Republicans Blame Democrats for 'A Nation of $4 Gasoline'

Republicans Blame Democrats for 'A Nation of $4 Gasoline'

www.cnsnews.com

"As a result of this dubious milestone, motorists will pay on average $1.67 more per gallon than they were when the 110th Congress began. This represents a 71 percent increase during Nancy Pelosi's speakership," said Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Republican Conference.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Depending on who you believe, we can take one of the following from this story:
1. The Democrats' lawmaking policies have crippled us financially.
2. Bush's actions have crippled us financially.
3. The government's, in general, actions have crippled us financially.
or
4. The government really doesn't mean Jack Squat where gas prices are concerned.

Considering the fact that the leading profiteers through gas speculating are democrats like George Sorros, I tend to agree with this story wholeheartedly. We always hear about how the republicans have ties to "big oil" but I'd love to also see what ties each lawmaker has to stock in oil futures, which is where the real profiteering takes place. Oil company profits have risen not on rising prices, but on rising usage and sales. Speculators are the ones who have reaped insane profits on ever climbing prices.

www.cnsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by burdman30ott6

Gas prices did in fact dip as low as $2.19 per gallon, but they did so in January 2007, after the congressional elections. Gas prices also dipped below $2.19 per gallon in November 2005, a full year before the election. The e-mail also fails to mention that prices climbed to more than $3.00 per gallon in August 2006, when Republicans controlled both branches of Congress and the White House.

factcheck.org

As you can see... the cost of fuel skyrocketed under republican control too. This leads us to two possible conclusions:

1) It's a bi-partisan conspiracy
2) There is little lawmakers can do about the oil prices.

Come to Denmark and enjoy $10 pr. gallon gas

I know you can't compare it directly because of different premises, but we do pay 50% i tax so there's not much left for gas afterwards, hehe.
Insane price.... I'm beginning to wonder if I can ever afford to start my own business with these prices :S

Do they really think people will buy that?

As I recall, the last reason prices were so high was because they wouldn't release more barrels (causing more demand than supply) due to a failing US economy.

And I certainly fail to see how that's "the democrats fault".

So childish... this blame game.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I found this on powerlineblog.com:

For several decades, the Democratic Party has pursued policies designed to drive up the cost of petroleum, and therefore gas at the pump. Remarkably, the Democrats don't seem to have taken much of a political hit from the current spike in gas prices. Probably that's because most people don't realize how different the two parties' energy policies have been.


Congressman Roy Blunt put together these data to highlight the differences between House Republicans and House Democrats on energy policy:

ANWR Exploration House Republicans: 91% Supported House Democrats: 86% Opposed
Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

SUMMARY

91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas.

86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production of American-made oil and gas.

The statistics are contributed to Congressman Roy Blunt, but I couldn't find anything on his web site to back it up.

Be sure to check out the comment by 'ronnor' in the comments section in that link.

Originally posted by Scramjet76

As you can see... the cost of fuel skyrocketed under republican control too. This leads us to two possible conclusions:

1) It's a bi-partisan conspiracy
2) There is little lawmakers can do about the oil prices.

Oh, they COULD do something about it if they wanted to,

SOURCE

As that US Senate report noted:

“Until recently, US energy futures were traded exclusively on regulated exchanges within the United States, like the NYMEX, which are subject to extensive oversight by the CFTC, including ongoing monitoring to detect and prevent price manipulation or fraud. In recent years, however, there has been a tremendous growth in the trading of contracts that look and are structured just like futures contracts, but which are traded on unregulated OTC electronic markets. Because of their similarity to futures contracts they are often called “futures look-alikes.”

The only practical difference between futures look-alike contracts and futures contracts is that the look-alikes are traded in unregulated markets whereas futures are traded on regulated exchanges. The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 in the waning hours of the 106th Congress.

The impact on market oversight has been substantial. NYMEX traders, for example, are required to keep records of all trades and report large trades to the CFTC. These Large Trader Reports, together with daily trading data providing price and volume information, are the CFTC’s primary tools to gauge the extent of speculation in the markets and to detect, prevent, and prosecute price manipulation. CFTC Chairman Reuben Jeffrey recently stated: “The Commission’s Large Trader information system is one of the cornerstones of our surveillance program and enables detection of concentrated and coordinated positions that might be used by one or more traders to attempt manipulation.”

In contrast to trades conducted on the NYMEX, traders on unregulated OTC electronic exchanges are not required to keep records or file Large Trader Reports with the CFTC, and these trades are exempt from routine CFTC oversight. In contrast to trades conducted on regulated futures exchanges, there is no limit on the number of contracts a speculator may hold on an unregulated OTC electronic exchange, no monitoring of trading by the exchange itself, and no reporting of the amount of outstanding contracts (“open interest”) at the end of each day.” 1

All Congress would have to do is regulate these electronic exchanges again, they are the ones that opened the door for the speculators to manipulate the price of oil and they can also close that door.

Why they haven't done it yet, I have no idea.

Maybe they, and all their buddies, are making too much money now.

[edit on 6/9/2008 by Keyhole]

I have news for everyone in this thread. It is all of the aboves fault both democrats and republicans fault. The high oil has nothing to do with supply and demand and everything to do with the weakening dollar which is caused by the government spending all sorts of money we dont have. If it was a supply and demand issue we would not see gold and silver rising like it has been it would be just oil going up. But EVERYTHING is going up and you can thank your government and its polices of policing the world, policing us, welfare state, nanny state, and all of the other fun things the government loves to spend yours and my tax dollars on. So to hide all of these expenses they keep taxes low so we dont complain. But it has to come from somewhere so we PRINT the money and it devalues it.

Dont let the government turn you into sheeple they are spinning this in every direction and the DO NOT want to talk about the real reasons for this. In fact its usually the reasons the government doesnt like to talk about which is the true reasons.

Heres a video someone made its a short 2 min video but it explains it so any idiot can understand....

reply to post by mybigunit



Bravo!!
Well Spoken my friend. Why is it nobody wants to talk about the real reasons when it comes to the economy and oil? The Federal Reserve MUST be abolished! America must convert to different sources of energy and find ways in the near future to reduce the demand for oil! The reason IMO is too many people are making too much money on everyones misery.

reply to post by mybigunit



By the way nice name

Originally posted by Sublime620
Do they really think people will buy that?

As I recall, the last reason prices were so high was because they wouldn't release more barrels (causing more demand than supply) due to a failing US economy.

And I certainly fail to see how that's "the democrats fault".

I think what the poster is referring to is Pelosi's 2004 promise that if Democrats won back control of Congress they had a "commone sense" plan to deal with rising fuel prices.

So, if the cost of gaoline is not actually the dem's fault, it can certainly be shown to be as yet another failure to carry through on a key campaign promise by the dems. Pandering at its finest, I suppose.

Also, funny how some claim to hate the "blame game" - but only when it's pointed at one of their sacred cows. Hypocrisy at its finest, I suppose.

I blame greedy shareholders. The oil industry consistently announces record profits. I don't begrudge people a little profit and five or six homes (and 50 servants and 10 Hummers), but when it's killing the country, I'd like to think a good American would say, "I can do with less for the good of my fellow citizens."

Stupid me.

reply to post by mybigunit


Who ever made that video is right, but he's also wrong. Indeed, inflation is a major issue in the price of gasoline these days and that commodities tend to maintain equal relationships in value to one another. Hence, (x) amount of silver will always buy (y) amount of gas, more or less, anyway. However, note that he pulls a fast one here: he quotes the value of a gallon of gas in 1947 as 'about a quarter' yet the value of a gallon of gas in 2008 as 'about a quarter of an ounce of silver.'

The problem? We don't know what the value of a quarter of an ounce of silver was in 1947. Its an apples-to-oranges comparison in the manner presented. A quarter ounce of silver was worth about $.18 in 1947, BTW. Its still close enough that it doesn't invalidate the point, but its a correction that needs to be made.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Nobody in the goverment gives a damn,because they're rich off of our hard earned cash.The Democrats,The Republicans,thy're all the same,a bunch of con artists.There's only the illusion that they are any different perpetrated by the goverment and illuminati run news organizations.The USA, a nation that runs on fear and consumation.



[edit on 9-6-2008 by romantic_insomniac]

reply to post by centurion1211


Actually, it has nothing to do with any sacred cow. I don't really hold anything sacred.

I just don't like when the parties blame each other to divert the fact that they are useless. Promise after promise, finger pointed after finger pointed, and still nothing ever gets done.

reply to post by centurion1211


I think you're right on one point. By blaming many problems, including fuel prices on the Bush administration, they have, by extension, created an expectation that they can solve these problems. They've basically painted themselves into a corner on this and other issues. So what happens if/when Obama is elected and they have to start making good on all of these campaign promises? I can tell you this: with Congressional approval ratings even lower than Bush's, the honeymoon won't last long. The Dems have created high expectations and will be expected to meet those expectations early.

So in the end, its just useless politics as usual, but the Dems can blame themselves for it. They've made themselves wide open to this line of attack from their opposition by making campaign promises in the past that they either cannot keep or had no intention of keeping.

All it would take is a major push by the United States to become oil independent. Open up ANWAR and the 81% of our coastline that is off-limits to drilling. China is drilling 50 miles off the coast of Florida yet we can't because of stupid enviromental regulations.

To all the people that say "We won't see results for 10 years", well Clinton vetoed drilling in ANWAR 10 years ago, influenced no doubt by the enviro-whacko lobbyists. If we start drilling today, the oil speculators will see the big picture and start shorting oil, then boom, lower prices immediately.

Democrats will do nothing until after the Presidential election, because they know bad news is good for them, and good news is not. Sad but true.

Start drilling now....anywhere and everywhere!

Originally posted by Sublime620
reply to post by centurion1211

 

Actually, it has nothing to do with any sacred cow. I don't really hold anything sacred.

I just don't like when the parties blame each other to divert the fact that they are useless. Promise after promise, finger pointed after finger pointed, and still nothing ever gets done.

Correct and nothing gets done by any of them because they dont follow the constitution which lays out the limits of government. If we just look at history and the constitution we would see that our government of today WAYYYYY oversteps their boundaries on what they should and should not be into. Until our government wakes up and this is democrats and republicans then $4 a gallon of gas will be a wet dream as we pull up to the pump and pay $10 a gallon.

The way I see if we have 2 options to get us out of this mess

A. Raise taxes

B. Follow the constitution and quit being a world police/nation builder, quit the nanny state, quit the police state, and quit the welfare state. We follow the constitution there would be no income taxes and our dollar would be strong as hell. Until then everyone apply the K.Y accordingly.

Originally posted by RRconservative
All it would take is a major push by the United States to become oil independent. Open up ANWAR and the 81% of our coastline that is off-limits to drilling. China is drilling 50 miles off the coast of Florida yet we can't because of stupid enviromental regulations.

To all the people that say "We won't see results for 10 years", well Clinton vetoed drilling in ANWAR 10 years ago, influenced no doubt by the enviro-whacko lobbyists. If we start drilling today, the oil speculators will see the big picture and start shorting oil, then boom, lower prices immediately.

Democrats will do nothing until after the Presidential election, because they know bad news is good for them, and good news is not. Sad but true.

Start drilling now....anywhere and everywhere!

RR did u even read the posts above. The gas has nothing to do with Anwar its the dollar. You keep bashing on Clinton but wasnt gas around $1.50 under Clinton? Why because he had a strong dollar policy. Dont be a sheeple its Repubs and Dems fault and I recommend you read all the posts.