Posted on 10/17/2012 12:32:23 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama's Brutal Gaffe: Low Gas Prices Cratered Our Economy
by Ben Shapiro 17 Oct 2012, 11:48 AM PDT
Last night, President Barack Obama dropped the biggest campaign gaffe of the season – only the media wasn’t watching. It happened during his testy exchange with Mitt Romney over gas prices. First, Obama denied that he’d done anything about denying licenses on oil and gas; he backed off of that shortly. Then he denied that production on federal land was down; he was lying. Finally, Romney hit him with this devastating line:
The proof of whether a strategy is working or not is what the price is that you're paying at the pump. If you're paying less than you paid a year or two ago, why, then, the strategy is working. But you're paying more. When the president took office, the price of gasoline here in Nassau County was about $1.86 a gallon. Now, it's $4.00 a gallon.
Obama’s response was horrendous:
Well, think about what the governor -- think about what the governor just said. He said when I took office, the price of gasoline was $1.80, $1.86. Why is that? Because the economy was on the verge of collapse, because we were about to go through the worst recession since the Great Depression, as a consequence of some of the same policies that Governor Romney's now promoting. So, it's conceivable that Governor Romney could bring down gas prices because with his policies, we might be back in that same mess.
In other words, bringing down gas prices by drilling creates economic recession. That was Obama’s argument.
Does anyone think this president understands basic economics?
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Mitt may be a Mormon but O is definitely a MORON
This is the proper conclusion based on Obama's statement. Voting for Obama will keep our gas prices high and potentially make them even higher, given he and his administration keep insisting the economy is improving.
They want poverty, and that is something rational people don't understand about them.
It sounds as if OZero might be correct if one infers momentarily a fact not yet in evidence—beyond conjecture—that oil producing countries did and may yet again manipulate economic collapse.
Is much of the Islamic coddling we see around the world in response blackmail from Middle East oil producers that demand we keep paying high oil prices, despite our gasoline consumption being down more than 35% since 2007?
HF
It sounds as if OZero might be correct if one infers momentarily a fact not yet in evidence—beyond conjecture—that oil producing countries did and may yet again manipulate economic collapse.
Is much of the Islamic coddling we see around the world in response blackmail from Middle East oil producers that demand we keep paying high oil prices, despite our gasoline consumption being down more than 35% since 2007?
HF
What? You mean he didn’t try?? Anyway got that in an email, posted it here for it’s comedic content.
Well maybe now after the second debate they know. Hopefully.
The “economy was on the verge of collapse” when 0bama took over, he took over on January 20, 2009 - the economy was on the verge of collapse in August/September 2008 and the recession was declared over by summer of 2009.
Uh, actually, no. This is a regurgitation of an e-mail that has been circulating around the internet for at least two years. It appears that it was cut-and-pasted exactly with no editing whatsoever. Check it out on Snopes. I did a search on "lunch with a convicted felon" and found it at about the third result. They say it was going around for two years, and that was two years ago.
Obama will commend us and say because of our increasing collective fuel efficiency we are driving a time and a half further on that ten dollar gas.
Ya, did a search on the comments. Probably should check sources first before posting something like that. Too good to be true.
At the very least he should say it was a bipartisan problem, and that both parties did not agree to reform Fannie and Freddie’s mortgage lending practices when they needed to. He just lets Obama completely tar the Bush administration for the financial crisis, and uses that as his basis for saying we can’t go back to “Republican” rule. To me it’s a losing proposition to NOT challenge Obama on that.
I guess I wasn’t listening to the same debate. Seemed Obama said the bad economy created the low prices, which is perfectly reasonable in theory. I don’t get Breitbart sometimes.
High gas prices increases transportation costs. This impacts delivery of raw materials to manufacturing plants, delivery of finished products to stores, delivery of agriculture products (food) to stores, costs in consumer transportation (cars, buses, ferries, planes (avgas)). This drives up consumer prices.
High gas prices are the result of high crude prices and/or high global demand. Gasoline competes with plastics, heating oil and lubricants for crude. If gas goes up, it's also likely that lube oils are more costly, that heating oils are more costly, which in turn increases the operating costs of manufacturing plants, which also leads to increased consumer prices.
Less money in consumers' pockets due to higher costs results in less commerce for discretionary items. This is what leads to a poor economy.
So what about the idea that low gas prices is a leading indicator of a cratering economy? I don't think so. Gas prices are driven by supply and demand, but crude is also very fungible. If the theory is that a faltering economy uses less gas, and therefore low demand pushes prices down, therefore low prices reflect a poor economy that isn't using energy like it used to, remember that the crude would simply be sent overseas to economies that will use it. Oil companies will not settle for cheaper prices, they will sell the oil at competitive prices in other markets, reducing supply here and keeping prices constant.
Higher prices is the result of low supply as well as higher demand. Eventually, supply will match demand at a market price point. Romney was saying that Obama cut off drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast, and federal inlands. Obama also blocked the Keystone pipeline from Canada. These all contribute to lower supply, which is driving up prices.
If Obama is saying that lower gas prices means a bad economy, and therefore that higher gas prices means a good economy, he's wrong.
-PJ
I heard Rush talking about this today and was reminded of how little I think of Rush’s mind t times. It is perfectly reasonable economics that when times are bad, prices go down. The fact that he, and people here don’t see that is bewildering.
Food prices are on the rise, because gas is on the rise. All other consumer prices will rise due to the cost of transportation.
Gas prices are controlled by the ME which is in chaos - look for higher prices and more inflation. This will not improve the economy or create jobs.
The only winner will be public transportation for people who have to park their cars or move closer to a job (if they have one).
.
The low gas prices are more of a coincident indicator not a leading indicator. They might even be slightly lagging.
What about Obama’s claim that Romney stood in front of a coal-fired power plant in MA and allegedly said that this plant is harming people?! That has got to be either a lie or taken grossly out of context, did you catch that?
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