Bush Could Ease Pain at the Pump--If He Wanted

[freefall]

High Prices Caused by Iraq War
Bush Could Ease Pain at the Pump--If He Wanted

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0503-34.htm

<snip>

The chart of the crucial "light sweet crude oil" futures index reads like a barometer of political tension in energy-producing hotspots. Oil, hovering around $27 a barrel in 2001, spiked to $38 when the United States went to war against Afghanistan--a potential oil pipeline route and neighbor to several large producers. It jumped from $33 to $40 in February 2003, just before the U.S. attack against Iraq. Insurgents have blown up pipelines and refineries there ever since, causing a steady climb to $76.

Adding to the high cost of crude oil, says former Louisiana senator and oil company lobbyist Bennett Johnston, is the Bush Administration's "saber rattling" against Iran. "We'd see gasoline prices of $5 or $6; crude oil above $100 if we bomb Iran," he predicts.

So voters are right. If Bush wants to bring down oil prices, he can. All he has to do is stop threatening war, and bring home the troops from Iraq
____________________

My Congresscritter, Tom Allen of Maine, made that exact point earlier this week when he said that everytime * rattles those sabers the price of a barrel of oil goes up. Instability or threatened instability in oil producing countries scares the market. We need to muzzle our Criminal in Chief.

One thing that puzzles me is why the Criminal in Chief keeps making these statements. Does he not believe that his actions and statements are the biggest reason for rising prices or are rising prices to his advantage in some way I don't understand? (I realize that it may fatten his wallet but I thought maintaining control of power was more important than a short term financial benefit.) In any case we need to get the word out there that *'s militaristic statements and activities are the biggest cause of the recent rise in oil prices.

Peace,

freefall

edited to add <snip>

[rodeodance]

1. the saber rattling has caused lots of tension in the market!

[90-percent]

2. another broken GWB promise

He said back in 2000 during the campaign all it would take is a little jawboning to OPEC and he could keep us all in nice cheap gas.

He must have a case of temporary lock jaw or maybe his Saudi Arabian hotline is broken?

This whole gas situation is sure making this admin look inept, helpless and ineffective, isn't it?

It's almost like BIG OIL wants all Repubs to get cremated this November or something?

Is it true that if all Oil Exec compensation was cut to $1.00 per year we'd all be paying $1.49 a gallon?

-85% Jimmy

[freefall]

3. "This whole gas situation is sure making this admin look inept, helpless

and ineffective, isn't it?"

This is what I truly don't understand. Why are they continuing to rattle the sabers and scare the market? Do they think they can attack and take over Iran and thereby control the price of oil? Is that why they continue with their saber rattling even though it obviously has an adverse affect on the price of oil? Why else are they continuing in this foolishness?

Peace,

freefall

[Virginia Dare]

5. By creating a crisis....

demand goes up, production goes down, bigger profits for the oil companies..George Bush couldn't give a flying rat's ass about the American people, he's beholden to his Saudi boyfriend and the other Lords of the oil industry, simple as that.

[freefall]

7. I hate to believe that you are right but on the face of it there doesn't

seem to be any other explanation.

Peace,

freefall

[nickinSTL]

4. kind of disproves Limbaugh's claims, doesn't it?

Not that I ever believe a word that piece of crap says, but...

Didn't he JUST say that attacking Iran would cause oil prices to drop?

[MadHound]

6. Bushco's actions certainly are a factor in rising prices

As are some unsavory corporate practices. But the big reason that oil is going up, the 800 pound gorilla that nobody wants to discuss or even acknowledge is the fact that the world is running out of cheap, easily available oil. We have passed that peak, and are on the downside of the curve.

Witness Ghawar, Saudi Arabia's largest oil field, the largest in the world. They are now having to pump in twice the amount of seawater than the volume of oil they get out. Sure sign of a declining well. And since SA keeps everything about their oil secret, nobody is sure what SA's reserves in the ground are. The oil ministry and government all say that oil reserves are plentiful, yet last summer when supplies were tight and we were begging for them to open the spigots, they didn't. Were they wanting to gouge us, perhaps. More than likely though is the fact that they couldn't, they simply didn't have the oil.

Also there is this salient fact, that even with prices as high as they are, apparently it still isn't economically feasible for the oil companies to uncap US wells throughout Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to get oil from there. A sure sign that our domestic oil is played out.

Now, let's look at the new oil strikes. The Western world is going ga-ga over the oil sands in Canada. Think about it, an oil source that is difficult and expensive to extract, even more difficult and expensive to refine, yet oil companies and government officials are treating this as the saving grace for our oil economy:wtf: In addition, look at the play the new oil strike in Kuwait is getting. Headlines for a strike that is only 13 billion barrels, less than two years worth of consupmtion for the US, yet it's gotten coverage like it's the next Saudi Arabia:eyes:

These are the signs of our worldwide oil consumption in decline. Yes, oil companies are going to gouge a bit, because here in a few years their profits are going to drop substantially. Yes, prices are going to rise or fall when Bush rattles his saber, supplies are that tight. But the real reason for these prices, the one thing that nobody is talking about, is that we're quickly running out of cheap, easily available oil.

It is time, NOW, for us to switch our country off of oil and onto renewable, clean alternative energy sources. It has been shown that biodiesel can fulfill all of our fuel needs, both now and in the future<http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html>. And in 1991, the DOE reported that using just the harvestable wind energy in three states, North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas, we could fulfill all of our electrical needs, including factoring in growth, through the year 2030. These are realy, viable solutions, off the shelf technology that we can employ now. I would suggest that we start doing so before it's too late. Otherwise we're going to go right over that proverbial cliff, and the American empire will be no more.

[redqueen]

8. Bump!

:kick: