Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

To CNN's "In the Money" Gang, Falling Gas Prices a GOP Conspiracy
Business & Media Institute (businessandmedia.org) ^ | Sept. 5, 2006 | Ken Shepherd

Posted on 09/05/2006 12:21:04 PM PDT by freemarket_kenshepherd

Maybe it could be called “The Conspiracy Hour with Jack Cafferty.” On the September 2 “In the Money,” the program’s host recycled his theory that gas prices are dropping because of scheming oil companies.

“You know, if you were a real cynic, you could also wonder if the oil companies might not be pulling the price of gas down to help the Republicans get re-elected in the midterm elections a couple of months away,” Cafferty suggested just a few days earlier on the August 30 “Situation Room.”

“In the Money” contributor Jennifer Westhoven reminded Cafferty of his August 30 comments and suggested he rehash his “cynicism about the election” for the “In the Money” audience.

“Certainly the thought had crossed my mind. I mean, the oil companies have a vested interest in seeing that the Republicans remain in control of the federal government,” Cafferty answered Westhoven, before adding facetiously, “They wouldn't pull prices down before the mid-terms now, would they?” he added over laughter from his fellow panelists.

Later on, Cafferty returned to actual supply and demand considerations driving the price, which prompted contributor and Fortune magazine editor Andy Serwer to offer a gloomy prediction. Suggesting the price drop was only a “blip,” Serwer warned that political crises stemming from Iran, Venezuela, or Nigeria “could erupt or turn bad or anything at any point” or that the hurricane season might take a turn for the worse.

At no point in their look at gas prices did the “In the Money” crew seek the opinion of oil analysts, although Serwer confidently pointed to “the folks at the Chrysler Corporation” who “seem to be suggesting” gas prices will “stay up for a while.” Serwer also scoffed at others who “think they’re going back to $2,” adding, “I’m not one of them.”

While the “American Morning” business contributor didn’t name names on the $2 prediction, he appears to be misquoting oil experts.

“We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving,” reporter James Healey quoted the Oil Price Information Service’s (OPIS) Fred Rozell in the August 30 paper. That would suggest gas price averaging below $2.50, not necessarily at or near the $2-a-gallon mark.

A September 5 article by Associated Press reporter Brad Foss similarly noted that “most analysts” believe achieving $2-a-gallon prices “is unlikely and would entail a major slowdown in the economy, if not a downright recession” but that it’s more likely “that retail gasoline prices will slide to about $2.50 a gallon by winter – and then head higher again early next year.” The average per gallon price for gasoline has dropped 30 cents in the past month, to $2.73.

The Business & Media Institute has varying coverage of price drops by other media outlets. On the August 31 “Early Show,” CBS’s Harry Smith remarked that the media months ago were “screaming with our hair on fire” about then-rising gas prices while a day earlier, NBC’s Kevin Tibbles shrugged off the downward trend, focusing his August 30 report on Chrysler’s “wake-up” call from CEO Tom LaSorda who is planning for gas prices in the “$3-to$4-a-gallon” range.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006; bigoil; buffoonery; cnn; conspiracytheory; elections; gasprices; gop; jackcafferty; midtermelections; midterms; oilprices; republicans; tinfoil
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-78 next last

1 posted on 09/05/2006 12:21:06 PM PDT by freemarket_kenshepherd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Karl Rove takes time out from his busy schedule manipulating his hurricane machine to pull the "lower fuel prices" lever on his petrochemical control machine.


2 posted on 09/05/2006 12:23:45 PM PDT by airborne (Fecal matter is en route to fan! Contact is imminent!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Cafferty is too senile to remember the gas price slide October-November last year, just before the elections-- well NJ and VA governors.


3 posted on 09/05/2006 12:24:14 PM PDT by gusopol3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Oil prices never fall as rapidly as they went down. So when the price falls below $33 per barrel, then it's time to celebrate and not before.


4 posted on 09/05/2006 12:25:08 PM PDT by lilylangtree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lilylangtree

That is: Oil prices never fall as rapidly as they went up.


5 posted on 09/05/2006 12:25:38 PM PDT by lilylangtree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: airborne

I remember back in 38 when Karl Rove successfully reverse engineered the summer vacation hike/back to school lessening of demand.


6 posted on 09/05/2006 12:26:05 PM PDT by kinghorse (I calls them like I sees them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

First Bush didn't care about the 'little guy', so he let prices rise. Now that prices are falling it's a Bush conspiracy. LMAO, the left makes a better comedy team than Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Hope and Crosby and a pastle of others all rolled into one.


7 posted on 09/05/2006 12:26:30 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Bring your press credentials to Qana, for the world's most convincing terrorist street theater.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Heh heh heh...

(evil sneer)


8 posted on 09/05/2006 12:27:10 PM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gusopol3

It's funny how $2.50 a gallon is now considered cheap...We have been assimilated.


9 posted on 09/05/2006 12:28:12 PM PDT by Wristpin ("The Yankees announce plan to buy every player in Baseball....")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: airborne

Hope the conspiracy can lower the cost of gas another50 cents.


10 posted on 09/05/2006 12:28:31 PM PDT by bybybill (`IF TH E RATS WIN, WE LOSE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

I hear that one of the big oil companies just announced that they had found a HUGE oil reserve somewhere in the Gulf that is going to be as big as anything in Alaska.

They probably did that to piss off the Dems too.


11 posted on 09/05/2006 12:28:40 PM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gusopol3
Cafferty.....isn't he that drunk who ran over a guy on a bike in NYC? And then ran?
12 posted on 09/05/2006 12:29:10 PM PDT by roses of sharon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

the wild price swings come from the hedge funds and the speculators.


13 posted on 09/05/2006 12:29:30 PM PDT by oceanview
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wristpin

14 posted on 09/05/2006 12:30:11 PM PDT by RockinRight (She rocks my world, and I rock her world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: bybybill

$2.65 here in PA.


15 posted on 09/05/2006 12:31:40 PM PDT by airborne (Fecal matter is en route to fan! Contact is imminent!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Wristpin

I actually was surprised to see $2.39 this morning on I-40.


16 posted on 09/05/2006 12:32:22 PM PDT by eyedigress
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: lilylangtree

I remember paying $2.79 a gallon a year and half ago. Then it went up over three dollars and even hit $3.69 here in New York. It stayed up over three bucks for a long time, but has plunged in the last two weeks. This morning I paid $2.59 ($2.89 for premium) on Long Island with most stations priced at around $2.79. It's not scientific, but it seems to me that the prices came down a lot faster than it took for them to rise.

Any opinions from people who know more than I?


17 posted on 09/05/2006 12:32:54 PM PDT by joeystoy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: eyedigress

CNN is nothing but the voice of the DNC. Don't watch them.


18 posted on 09/05/2006 12:34:54 PM PDT by kjo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: joeystoy

Here are the charts that tell the story. The facts speak for themselves....

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?time=24


19 posted on 09/05/2006 12:35:10 PM PDT by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Yep.

This is Bush's fault.

Infact, I'll let the Dems in on a secret.

This year's "October Surprise" the GOP, orchestrated by Rove of course, is going to unveil it's secret weapon to re-election. If they get 300 House seats and 65 Senate seat the American people will be guarenteed 10 cent gas so long as they retain the new majority.

Don't say you weren't warned Dems...


20 posted on 09/05/2006 12:36:21 PM PDT by Soul Seeker (Kobach: Amnesty is going from an illegal to a legal position, without imposing the original penalty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-78 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson