Happy Friday! Oil hit record-prices today: $103.05 per barrel. Bully for us…
That tops the inflation adjusted high of $102.53 set in 1980. Oil first inched over $100 to welcome in the new year on January 2nd and has hovered around $100 since then, routinely spiking into new record territory. Now we’ve blown past the final record: the inflation adjusted highs reached in the ’80s.
This news comes as analysts predict $4.00 per gallon gasoline when refiners switch over to reformulated blends in Spring.
Of course, you and I already know that. We see it every time we drive past a gas station, or god forbid, actually pull in to fill up our tanks!
You’d assume President Bush would be clearly aware of the state of gas prices as well, given how much they impact average Americans every day. Well, you might assume that about another president anyway… I wasn’t too shocked to learn that President Bush is actually completely clueless that gas prices are soaring towards $4.00!
In a press conference today, he revealed his complete ignorance of what life is like for real Americans on the street in an interview that began with a simple question from Peter Maer of CBS News. Here’s the transcript of the exchange, courtesy of NTYimes blog, “the Lede”:
Q: What’s your advice to the average American who is hurting now, facing the prospect of $4 a gallon gasoline, a lot of people facing –
MR. BUSH: Wait, what did you just say? You’re predicting $4 a gallon gasoline?
Q: A number of analysts are predicting –
MR. BUSH: Oh, yeah?
Q: — $4 a gallon gasoline this spring when they reformulate.
MR. BUSH: That’s interesting. I hadn’t heard that.
“I hadn’t heard of that?!” Seriously?! Well that explains a lot…
Like why President Bush has routinely blocked the US Congress’s fiscally responsible attempts to re-invest wasteful oil subsidies to kick-start new sources of clean, homegrown renewable energy.
Three times now, the House of Representatives of the 110th Congress has passed bills that would end wasteful subsidies to oil companies designed to spur domestic oil exploration at a time when oil priced in at about $20.00/barrel. With oil prices at record levels over five times higher than when Bush took office, it’s simply fiscally irresponsible to shower an industry recording record profits with taxpayer subsidies while denying the most promising and fastest growing clean, homegrown renewable energy technologies critical incentives that spur their growth.
The House passed their third attempt to correct this irresponsible tax spending and shift funds to extend critical renewable energy and energy efficiency tax credits, as well as support purchases of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Perhaps the third time’s a charm, but this victory could be short lived, with President Bush again threatening to veto and a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate expected (again!).
But I guess if President Bush doesn’t have a clue what oil and gasoline prices are really like these days, he can be forgiven for ignorantly and irresponsibly defending oil subsidies to Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and friends… These oil companies are incidentally reaping record profits off of the record prices paid by every-day Americans at the pumps, all while the economy tanks… But maybe President Bush doesn’t know that either.
So maybe we should go light on President Bush… After all, he doesn’t know any better!
But WE, the every day American tax payer do!
WE know that lavishing subsidies on established and highly profitable industries is a pretty poor use of taxpayer money.
We ALSO know that subsidizing the energy industries of the past will not help us solve the energy challenges of the future! To do that, we’re going to have to be Energy Smart! We’re going to have to invest in new, clean, domestic energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, energy efficiency, new 100+ mpg plug-in hybrid cars and more in order to have an energy supply that is sustainable, both environmentally AND economically.
WE know better, so let’s let the Senate and President Bush know it’s time to re-invest! Let your Senators know it’s time to be smart with our energy subsidies.
Tell the Senate to pass H.R. 5351 the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 so we can take a step towards a sustainable, prosperous and secure America!
[Update: For an excellent video, courtesy of MSNBC via Crooks and Liars, showing a clip of the President's press conference, as well as lots of hooey about why telecoms need immunity for spying on Americans, head here. Gotta love our Commander in Chief. I for one feel safe in his hands...]
Subscribe by Email!
Subscribe by RSS!
Share on Facebook
WOW Bush Dont Know about Gas gonan hit $4 a Gallon hes No Good For us wee need a new President
Soon
A hundred bucks still ain’t enough!
I think Don is a perfect example of why we need to spend a lot of money on education. Do we really want him voting????
Overweight conservatives getting the backlash from the numnuts with whom they put all of their eggs. When you have to walk to get your McDonald’s and Starbucks, will you?
And so continues the pathetic overconsumptionist conundrum…idiots.
I have read all the previous comments and frankly, I am surprised that no one gets it. Rising sweet crude is going up at a rate matching how quickly the US Dollar is going down due to inflation. Thanks to a number of issues…, financing the Iraq war.., corporate bailouts, along with providing financial support to foreign countries the dollar is reaching a point that it cannot compete globally. I predict 5 dollars a gallon by December. Merry Christmas. But do not blame OPEC.., blame the Federal Reserve for continuing to print money, thereby decreasing the value of the dollar.
“Inflation is by design for the purpose of enslaving all of mankind.”
Thanks to all your socialist, “concerned that we will disturb a few caribou in the artic plane”, “oh, I don’t want to see out of my telescope across the seas an off shore oil platform”, seirra club, environmental wackos….we now have to rely on towel headed anti American millionaires to dictate how poor we are going to get to pay for that gallon of gas….thanks a lot!!!
bush’s last day is 1/20/08 yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! with means were not going to have a retard for a president plus he”ll now whats its like paying almost $4.00 a gallon for gas i live in california and it $3.77 i live 20 minute from los angeles and its about $4.00 to $4.50
I cannot believe that BUSH is this dumb, or that David right
Thanks for that insight !!!
is so smart.
Part of the problem is that Congress and president
aren’t really accountable for their actions.. Running
a country with waste, fraud, and decisions that
are not economically sound seems to be a recipe
for a forthcoming disaster. They are good with
rhetoric, but weak in really showing results.
Read what Lee Iacocca thinks about Coongress
and the state of elected officials:
http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=wherehavealltheleadersgone
Regarding the “free printing of dollar bills”, maybe
it was a dumb idea to go off the gold standard
in the first place?
Anyway, the retired congressmen won’t complain when price
hits $10 a gallon, because they will be living a cushy
life style from their lucrative pensions…. which
is probably better than any PENSION or 401k plan.
I also think Congress needs a quarterly PUBLIC REPORT CARD so that
they stay on track and serve the public’s needs, and
avoid getting sidetracked on their own personal
vendetta.
I think the USA is going down the tubes, and
it worries me.
I am not a Bush fan, but the left is the pot calling the kettle black. Liberals don’t seem to understand the very simple forces of supply and demand. Price can be reduced by only 2 means; either increase supply (like the Republicans have been trying to do with domestic drilling and the subsidies for it), or reduce demand (which everyone has been trying to do, but I give more credit to the liberals with this). Lack of growth in domestic supply is the single greatest cause of the high price of petroleum now. Think about who has stood in the way of that, and, if the shoe fits, wear it!