congress enacted a series of price control plans -- including price controls for oil and gas.

August 1971: U.S. Government institutes Phase I price controls. Invoking the powers granted to the president by the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, President Richard Nixon orders 90-day nationwide freeze on all wages, prices, salaries and rents.

September 22, 1971: OPEC directs members to negotiate price increases to offset the devaluation of the U.S. dollar.

November 1971: U.S. Phase II price controls begin. Plan is to allow for gradual 2-3 percent annual price increases, however, domestic petroleum prices remain at Phase I levels.

From Wiki's World Oil Market Chronology entry.

Would this even be attempted today?

[kimmerspixelated]

4. Great Post Mugsy!

I wish this message could play over and over and over on the air where reg. folks could get it drummed into their head, folks that would even consider Mc-Insane!!

I still think that the oil prices are being fudged, maybe not entirely, but it is so hard to believe that the Bushit oil men are not making sure their buddies and their great,great-grand kids will never have to ever worry about a fucking thing! I mean, c'mon! They are going to milk the citizens dry as they can and retire! I bet these Exxon execs have a lot to say to spill the beans, but they are part of the major greed cycle so they may never talk!

THEY ALL NEED TO SERVE TIME!

[electron_blue]

5. Mission Accomplished

[Bluestar]

6. You took the words right out of my mouth n/t