Bush aims to boost ratings and halt gas price rise

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060425/pl_nm/bush_energy_dc_2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, his popularity sinking while gas prices soar, hopes to stave off a potential election-year problem for fellow Republicans with a drive to stop price gouging and push alternative fuels.

With oil prices hitting record highs and gas topping $3 a gallon at some pumps, Democrats hoping to win control of Congress in November have used the issue to slam White House energy policy and Republicans' ties to big oil companies.

Bush's public approval rating has fallen to 32 percent, a new low for his presidency, according to a CNN poll released on Monday. Sixty percent of Americans said they disapproved of the way Bush was handling his job, the poll showed.

In a 10:05 a.m. EDT speech on Tuesday, the president will push a four-part plan to ensure fair treatment for motorists, promote fuel efficiency and alternative fuels, and boost U.S. gas supply, his spokesman said.

...another day another crappy backdrop and crappier speech.

[wake.up.america]

1. Bush huddles with Saud's , prices go down to 2.50. Could it happen?

Polls go up.

Exxon would Still make wind fall profit.

[Wickerman]

2. April, 2001

Cheney already spelled out that would be a failed policy:

"Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."

Cheney gets his own words slammed back to him by Jim Leher, here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec01/cheney_7-18.html

[madame defarge]

3. So gas will be cheaper...

only for Republicans probably... Wouldn't surprise me.

(How many more days until he's out of office???)

[C_U_L8R]

5. Only for those that still have their W stickers

all ten of em. :-)

[leftchick]

7. 1001 days left

http://endofbush.xerratus.com/

:cry:

[madame defarge]

9. Thanks! Bookmarked! n/t

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. So you have a Republican Identity Card

and you show it at the gas station and get .60 off?

[tanyev]

4. Oh, goody, another speech. 31 or 30 can't be far behind.

[Earth_First]

6. Even *IF* there was a halt in the rise in gasoline/petroleum prices...

The $3/gallon threshhold has already been broken (again) and record profits are being made (again). They've already won.

[nylab123]

16. Have any of you heard Neal Boortz on this topic?

He says that the prices are strictly a result of supply-demand economics. He also says the profit margin (%profit/total revenue) of the oil companies (9-10%) is relatively the same, which is much lower than many other types of companies in different industries. He also then uses the argument of "inventory profit" which basically means that if you are currently selling oil at a certain price, and the price to REPLACE your current stock goes up, you have to raise you current prices to cover that extra expense to replace your inventory. It is true (and we must remember) that when a price goes up for a company (taxes, employee issues, etc.) the cost is never incurred by the company, but it is PASSED on to the customers. The same thing is happening in this situation.

In his words, "the profit will always increase if the cost of doing business increases. If the cost of doing business increases, you BETTER raise your prices to compensate or you will not be able to afford to do business anymore." the gross profit amount has doubled while the profit margin has remained the same.

The other interesting thing he mentions is that they have payed 250 million or billion in taxes to the federal government already, which isn't far off from the record profits. And now the government is talking about taxing even more of their money. You of course know, ME AND YOU will never see any of that money. So what difference does it make if the government taxes them more or not???

Just remember, the more Mr. Government gets involved, they more they are going to tax the oil companies, which is just more revenue for it to grow itself and spend more and more on things that don't seem to be in the best interest of you and me. It seems to be all about them. Give them their damned money and everything will be alright. We have a national deficit, but yet they use their endless supply of our tax money to pursue whatever endeavors they please without giving a damn what WE think.

Sorry that got so long, but what do you think about that?? I thought it was an interesting counter argument that you don't hear everyday.

[stanwyck]

17. Did Neal happen to mention

why the departing CEO of Exxon retired with over 400 million? I think that "cost of doing business" is what is really infuriating consumers.
Or maybe you can explain how obscene giveaways to CEOs -- I mean $400 million? -- are legitimate business expenses.
What if that $400 million had been invested into alternative fuel sources?
This is just more sleight of hand shell game rhetoric designed to mask an industry which is raping our country.
The oil companies can hardly scream "our taxes are eating all our profits" when this lunancy is front page news.
That's just one of the holes in yours, and Neal's, little argument.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nylab123]

22. Dont forget the exploding economies of China and India

are creating a HUGE increase in demand for crude oil in the world, while the supply does not seem to be increasing. Don't you think that would have a significant impact on what we pay at the pump? We have tons of oil reserves in this country that could last us until we came up with alternative fuel resources.

Do you pay any attention at all to how much the price of oil per gallon is increasing?? Or do you believe that just because a company has to increase its cost of doing business, it should have NO effect on the consumers?? I learned that in economics and accounting classes.

Just some interesting facts... How oil companies compare (in profits per dollar of sales):
pharmacutical 17.6 cents; banks 19.1 cents; house and personal products 10.1 cents; oil and gas 8.5 cents per dollar of sales.

We spend so much time thinking about how much the oil companies are making. Gas stations make per each gallon gross profit for station is about 5%. So at $2.80 per gallon, the gas stations make a profit of 14 cents. Did you know that the government makes 46 cents on each gallon of gas sold?? And we're going to government for help to complain about what the gas station is making?? It is the government that's making the most money on every gallon of gas we burn- more than the oil companies and gas stations combined. Which brings me back to what I said before about the government- how is them making a "windfall profits tax" going to do anything for you and me? The government is already taking the biggest chunk out of the oil and gas revenues. All they will do is take even more than they are already taking, and waste it like they have been doing for years and years. Especially with Mr. Bush in office.

I understand the frustration that people have with gas prices, but sometimes the comments people make suggest a massive economic ignorance, hatred of the free market system.

I'm not saying that the oil companies may perhaps deserve some investigation, however it is ignorant to jump to conclusions.

[stanwyck]

25. You could get a job

speechwriting for Bush.
(Just don't bring up Brazil. They've just a couple of years away from having no dependency on oil.)
That could have been us.

[nylab123]

27. We could be like Brazil, but the idiots running this country

refuse to go into our own supplies. Bush needs to go! I dont know why you guys think I'm defending Bush... I have said nothing good about him. Oil is not the only issue we have right now. We're gonna be soon called the Mexican-United States of America.

[DavidMS]

38. Even if price gouging is part of the problem...

And the speculators, lack of refining capacity, etc...

This is still a great time to make a fundamental shift away from deletable (and Climate Change causing) fossil fuels.

With competent political leadership instead of playing defend/attack big oil, we would be talking about weather we can realistically put in 500 or 1000 MW of wind turbines in the next 5 years. We would be talking about requiring that all new homes in satiable climates having solar panels integrated into the roof during construction. We would be talking about putting in how many thousand miles of light rail/heavy electric rail and trolleybus lines. There would be a discussion on how to best take waste streams and turn them into bio fuels, etc.

Instead its "is there collusion in the marketplace to raise the price of gas?" It doesn't matter because continued reliance on oil (and other fossil fuels) is not in the nation's interest short tern (raising oil prices, funding the Saudi Economy which supports AlQuada, requiring us to be nice to all sorts of other despots, etc) or long term (venerable supply lines in times of war, giving political power to oil companies
And the worst part is the Mainstream Media believes in Fair and Balanced as opposed to accurate and Complete. Stories don't have two sides, they have multiple perspectives but to claim that both sides are equally valid is a post-modern attack on the shared reality we inhabit. There are not enough journalists with science degrees who can read (let alone understand) the contents of scientific and technical journals.

We both have a failure of poltical leadership and the Medias are not equiped to cover such a story.

[stanwyck]

24. You really think

that he "earned" $400 million? And you say this while we're looking at gas over $3.00 a gallon?
You think oil companies make enough "to be comfortable?" Read today's USA Today - I think "comfortable" is quite the understatement.
And corporate welfare means few even pay taxes anyway.
Read about what has happened...the percentage for CEOs has grown out of proportion to real wages for workers.
And many have done such a lousy job their companies are listing badly or gone under...while they reap millions in..what? Rewards for doing such a terrible job?
Bush himself, Mr. CEO President, drove three companies into bankruptcy.
These guys have fixed the system.
And yet they manage to dupe the gullible into thinking "they're doing a heckuva job!"
At least Bill Gates DID something. And Oprah reaches millions of viewers every day.
These guys fail miserably at providing their product to the consumers.
And reward themselves like robber barons.
Then their slick spokesman, Neal, gets on the radio and reels in the fish.

[nylab123]

26. I could only imagine how Europeans must

be cursing their oil company providers, since they pay $5-6 per gallon of gas. Their CEO's must be retiring with over $1 billion in pensions.

I said there needs to be an investigation, but damn STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS. Isn't this innocent until proven guilty?? That's how we treat the terrorists that kill thousands of innocent people like 9/11.

[stanwyck]

28. Look at what their CEOs are paid

compared to ours. Less than half. And yet their CEOs are moving forward with alternative sources. They're not short-term "in it for the windfall" gluttons. They're leading their countries forward into less dependency. Opposite of what our oil executives are doing - which is blaming environmentalists and SUV drivers.

[CAcyclist]

33. Oh, you're just stupid, not a republican, after all

The Europeans pay high gas taxes, which is why their gas costs so much. This provides money to the government to pay for transit and road maintenance. It works in Europe to encourage people to drive less and smaller vehicles and take more public transportation, to walk and to bicycle. We could do the exact same thing here if we put our minds to it.

[tabasco]

36. Gas taxes in Europe go to public transportation.

My German gf is 38 now and has never owned a car. Trains and buses go to every village. And don't tell me it's a smaller country. We could have done the same thing here.

But instead, all gas profits go to CEOs. Do you really think we can have a stable society with unreined capitalism? Ever read a history book? I suggest you do. Try the chapter on the "Gilded Age" inAmerica.

You are rattling off all the republican talking points. Enjoy your stay.

[CAcyclist]

31. Well, I would say that Bill Gates and Oprah's net worth ARE obscene

No one deserves that kind of money when the country has so much wrong with it. The ultrarich have to pay more taxes - a lot more. It is destabilizing to our country to have so much wealth concentrated in the hands of so few.

[CAcyclist]

32. That's not a source . That's opinion

no different from O'Lielly's gas-passing.

[CAcyclist]

30. I'd lie to see statistics that back up those claims

"It is true (and we must remember) that when a price goes up for a company (taxes, employee issues, etc.) the cost is never incurred by the company, but it is PASSED on to the customers. The same thing is happening in this situation. "

This statement is just opinion, not fact. It's not "true" at all. The only time costs are "never incurred" by a company is when you have a price fixing cartel. Well, maybe the oil industry is a cartel, but then that's what anti-trust laws are for.

People are only going to pay so much for oil before they start investigating other options. Just a few years ago, OPEC was afraid to increase prices on oil because they were afraid that Americans would simply buy more efficient vehicles and the future demand for oil would be permanently crimped.

Better that the government raise the gas tax to cover the true cost of supplying oil - wars in Iraq, for instance, road-building, trauma centers, obesity-related illnesses, pollution and destruction of the environment than that oil companies make obscene profits that they use to put a few politicians in their pockets.

[Dissenting_Prole]

8. Peak Oil is here now.

"March 2006 marks the beginning of Peak Oil’s coming out party."

- Mike Ruppert, From The Wilderness

[azurnoir]

10. It's A "good" thing

That our president is an oil man himself so's he can help out us little folks. Other who knows what those big bad oil companies would do. You go git them oilmen George:sarcasm:

[trapper914]

12. What?

No plan to "jawbone" OPEC?

[Canuckistanian]

13. I believe the first part of that headline

The second part is sheer fantasy.

[gratuitous]

14. And the oil companies' response?

:rofl:

[sendero]

15. Newsflash..

... for the Bush** administration. It will take a lot more than "stopping the rise" it will take a massive rollback of prices to do any good.

There's a hard lesson you GOP dumbasses are going to learn and learn well - credibility once lost is very, very difficult to regain.

[leftchick]

18. I was right, more crappiness all around....

[primavera]

19. Why doesn't he just subsidize gas prices through November?

Work out a deal with the oil companies to put $2 for every gallon of gas on the public credit card and leave the balance for our grandchildren to pay back at 30% interest? It's what he's done with everything else, why should gas be any different?

[Tight_rope]

21. I dont care what he does...his approval rate will never get over -99.7

from me. Yes that is a negative sign in front of 99.7

[cliss]

23. HAH!

Now this is funny. Bush has finally figured out that his approval ratings are inversely related to the price of gas.

As the price of gas goes up, his ratings go down. People get extremely upset when gas goes up around 50%. They don't like it and they look for someone to blame.

That someone is Bush. I know -- it's not entirely fair (snicker, giggle). But Bush makes it so easy to hate him...

[nylab123]

29. Very nicely put cliss...

As always, a scapegoat is sought. Bush is it this time. I dont like Bush either, but I dont think HE is the blame. Many complex factors contribute to our high gas prices. I'm so glad i live 10 minutes away from work, so I'm not affected as badly as the 30 min commuters.

We'll never see the glory days of low gas as we did in the late 90's (I'm a young man, and I remember paying 72 cents for a gallon).

[Rainscents]

34. One thing, I want to add...

Europe's gas price might be 5 or 6 dollar for gas, at least they're getting something back... They have the best transit system in the world (this is the reason, 80% of the people don't own cars) and they also have health-care for all! This all comes from gas money. Here, what the hell do we get for higher gas price??? Not a zip!!!

[stanwyck]

37. Hannity has jumped on board

your "taxes are the cause" bandwagon.
And you know...when you're on Hannity's side, you might want to rethink your position.
He gets his talking points straight from his WH masters.
And so the spin is out. It's taxes.
Right.
And there are WMD in Iraq. We'll be greated as liberators. And Rummy is doing a heckuva job.

[CJCRANE]

35. It's a catch-22...

Higher gas prices - more windfall profits for his ME oil buddies but more Americans hate him...

So, which will he choose to keep happy...his ME oil buddies...or Americans?