Has there been any proof that W has let the price of oil sky rocket?

[Sterling]

A friend asked me this today:

Has there been any proof that W has let the price of oil sky rocket? I know there are stories but has anybody seen how much his family and friends have invested in oil?

[leftofthedial]

1. the little bushturd

is (symbolically) the most powerful "man" on the planet

oil prices have skyrocketed

his fault

[Windy]

2. I'll let you know. I'm going to Ireland in June

I was just in England last year. Yes, there gas is already very high, but I've heard from friends over there that it not gone up at all.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. petrol in England has gone up about 7p per litre in the past year

which is the equivalent of about 50 cents per US gallon. That is a 10% rise in the price after tax.

[tx_dem41]

14. Gasoline prices have gone up about 18-19% in the last year in the

U.S. (source http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html )

But, three weeks ago, it was only 13% in the last year. So, it seems close to being in-line with UK prices.

[Stryguy]

3. He let the dollar become worthless

He has no fiscal constraints and causes major defecits every year.

Which in turn causes the US to take on debt.

Which in turn lowers the value of the American Dollar.

Which in turn raises the price of everything.. Including gas.

[Wright Patman]

4. Our currency is in the process

of collapsing. That's why there's not been as much of a rise in oil prices in Europe.

Their currency is gradually replacing ours as the world's reserve unit. But, as Reagan proved, deficits don't matter. < /sarcasm>

[Stryguy]

16. Something you can't forget.

Every republican is not at all responsible for what goes wrong during his administration.

Every Democrat is responsible for everything that goes wrong and nothing that goes right. Republicans take credit for what goes right.


IE.

The properous economy during the Clinton administration was due to Bush Senior.

The recession after Bush took office, his complete inability to create jobs and his unending ability to run up budget defecits is all due to Clinton's bad handling of the economy.

The attack on America was because Clinton didn't take care of Osama when he should have..

Bush's attack on Iraq and not capturing Osama is ok.. Even though it was his Father, a republican, that didn't finish the job the first time.


You see.. It's never their fault.. Everyone elses. Life is much easier when you never have to blame yourself. It literally makes these discussions with a Repug a complete waste of time.

[KlatooBNikto]

5. His splendid little war on Iraq has done the trick.

[mhr]

6. Peak Oil Is Driving The Price Of Oil UpWard

The only sin of Dubya in this matter is not telling the American people the truth for why he invaded Iraq - OIL!

[jmcon007]

7. the one thing I do know...

...is that Governor George Bush hammered President Clinton in the 90s for the high price of oil at that time and said he needed to do to get the price down was to twist the arms of Saudi Arabia.
My question, then, would be to Bush: What have you done as President to twist the arm of Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil?
As close as the Bushs are to the Royal family, it wouldn't take much. I can't begin to imagine why he won't do it.

[tubbacheez]

8. He hasn't done anything that would prevent it.

The dollar is setting record lows worldwide, raising the price of all imports, including oil.

Iraq has the 3rd largest proven reserve of oil in the world, but ever since the invasion, hardly any of it has reached the market. Iraq is currently IMPORTING virtually all of its oil.

The Saudi royal family has regained control of OPEC and can set whatever price it wants.






Another way of saying "supply and demand" is "charge the highest price the market will bear".

Oil's expensive, but we're still buying it... and at pretty much the same rate as always.

[mhr]

15. Actually, OPEC Announced Two Weeks Ago That They No Longer

Control the price of oil.

The OPEC cartel has effectively ended because they have no spare capacity to pump.

Cartels only work when supply is greater than demand.

Once demand is greater than supply the economic laws of supply and demand pricing take over.

This is a direct consequence of Peak Oil.

[tubbacheez]

17. Oy! My news is old. Thanks for the updated info!!! n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. One more thing:

Throughout this whole price run-up, The US Government, at his instructions, has been buying up oil at lower-than-market prices and filling Louisiana Salt Caverns with it, in the name of The Strategic Oil Reserve. This has the effect of running up the market price of oil, because it pulls the oil off of the open market. He is filling salt caverns that have never seen a drop of oil in their ancient existence and paying his benefactors, The Koch Brothers, to administer this.

Quite frankly, it is a market manipulation and it is de-facto legal because he is doing this under the color of authority.

[screembloodymurder]

11. When the dollar falls by 50% oil goes up 100%

Oil is priced in dollars so what goes down must go up if it's going to buy the same gallon of gas.

[slor]

12. He has not prepared the nation for peak oil...

and has encouraged waste. Same diff.

[KlatooBNikto]

13. One possibility occurred to me about this oil price rise.Imagine a

scenario like the Iran-Contra affair in the Reagan Era. What would be a good way to finance Bush's war than to let the oil price rise and have his friends, the Saudis, kick back a few hundred billions his way. Think this is impossible for the Bushes and the Saudis? Especially if they can reap hundreds of billions over the long term.

[cornermouse]

18. $100 to $105 a barrel for OIL?

This is Bush and Bush's wars fault.

[Sterling]

19. What are some companies Bush is associated with that gain from high oil

prices?

NT

[ProfessorGAC]

20. No. No Proof At All

The whole thing is manipulated anyway, but there isn't any evidence that the policies employed triggered it. The suppliers figured that the time was right to manipulate prices since they had an oil-friendly admin, and the oil companies like high crude prices since the operate on a fixed margin basis. The higher the oil prices, the more their absolute profitability, since their burden costs and overhead absorption do not increase when raw prices go up.

It's a matter of timing more than policy.
The Professor

[Discord]

21. I can't remember what show was on, but I remember someone

saying that Oil prices could top over $100 a barrel. They said that the last price spike in oil that large caused a GLOBAL recession.

Anyone else remember hearing that?

[Sterling]

22. This is what I wrote to my friend

To see the direct connection you need to remember that Bush's family and donors are all heavily invested in oil and energy. Bush makes no secret about his background and investment in the energy biz. So what happens to the industry happens to the Bush family and it's interests. Right now they are making a mint with prices this high. Not that they were going broke before but this is like winning the lottery for them.

A lot of the prices increases is due to seemingly stupid foreign policy. The war in Iraq has failed to increase the flow of oil the US. Ad that Bush gives the rest of the world the finger every time they don’t agree with his Crusader policy’s, so we have a lot of oil producing countries pissed off and working to stop us along with countries that were our allies before Bush that are now working to undercut our economic power. This seems like a failure when it actually is a success to the powerful interests that are behind the war.

The war is as much about denying the oil to other nations as it is getting it for ourselves. In the strategic sense it serves the same military purpose to cut off your enemy’s oil supply as it does to procure more oil for your own military and economy. Plus during the time it takes to stabilize the situation in Iraq oil prices are high and Bush, Cheney and their Saudi friends are making even more money than when oil was cheaper before the war.

If you notice Bush is not doing anything to encourage conservation of energy or retooling our economy to get off Saudi oil. That pretty much tells you what the game is. He is like a drug pusher that knows he is running out of crack to sell and is going to gauge his crack head customers on every last bit of rock in his pocket.

Sure he could tell his customers and warn them to get off the drug while they can, before it runs out and they have to go through a cold turkey withdraw but, it profits him more to keep them in the dark and raise prices to the point it takes everything the junkie has to get their last few precious fixes. These days ahead will suck for the average American but will help the elite like Bush consolidate their power over our country well into the next century.

We will end up like surfs working people like Cheney’s children’s plantations.