Home / gasoline prices
Showing posts with label gasoline prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gasoline prices. Show all posts
An unfair comparison on price changes: "Gas Prices Grow More Under Obama than Carter"

An unfair comparison on price changes: "Gas Prices Grow More Under Obama than Carter"

Here is the claim from US News & World Report:
Under the Carter administration, gas prices increased by 103.77 percent. Gas prices since Obama took office have risen by 103.79 percent. No other presidents in recent years have struggled as much with soaring oil prices. Under the Reagan administration, gas prices actually dropped 66 percent. When Bill Clinton was president, gas prices grew by roughly 30 percent, and under both Bush presidencies, gas prices rose by 20 percent. . . .
So what is the problem? Except for the Obama administration, all these numbers are from the beginning to end of these administrations. In Obama's case, it is from the beginning to what is the highest point during the administration. If one would pick the highest points during these other administrations, they would also look much worse.

Gas taxes by state


Drivers in California, Illinois, and New York aren't going to get much sympathy for high gas prices given the taxes that they place on gasoline.  On top of that, you have to add additional local environmental regulations.
Obama administration’s energy policy chief on Tuesday gives himself an "A" grade

Obama administration’s energy policy chief on Tuesday gives himself an "A" grade

Can't the Obama administration give this guy some media advice? Wouldn't one think that this would be embarrassing statement? From Fox News:

The Obama administration’s energy policy chief on Tuesday gave himself an A for controlling gas prices that have reached a record high at pumps across the country, drawing criticism and even chortles from Washington Republicans.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu made the comment during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in which he was asked whether he was still doing A-minus work.
“Well, the tools we have at our disposal are limited, but I would say I would give myself a little higher,” he told committee Chairman Darrell Issa. “Since I became secretary of energy, I've been doing everything I can to get long-term solutions."
Issa, a California Republican, said later that the administration’s “DOE is DOA.”
The average price of regular gas is now $3.87 a gallon, a record high for March and more than double the $1.85 a gallon price when Obama took office in January 2009, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. . . .
Fox News: More on higher gas prices

Fox News: More on higher gas prices

My piece at Fox News discusses the high energy prices starts this way:

On Friday, President Obama announced that he was “making sure that my Attorney General is paying attention to potential speculation in the oil markets.” 23 Senators and 45 congressmen, all Democrats except for one independent, are calling for urgent action against the “speculators” they hold responsible.
These members of congress want the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its new regulatory powers under a law Obama signed two years ago to limit the amount of oil that speculators can buy.
This isn’t a new concern.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama campaigned against "the special interest politics that put the interests of Big Oil and speculators ahead of the interests of working people," and surely implied that an Obama administration would end these high prices by clamping down on speculation.
Possibly that is why a new Washington Post/ABC News survey released on Monday shows that soaring gas prices have taken a toll on Obama, with 50 percent of American's strongly disapproving of Obama's economic performance -- the highest in the poll's history. . . .


Interestingly, Energy Secretary Steven Chu walks away from his past support for higher energy prices, though is it a political conversion? Or is he just qualifying it so much that he is only walking away from it temporarily. It seems pretty clear that it is the later.

"Let me first respond to your first statement, Senator," Chu said. "Since I walked in the door as Secretary of Energy, I have been doing everything in my powers to do what we can to reduce -- as we see these gas prices spike -- to reduce these prices. And the administration, the president, and I personally, yes we do acknowledge and feel the pain of not only American consumers, but American businesses when they see these prices increase."

"Are you saying that you no longer share the view that we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in America?" Lee asked

"I no longer share that view," Chu said.

"You did then, but don't now?" asked Lee.

"When I became Secretary of Energy, I represented the U.S. government and I think that right now, in this economic very slow but -- you know, return that we need to have these prices … will effect the comeback of our economy and we're very worried about that. So of course we don’t want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down.” . . .
Nutty Sen. Bob Casey on oil prices

Nutty Sen. Bob Casey on oil prices

Do any of these Democrats understand that speculation smooths prices over time? That speculators make money by causing price differences to get smaller over time? This article also shows how dangerous the stupid Dodd-Frank bill is. From The Hill newspaper:

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.) is pressing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to help ease rising gasoline prices.
In a letter sent to CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler on Sunday, Casey called on the agency to implement a rule that would limit speculation in the oil market and is two years in the making.
“Consumers shouldn’t be forced to pay higher prices at the pump because of speculative bets on Wall Street,” Casey said.
“Nearly two years ago Congress gave the CFTC the tools to crackdown on speculation in the oil market, and with sky high prices at the pump it’s time they used it.”
The Dodd-Frank law gives the CFTC the authority to limit the ability of speculators on Wall Street to inflate the price of oil by putting in place position limits. . . .


UPDATE: Other Democrats get on board.

A letter Monday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 23 senators and 45 House members underscores how gas prices have soared to the top of the political agenda on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. . . .
“It is one of your primary duties — indeed, perhaps your most important — to ensure that the prices Americans pay for gasoline and heating oil are fair, and that the markets in which prices are discovered operate free from fraud, abuse and manipulation,” states the letter from lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). . . .

Gretchen Carlson grills Democratic Nation Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz over high gas prices




Carlson nails Wasserman on many issues, including the issue of gas prices (starting around the 4 minute mark).
Wasserman claims that it would take 20 years for drilling to impact gasoline prices. That is simply not serious. More gas supplies next month or next year or twenty years from now all work to lower the price of gasoline today. If prices are lower tomorrow than today, you will move gasoline available for consumption from the future periods to the current period. Gas will be less likely to be stored.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)