General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs It Me Or Is The Media Making A Bigger Issue Of Gas Prices Rising?.....
Just listening to CNN and Susanne Malveaux (sp?) is wowing and saying she's going to have to start riding her bike to work. It looks to me that the media is grabbing on to this gas price issue just to stir the pot for Obama and the Dems. I've seen the same thing being down by other tv news hosts. I think they are trying to cast a shadow on Obama. It's starting to piss me off that they just won't give this guy a break. It's the traders that are running up the price of oil and they are doing it based on fear again.
sinkingfeeling
(51,201 posts)there is a real lack of 'news' stories about how speculation is raising the price while we continue to export record barrels-per-day of refined gasoline.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)by large corporations who would love to see the Keystone Pipeline go through... General Electric immediately springs to mind.
zbdent
(35,392 posts)saying how wonderful life would be if they were only allowed to help the average Joe get "cheaper gas", selling the gas to foreign entities so that they can keep the domestic gas prices high?
Waiting for the "lamestream media" to actually point this out.
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,598 posts)It's a reprise of that famous old ditty,
"There's a democrat in the whitehouse, election year, gas price risin' blues"
DonCoquixote
(13,615 posts)They have their orders, and it also helpes that people being angry makes news.
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Where they can determine the flow of said controversy. It's easier than actually doing real investigative journalism where they might have to get off their ass and ask real questions instead of regurgitating the latest PR release from business or government.
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)Just asking.
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)Just asking.
BumRushDaShow
(126,616 posts)The M$M is so truly disgusting that Walter Cronkite has to be spinning so fast in his grave that he is generating earthquakes!
liberalhistorian
(20,809 posts)Even NPR is getting into the act. I couldn't believe my ears yesterday on All Things Considered; whats-her-name was interviewing someone about the rising gas prices and how it has affected presidencies in the past and how it might affect Obama. The person she was interviewing kept saying that it often doesn't have as much affect on presidential chances and odds as the traditional perception has it, and Melissa Block, unbelievably, just kept pushing and pushing the point. Each time he'd say it might not have that much affect, she'd say "but it COULD do so, couldn't it?" I could NOT believe what I was hearing. She then brought up Carter and how it had affected him and immediately jumped on a tape she had of his "malaise" speech (which, admittedly, was a really stupid speech, frankly, I've never figured out who in the hell among his advisors ever thought that was a good idea and why they let him make it) and couldn't wait to play it. She then began yapping and harping once again on "don't you think it COULD, though have an affect on Obama". Unbe-fucking-lievable.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,338 posts)Gas prices are high under President Obama so don't re-elect him and vote for the party who will make sure it STAYS high and keeps big oil rolling in taxpayer subsidies and the speculation market alive.
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)The fault lies with those speculating Koch Bros and other scum of their ilk.
onenote
(42,296 posts)Everytime gas prices start going up at an accelerated rate, the media starts talking about it, in my experience. Doesn't seem any different this time.
Javaman
(62,394 posts)here in Austin.
that translates to 10 bucks on a 20 gallon tank.
while a huge portion of the population can afford that, many in poverty or below the poverty line can't.
I completely understand what you are saying and I don't believe for one moment that the media cares one wit about the poor, but the poor are being adversely effected by the price rise.
ProfessorGAC
(64,184 posts)Here in the soutern reaches of Chicagoland, it went from 3.45, to 3.28, then jumped to 3.49, and then came back down to 3.39. Been that way for a few days.
I wouldn't have guessed that the the trendline would differ regionally. I can see why every region might have different retail pricing, but i still would have expected the trends to be shaped more or less the same.
Odd.
Javaman
(62,394 posts)about a month ago it was 2.95. Then the slow creep began.
My gf and I were at Costco yesterday and the price there was 3.57 for non-members.
they tend to run a bit higher, so I drove past my local shell station, which usually has the best price in my neighborhood, the price was 3.48.
I'm back on the bus next week.
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)Just about 8 miles down the 14 freeway are pumps pulling oil out of the ground. The US is exporting massive amounts of gasoline. But because the Iranians might send an atomic bomb on a missile to destroy Davenport any day now we have no choice but to endure these high prices together. No choice. No investigations, either.
ProfessorGAC
(64,184 posts)Between when i left town for work and when i got home! So, maybe our trend line is the same, just lagging or something.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...however marginally, unemployment down, jobless claims down, stock market up, so they have to find SOMETHING to bring Obama down with...
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)have been pretty high for the past..what...six years, off and on? Need an election issue, dammit!
Worried senior
(1,328 posts)thing. According to the republicans the media is liberal, in my opinion they do everything they can to shore up the republicans and criticize the president.
Maybe it's because they are all owned by conservatives.
They wouldn't dream of blaming the speculators.
benld74
(9,881 posts)benld74
(9,881 posts)But it appears rising gas prices are mostly due to the work of Wall Street speculators and traders -- not any increase in demand, according to a new report from Yardeni Research.
Since each contract is for 42,000 gallons, or 1,000 barrels, of gas, and gasoline inventories in the U.S. stood at 232 million barrels, "speculators and traders, in effect, held a record 43.8 percent of U.S. inventories," Yardeni says.
The economist says speculators must be betting that the confrontation with Iran will worsen, pushing gas prices still higher. "They certainly can't be betting on strong U.S. demand for gasoline," says Yardeni. Over the past year, gas usage fell to its lowest since Nov. 28, 2003
They're betting on Iran confrontation!!!!!!
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)So there is that liberal media bias again.
"Over the past year, gas usage fell to its lowest since Nov. 28, 2003" And there is that well-known Liberal reality bias.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)And you can't really blame the sitting president except to the extent that his Middle East foreign policies are contributing. Yeah, let's have lots of talk about attacking Iran and see what that does to oil prices. Oh, we are seeing what it does.
Gas has gone over the four dollar mark where I live. Up by about 30-40 cents a gallon in the last month.
part man all 86
(367 posts)Gasoline and oil exports are up. Demand has gone up outside the USA, but that nothing new. It seems to me that greed and fear are the two main driving forces.
libtodeath
(2,888 posts)the media is not going to do all it can to get President Obama defeated.
They have been an extension of the repuke party ever since they looked the other way on raygun stealing the election in 1980.
madokie
(51,076 posts)and you know what corporations do. In case you don't know I'll tell you, they protect their own. Thats all this is bullshit warmed over even