How Bush Pushed Gasoline Prices Sky High
 

On March 5, 2003, Senator Carl Levin, the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate?s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report prepared by the minority staff that reveals why gasoline prices soared under the Bush administration. It has to do with the nation?s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and some odd decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) after consulting with White House officials.

According to the Senate Report, the Bush administration added forty million barrels of oil to the nation?s reserves in 2002. That wouldn?t be a problem in and of it self. But the purchases represented an extreme change in energy policy; they were made in a strong market, with a tight supply of oil, which increased demand, which in turn pushed up the gasoline prices to their highest levels in twelve years.

The Senate report said in a one-month period in mid 2002 the Bush administration purchases caused crude oil prices to soar, raising the cost of heating oil by 13%, jet fuel by 10% and diesel fuel by 8%. The bottom line was the Bush policy change cost citizens between $500 million and $1 billion.

When crude oil jumps from $20 a barrel to $30, the Senate report says, the costs to U.S. taxpayers are an additional $1 million per day. ?Over three months, the additional cost of filling the SPR approached $100 million,? which will ultimately be borne by U.S. taxpayers.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Energy/H...0so%20High.htm

Post from Left Wing political site, thats like me posting Sean Hannity links...

you are gayer than AIDS

:sleep :sleep

Says the inbred sheep fucking texan.

No he finally has a point......Bush is in oil and it is a confect off interest.
everyone said Nixon sucks but he did have a nice windfall tax put on the gas companies when they pulled this shit last time. But you know what happened to him after that....

Bush is nothing but bad business for this country. And it will take an amazing person to get us out of all the problems that he has created.

Sorry bro you knew it was coming....

http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/t...infoil-hat.jpg

No suprise.

ummm gas is not sky high infact its still quite cheap. Most water/juice is more expenive.

Says the blindman ...

http://www.greatguy.com/Blind_man.jpg

But what part of that opinion/article is false ?

First, is the price of oil at a record high ??? If you answer no, then you are ok. keep on.

And if an apple grower became president and then apple juice went up to $10 a bottle would you be posting charts of apple juice prices for the past 25 years?

?? wtf ?

I dont have a president. We have a prime minister. And i'm not talking about apples, i think your confused. if you notice the thread was about gasoline prices. It doesnt matter who your talking about, nobody caused gas to "sky rocket" because it hasn't skyrocketed. The chart has nothing to do with bush or any president , its simply a gas prices chart showing prices haven't really changed much.

Ya but you don't have to buy 40 gals a week of juice....

http://www.pitbullsaloon.com/A_View/...h&Abdullah.jpg

If that's not a close friendship what is?

The minute Bush took office supported by Texas oil money and the close relations they have with the Saudi royal family you could bet your sweet bippy the price of oil was going to skyrocket.

The oil companies are making more money than ever.

OPEC is pumping 28 Milllion Barrels a day now and raking in $1.5 Billion a Day.

We also had to help keep Russia strong financially. They're pumping about 9 Million Barrels a day or about $1 Billion in income every 2 1/2 days.

Follow the money trail and you'll always find where the deals were made.

Actually :) i do go through alot of juice.. It might even be close.

But seriously. Gas is cheaper than bottled water and its a hell of a lot harder to get..

First you have to take x-rays of the ground to find it. Then you have to build a giant drill to get down to it. Then you have to pipe down another expensive liquid so the oil can be sucked up properly , then you have to suck it out of the ground and store it in a ship , then you have to ship it across the world to another plant , where you have to refine it with tons of other chemicals , then you have to ship it around in trucks to local gas stations and sell it with expensive measuring devices.

Seems hella hard to me. To get bottled water you just build a plant next to a lake and siphon the water out into bottles and sell it. And you make twice as much.

Sounds like a Woodward & Bernstein in the making
:thumbsup

Your point has a certain validity, but if you would also compare to other consumer goods and services, it would then show the real thruth.

I don't have a chart of consumer prices, but I have a feeling that oil went up more than other goods ( aside from houses, but that is an investment, not an outright expenses).

But you cannot argue that the top brass of this administration is bathing in oil ....

Yeah, I find that very fucking odd. Right after a major terrorist attack and right before we went to the war in the Middle East. Go figure.

Come already. I hate defending Bush but don't sling bullshit around.

No Clinton ran the reserves low to keep prices lower in the Summer of 2000 to help elect Al Gore. The SPR is used only in war time and Clinton released 30 million barrels that summer. Just like Clinton didn't replace Army Personnel, missles, bombs and Oil it fell on Bush to put these back on track and your good media keep covering up Clintons missteps.

You people want to bash Bush everytime you can but do a fast Google search on the subject and the history on the issue almost always goes back to fixing something Clinton did !

Truth be told though, I used that exact same graphic in a conversation I had here last year. www.chartoftheday.com generated it on August 27, 2003... so it's over a year old, and the chart itself may possibly be using 'predicted' numbers (not sure). Here's the latest official data, directly from the EIA:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub...pump-price.gif

According to the official numbers provided, gasoline prices are around 45% higher than last year, and diesel prices are a whopping 65% higher.

2 years ago, people had no reason to bitch and I said as much. Nowadays, with gas prices going back to OPEC 80s price levels there's a genuine cause for griping. Hopefully, unlike then, people will wake the fuck up and start putting pressure and cash towards developing alternative energy sources, and perhaps drive cars that get better milage. I won't hold my breath on that though. :2 cents:

I do find it somewhat amusing that they put the little 'tail down' in projected prices... waiting on that much-bemoaned 'lack of stability' whereever oil is, I suppose. It's coming Real Soon Now, Trust Us(tm). :winkwink:

If you go to the EIA and grab historical data on gas prices, you'll see there was a heavy upward spike prior to 9-11. You really should look at the numbers before making claims. Prices fluctuated from 1.59 to as high as 1.85 prior to 9-11, and then DROPPED substantially, to a low of 1.18, in the months following, before resuming a steady climb.

All the data can be found here.

You may also want to additionally note that prices during the duration of the clinton administration were held essentially static, fluctuating between 1.20-1.60 in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Clinton ran the reserves low by releasing 30 million barrels?? That is less than 10% of the 569 million barrel reserve. You call that running it low? Fucking right wing spin bullshit. Its been over 4 years since Clinton and gas prices have rose 66 cents in the last year. Yea, thats Clintons fault you moron.

You might have a point there, if it was true.

Shame that it isn't true. :1orglaugh

Look at the numbers: In the summer of 2000, gas prices spiked to a high of $1.83, the highest it had been in over a decade. In fact, as I recall, there were rumours amongst the tinfoil crowd that the oil boys had conspired to cause problems at the pumps that could be used against Gore.

Honestly, you people that pull numbers out of your ass and parade them around as fact when the real numbers can be found with a 5 minute google search. :disgust

both of those charts show gas at about 2 dollars but here in so cal its anywhere from 2.40-3.00 per gallon.

Those are rates for the post-refinement gasoline itself. It doesn't take into account transportation, taxes, surcharges and profits at the pumps... the guys selling slushies gots to keep those slack-jawed window-washing slackers in jobs doncha know. :winkwink:

(Spoken as a former slack-jawed window-washing slacker :thumbsup )

Hm... I just noticed something. Looking at that graph, it would appear that gas prices have basically doubled, in terms of 'real', inflation-adjusted dollars, since bush took office.

Ouch. :winkwink:

OMFG you are an idiot. We went from the best economy since the baby boom, to the worst economy since the depression.Ol' Bush did it in 4 years, imagine what it's gonna be like in 4 more.

Don't try and blame the bad economy on Clinton either. Bush has had 4 years to straighten things out, if Clinton fucked things up so bad. Have you heard the news lately, inflation is rearing it's ugly head. Guess that is Clintons fault to, you stupid conservative pornographer. :321GFY

I'm not a bush supporter but I don't see the gas prices as his fault. There was a great article written about this a little while back. Crude oil is at an all time high per barrel which has a lot to do with the price of gas. The main reason for this is simple. The opec nations have decided to cap the amount they will deliver every day. With the economies of china and countries in eastern europe begining to develop strongly they need more oil because they are still, more than the US, oil reliant countries. This increase in need has brought about more buyers for the commodity market. So with more buyers and the same amount being produced the price goes up. So the price of gas has very little to do with bush ( yes he could release some of the oil reserve we have or choose to not grow it, but if it were up to me I would rather we keep that rainy day ) and it has everything to do with emerging markets around the globe

Oh but havent you heard? The economy is always due to the previous administration. These people would love you to believe Clintons economy was because of Bush and Reagan. I'd like to see a CEO of a major corp use this analogy and blame his predacessor of 4 years ago for the current state of his company. He would be laughed out of the board room.

I'd suggest that OPEC has less 'decided' to cap and more that they are incapable of producing a substantial increase in output. They're running pretty close to full tilt (98% capacity, as I recall although I can't find a citation at the moment) and there are serious and growing concerns about how much oil they actually have left (the 'technical reserves') versus the amount they claim to be able to deliver (the 'political reserves').

It's strange to watch all these pundits on financial channels and shows, the same ones who believe so fervently in the 'invisible hand', not seeing its work where it's most obvious: Oil is expensive because speculators anticipate shortage, driving demand up... and due to the relatively inelastic market at these prices, oil could well go up a long way before there's a serious throttling back of consumption. Perhaps they typify what T.S.Elliot claimed, that ?humankind cannot stand very much reality.?

I guess I have to walk to work now.

Nah. You don't have to.

You may WANT to... save a couple bucks and be healthier and all that... :thumbsup

much is this may be true. I don't know that the opec nations are capable of producing much more oil. But I agree with you that oil will have to skyrocket before we would conserve. They could kick the price of gas up to $5.00 a gallon tomorrow and we would bitch, but we would buy just as much.

I've heard some economists suggest prices would have to go as high as $10.00/gal before serious changes would happen. They figure $5/gal could be absorbed, citing prices nearly at that level in some european countries (of course, euros have smaller countries with generally better public transportation as alternatives to driving a daily commute... but realistically, we're all just gazing into the crystal ball here anyways right?)

http://www.chartoftheday.com/20030827.gif

okay well this chart is way off I am sorry but sence 9/11 gas prices have been up to 2.83 here in san diego, before that sence 94 gas prices have been no higher then 1.12

Ditch that graph. It's nearly 2 years old now. Post #20 has the real goods. :thumbsup

Bush is also responsable for the Boom in Indian and China thats driving their huge demand for oil

Thanks to those who voted for Bush :1orglaugh

So Bush is the one to blame.. the damn fucker !

The chart represents "average" prices WITH inflation. And yes the chart smeone else pointed is much better, and still proves my point. Gas prices are fairly cheap when you consider what it is and how hard it is to get :)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

bush is a war criminal

You don't understand volume, do you?

Johnny Walker Blue is $200 a litre, I guess that means oil is cheap. :helpme

Why would we keep Russia financially strong?

Warheads?

Just to keep them from selling their nukes, is that it?

man are some people clueless - in wartime reserves are always increased - had hitler not run out of gas/oil in the last year of warII we may all be speaking german right now -

:1orglaugh


oh my

Gas in the US is way too cheap.

It's a limited natural resource, it pollutes the atmosphere.

A low price means Americans drive gas guzzlers, waste this resource, import something they need less of and dirty the world.

Put the price up to $4.00 a gallon and save the world and the US defecit.

But then Americans would be pissed off and not vote for the man. Send 1000+ Americans to their graves for no reason, get re elected, put up the price of oil and get you arse kicked out of office.

KRL, you math is way off
Russia is not part of Opec, russian crude is sold at much lower prices
about $36 a barrel right now. It was about $17 a barrel about 2 years ago.

In addition Russian oil is of much lower quality than Saudi oil.