Answer some questions

[Mad_at_Taxes]

A friend at work and I were having a discussion and he asked some questions that I was unable to answer and I knew I could get the answers here:

1)Why are gas prices so high and Why has the Bush administration turned a blind eye when Clinton/Gore were able to call for investigations to keep the prices low.

2)Who sold North Korea their WMDs and what did Clinton do about it?

3) Other than break-up the Soviet Union, What did Reagan accomplish other than a 12 year recession (I've already pointed out that it was Carter's fault and he blamed it on OPEC).

HELP!

[Preech1]

Cow Zot!!!

[thackney]

1)Why are gas prices so high and Why has the Bush administration turned a blind eye when Clinton/Gore were able to call for investigations to keep the prices low.

[So Cal Rocket]

Tell that to the 30 employees hired at our family business while Reagan was in office

Those 30 were among the 17 Million jobs added during the Reagan years.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

1) Gas prices are down 40 to 50 cents from where they were in 1999-2000. It was clinton/gore who thought gas at $5 a gallon was appropriate. Have you read "Earth in the Balance"?

2) North Korean WMD's come from China. clinton made a treaty that said that if the N. Koreans pretended they didn't have WMD's he would not impose sanctions on them. But he imposed sanctions on pretty much everybody else.

3) Besides ending the USSR, Reagan put in place infrastructure changes and tax cuts that launched the US on the largest and longest ecomomic growth spurt in the history of the world. He funded our military to keep it the strongest in the world. He also helped lay the groundwork for the Republicans' taking back the Federal government and many of the states from the leftists.

This is easy. What else you got??

[Born Conservative]

Me thinks thou art a troll...

[Billthedrill]

1. Gas prices are high because people will pay it. The president got nuttin' to do wid it. I'm assuming your friend doesn't remember when they shot up from $0.30 a gallon to over a buck. Think "Carter."

2. North Korea came up with nuclear weapons - I assume that's what you meant - through a combination of domestic research and purchase, the vendors including the Soviet Union and Pakistan that we know of. Clinton offered to build them a light-water reactor if they'd stop. They said thanks, took the reactor, and didn't.

3. Reagan restored national morale and demonstrated to the world that strident anti-American demonstrations may have helped to get us to surrender Vietnam but they wouldn't stop the deployment of theater nuclear weapons. The European left has never forgiven us.

[Mad_at_Taxes]

I will check them out.

[dirtboy]

1)Why are gas prices so high and Why has the Bush administration turned a blind eye when Clinton/Gore were able to call for investigations to keep the prices low.

Gas prices are high because:

1 - we don't have enough refining capacity.

2 - Federal and state environmental laws have created requirements for "boutique" gasolines that inhibit normal market forces to react to higher local prices, as other refineries can't simply ship more gas to the affected area.

2)Who sold North Korea their WMDs and what did Clinton do about it?

The North Koreans developed a lot of their own technology, bought other technology on the black market, and made their people eat tree bark to pay for it all. Clinton basically bribed them to not continue with their nuclear program - and they simply dismantled one program while creating a new clandestine one while Slick looked the other way.

3) Other than break-up the Soviet Union, What did Reagan accomplish other than a 12 year recession (I've already pointed out that it was Carter's fault and he blamed it on OPEC).

12 year recession? I wouldn't bother debating with someone so ignorant of history.

[Neets]

You aren't allowed to think those thoughts outloud...you must hit abuse and notify the mods if you think there are trolls here.

it's not nice

[thackney]

2)Who sold North Korea their WMDs and what did Clinton do about it?

North Korea main builds their own weapons (and sells to others).

I don't see that Clinton did anything about it. Neither do these folks: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/index.html

[WV Mountain Mama]

My sister had to write a paper in her high school economics class about how the recession affected us. She wrote a paper that we weren't affected and people were being hired, things were great. When she told her teacher this, they got into an argument (my sister to this day has never backed down from anything), he tore up her paper and cancelled the assignment. She had a 3.9 average and didn't get into National Honor Society, guess who was on the comittee.

[whereasandsoforth]

Gas prices would drop tomorrow if government would get rid of gas taxes. We don't hear much about how much taxes add to the cost of getting back and forth to your non-existent job, do we? You'd think the dems would be all over it. It represses the working poor.

[Miss Marple]

1. Gas prices are temporarily high due to a combination of factors, including higher prices from OPEC countries, shortage of refineries, shortage of refinery capacity (due to environmental regulation requirements for different blends of gas in different states), increased demand here (people are going back to work) and the fact that this time of year the refineries have been devoting more time to producing heating oil than gasoline. Prices will be lower by summer according to what I heard from an oil expert on Cavuto's show yesterday.

Another reason that prices are high in some states, like California, is TAXES. This is a state issue, not controlled by the federal government.

Clinton did nothing to lower prices, except for releasing the strategic reserve, which didn't affect things that much and was dangerous for national security. Holding hearings did NOTHING, except for stirring up anger at the oil companies, which doesn't do anything to lower prices.

2. No one sold North Korea WMD's. The United States, under Bill Clinton, said that North Korea could develop nuclear reactors for electrical power. They foolishly thought that North Korea would comply and they were wrong. North Korea in secret went ahead with developing a nuclear weapons program and also ballistic missiles. It is only under President Bush that North Korea has been called to account.

3. To my knowledge, there has never been a twelve year recession. Reagan won the cold war, revived our military (which helped us win Gulf War I), and gave the United States the longest economic expansion in our history, of which Bill Clinton was a beneficiary.

I hope this helps you. If you are sincere, this is the information you need.

[CyberCowboy777]

OPEC only has so much power, and that can be mitigated.

Carter was a failure.

Reagan reinvigorated the American spirit and reinvigorated business in America. The investments made with in part money that would have gone to taxes had it not been for Reagan's cuts spurred the innovations that we now invest in and rely on.

Clinton's tax hikes and the false reporting of the economy was no help to the economy and that in conjunction with the tech bubble burst gave us a recession that started months before Bush took office.

The manufacturing sector has been in decline since the 70's, but is only cited as an emergency when a Republican is in office.

[kanawa]

Do you know why there was such a large and substained decrease in price post 9/11?

[Prime Choice]

1)Why are gas prices so high and Why has the Bush administration turned a blind eye when Clinton/Gore were able to call for investigations to keep the prices low.

PREFACE: The high gas prices kinda put the kabosh on Liberal charges that the liberation for Iraq was all for cheaper oil, hm?

Clinton/Gore flooded the market by opening the nation's reserves in hopes that it would artificially induce lower prices. The only thing that accomplished was leaving our reserves strained.

At this present time, Venezuela (which exports 1 million barrels of crude oil a day) is in political upheaval and only recently out of a national strike. That in itself has pushed oil prices up as futures seem uncertain.

OPEC has made cuts in oil exports. This began in 2001 and continues to this day. This contributes to higher gas prices.

And finally, because of Leftist opposition to ANWR drilling, we remain at the mercy of OPEC's agenda because we cannot access our own crude oil resources.

So, in the final analysis, if anyone's to blame for high gas prices, it's the Leftists.

2)Who sold North Korea their WMDs and what did Clinton do about it?

Clinton didn't do squat. In fact, it was his moves to take our nukes out of the Korean peninsula that emboldened Kim Jong-il to make his move. That pretty much shows that the Leftist mantra of appeasement plays only into the hands of tyrants.

As for who sold NK the original bits for their nuclear program, it's anyone's guess...but I wouldn't be surprised if it was China. Otherwise China would pitch a serious fit for having a nuclear power nestled so close to them.

3) Other than break-up the Soviet Union, What did Reagan accomplish other than a 12 year recession (I've already pointed out that it was Carter's fault and he blamed it on OPEC).

What data do you have to back up the claim of a 12-year recession? America was in a time of economic boom during the Reagan era. The recession hit under the administration of Bush 41.

[MeekOneGOP]

I'm an old softie on this one. The guy wants some help, I think ...

[Mad_at_Taxes]

They don't want to lower "hidden taxes"
;)

[Mad_at_Taxes]

Thanks for your help

[MrB]

re: 12 yr recession.

Since a recession is (correct me if I'm wrong) 2-3 CONSECUTIVE quarters of NEGATIVE GDP growth,

wouldn't this mean that for 12 years, the economy was contracting?

I don't think this has EVER happened...