President Barack Obama says one answer to high gasoline prices is to spend money developing renewable energy sources.Another answer, of course, would be to work seriously with ... I'll let you fill in the blank. There's more than one correct answer.
I can't make this stuff up. Those who seriously think wind turbines are the answer live in a different world than I do.
The interesting thing is that $5.00 gasoline disproportionately hurts the administration's base and its supporters: college students (those lucky enough to own cars, as the President said the other day), the poor, the unemployed, the lower middle class.
By the way, regarding the "need to spend more money," whose money is he talking about? The country is broke. Hello.
If the price goes up to $5 then it goes to $5 because that's what the market deems the price to be. It's called capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI always roll my eyes when I hear my fellow "Republicans" complain about the price of gas and how the government should step in to fix it then later complain about government regulations.
I am not aware of any "Reagan Republicans" who want the government to step in and "fix" the price of oil.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't.
No, it isn't "capitalism". Capitalism is private ownership. There are large portions of petroleum that are government owned (I e OPEC) . Also, the futures markets are prone to out and out gambling. For example, anyone can sell oil even though they have no means to deliver. Anyone can buy oil even though they have no means to accept delivery. These facts set up conditions for wild price swings based on factors other than pure supply and demand.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's capitalism. What else would it be? Socialism?
ReplyDeleteAnyone can buy oil even though they have no means to accept delivery....but they have to sell before the contract expires. If the contract expires and they still own the oil, it will be delivered or held...somewhere. And whoever holds the contract will be paying storage fees. That would all be part of capitalism.
You are correct. The current price of oil is only partly due to supply and demand.
I posit that in today's market, oil priced between $60 and $90 is due to supply and demand, global economy, concerns in the Mideast, etc, in other words, the fundamentals; while the price of oil moving above $100 is due to the weakness of the dollar.
Oil above $100 is like gold above $1200.