Posted on 04/23/2006 6:29:49 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
US President George W. Bush has warned rising oil prices will mean a "tough summer" for US consumers as the high cost of gasoline (petrol) showed signs of becoming a big political issue.
But even as more Americans expressed discontent over the price of filling up their gas tanks, Bush suggested there was little his government could do in the short term about the problem.
"We're going to have a tough summer because people are beginning to drive now during tight supply," Bush said as he toured a California facility developing hydrogen-powered vehicles.
"The American people have got to understand what happens elsewhere in the world affects the price of gasoline you pay here."
Bush spoke after a week of unremitting rises in prices in global crude oil markets and at gasoline (petrol) pumps across the country. Crude topped a record 75 dollars per barrel in New York trading Friday, five dollars up from a week earlier.
At the same time, US retail pump prices were topping an average three dollars a gallon (3.8 liters) in many places in the country, up 60 cents -- 33 percent -- from a year ago.
The sharp rises on the eve of the US summer, during which millions of people fly or drive on holiday, showed signs of becoming a major political issue for the struggling Bush administration ahead of November mid-term elections.
But even as the president stressed Saturday that the government was making efforts to protect consumers from price-gouging, he said there was little he could do in the short term to alleviate the impact of higher oil prices.
"We've got a real problem when it comes to oil. We're addicted, and it's harmful for the economy, and it's harmful for our national security," he said.
"I understand the folks here, as well as other places in the country, are paying high gas prices.
"The American people have got to understand what happens elsewhere in the world affects the price of gasoline you pay here," he said, referring to skyrocketing oil demand in the booming economies of India and China.
Bush also blamed the higher prices on a shortage of refinery capacity in the United States, and also on an ongoing shift in fuel additives and mixes that has caused supply hiccups in certain areas.
"When that price of gasoline goes up, it hurts working people. It hurts our small businesses. And it's a serious problem we've got to do something about. The federal government has a responsibility, by the way, to make sure ... there is no price gouging," he added.
The political importance of gasoline prices before the summer break was clear as both opposition Democrat and Republican lawmakers spent the week taking the administration to task over the issue and asking if oil companies were exploiting the situation.
Senator Bill Nelson called Friday for "more dramatic steps" to lessen US dependence on foreign oil.
Dennis Hastert, the Republican head of the House of Representatives, and Senate Republican majority chief Bill Frist said they planned to write Bush a letter calling for an investigation into possibly price manipulation by oil companies.
While the oil companies deny any manipulation, public confidence was eroded at the recent report that exiting Exxon Mobil executive Lee Raymond was getting a 400 million dollar retirement package.
Like everything Bush says, he sounds like an idiot. I give up on him. Newt Gingrich oh eight?
Price controls would be a horrible idea. But, an energy policy would be a good idea. Bush is an embarrassment and disastor to the Republican Party. Let's recall him.
I have often wondered how much of this increase is based on "market speculation" and just who may be behind it.Wasn't there recently a world socialist guy who ruined the currency of several countries? This price increase certainly does not benefit the GOP but certainly does immensely benefit the DNC. Just who might be helping out the DNC ....Just a thought?
Who's Denny Hastart???
That there is funny; I don't care who you are. Gitterdone!
Let Jeb say anything he wants, we NEED more oil. Without it we are beholding to the terrorists.
The price of oil is volatile due to the rather low price elasticity of both supply and demand in the short run. It is further compounded by the political instability of many of the largest and lowest cost producers. The recent volitility in energy prices hasn't been associated with recession in economies around the world the way it was back in the 1970's and early 1980's. I think a lot of that has to do with not interfering to make domestic prices artificially lower than world prices as was done by the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations.
High prices encourage conservation, increased production, and development of substitutes. That's not doing nothing, but it really doesn't involve government.
All retailers in an area buy their gas from the same terminal/pipeline...Same gas for everyone...
Their storage tanks don't hold a months supply of gas...Usually a couple of days, if that...Additives are added at the terminal if the particular retailer wants them...Higher octane, coloring, etc. That's why you don't see different prices across the street...Different brand, same gas, same price...
Conmgratulations, the most original thought on the thread. The market works? Supply and demand? Yawn! Got any more conventional wisdom and cliches?
What can the President do? His Administration? I know that much of the $23 billion that the Energy Dept. takes goes into a lot of energy research at various universities (co-sponsored by the industry), not just the to Washington D.C. bureaucrats counting the gasoline tax pennies. What the President can do, and certainly hasn't done, is push for the opening of domestic drilling facilities. Will this crisis turn the Bambi loving public around? Let's hope so!
It now might be interesting to see 'that' energy policy that the current leaders went to court over to keep secret from the public...
Now you've done it, don't give them ideas.
Unfortunately Bush can do almost none of those things. Only Congress can allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; even at the present petroleum price levels, the Congress dares not budge because the American people care too much about the liberal translation of a scientific paper on the mating habits of the porcupine caribou. Only Congress can suspend the gasoline tax, and they never shall suspend this odious levy because it provides a gravy train for projects absolutely necessary to the defeat of the terrorists such as a paved parking lot at a Montana sheep ranch and an indoor rain forest in Iowa.
Congress put the Environmental Protection Agency in the gasoline regulation business, and only the Congress can extricate the Agency from said business; Congress will not act because the health of American air depends critically upon these regulations, at least according to certain environmental organizations. Permitting the construction of refineries requires the Congress to act because the Congress legislated a significant portion of the current prohibition against the construction of petroleum refineries.
Although the President perhaps could open the strategic reserves without an Act of Congress, doing so only would deplete the reserves just before hurricane season without solving the long-term petroleum crisis. This measure would provide temporary relief at best, and depletion of the reserves would encumber the American economy in the event of a real crisis, whether a terrible hurricane or a sudden supply disruption at the hands of Venezuela or Iran. Bush will not and should not compromise our national security by opening the strategic petroleum reserves.
The Oil Producing and Exporting Countries effectively has maximized petroleum production or sided with the enemies of the United States or both. The advance of communism in Venezuela and the saber-rattling of the theocratic dictator in Iran have imperiled the security of future oil supplies, leading to the present price rise. China and India meanwhile continue to demand enormous quantities of petroleum to fuel their incredibly inefficient, highly polluting economies as they gradually evolve from communism to socialism and thence hopefully to capitalism.
Given the obvious political constraints, the best available short- and long-term solutions involve trading cars away in favor of bicycles and the development of alternative liquid fuels available in private ownership within the red states. The President certainly has set an example by embracing the bicycle, and he has seen the political constraints to begin work on the second. Solving the crisis will take decades more.
He did. He told us that we are in a critical situation and there is no quick fix.
Plenty of collusion among Big Dictator to drive up crude-oil prices. But we cannot combat that collusion because (1) Big Dictator is our mortal enemy; and (2) Our economy depends critically upon the benevolence of Big Dictator.
See the problem? (Big Dictator = Iran + Venezuela + Saudi Arabia + Nigeria + every other oil-greased terrorist, tyrant, communist, or other oppressive regime)
Drilling ANWAR will not reduce the price that we are paying now. ANWAR will take years to come on line and will only knock about 50 cents of the cost of a barrel of oil. Expanding the supply to lower the cost is no longer an option, given the extent to which China and India are increasing their consumption of oil. I agree with Charles Krauthammer: put a tax on gas that holds the price of a gallon of gas at $3.00 and use the revenues to fund the development of alternatives to oil. The era is of Cheap Oil is over. The fat lady has sung. Stick a folk in it, it's done.
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