"Sorry, Mitt [and Newt], the President Doesn't Get to Set Gas Prices.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/obama-sets-gas-prices-just-another-gop-myth.html?_r=2

"ROBERT B. SEMPLE Jr, NYT Editorial Page" wrote:

If only the president had the power to give us $2.50-a-gallon gasoline, as Newt Gingrich promised to do if he got to the White House. It is ridiculous to think that a president can.

...

One can sympathize with consumers feeling the pain of higher gas prices. But the fundamental truth is that those prices are tied to the price of oil, set by world markets. There are peaks and valleys, but their causes — a worldwide recession, an embargo or conflict in the Middle East — are beyond the control of any one country. As the chart below shows, gasoline prices rise and fall in the same pattern throughout the world. Americans historically pay much less at the pump because they pay lower taxes; when the price of a gallon spikes at $3.70 in the United States, it is closer to $8 in, say, Germany.

Because oil is a global commodity, increasing domestic production will do very little to bring down retail prices, although it does help narrow the trade deficit as America spends less on imports. On this score, America is doing much better than the Republicans will admit. In 2005, oil imports accounted for nearly 60 percent of America’s daily consumption. In 2010, for the first time in recent memory, imports were less than half of consumption, and last year, imports were only 45 percent — 8.6 million barrels a day of the 19 million consumed. There are two reasons for this welcome shift: production is up and oil consumption is down. Production of crude oil and other liquid fuels, onshore and offshore, reached about 10.3 million barrels daily in 2011, its highest level since the late 1980s.

Oh, come on. Obama is responsible for everything negative and nothing positive.:rolleyes:

My darling Bob had a nice closing commentary about gas prices this past Sunday:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50121772n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Well, of course they don't set the actual prices, but they can influence the conditions. All they need to do is invade Iran, Saudi and Venezuela, seize the oil, and ship it back, while making it illegal to export petroleum from the US. Which they probably will.

Simple, really.

That has never stopped the "other party" from bitching.

The Democrats did and do the same thing.

[YOUTUBE]tbzzeuYJteY[/YOUTUBE]

There are plenty more of them if you'd like to see them.

classicman;802457 wrote:

That has never stopped the "other party" from bitching.

The Democrats did and do the same thing.


There are plenty more of them if you'd like to see them.

This is true. And of course I think an oil family like the Bushes would be more likely to be at fault that is why I posted Bob's commentary. He said the same thing that you said. It's always happened.

But we can blame Putin!

Also note that the 14 BILLION dollar plan she directed didn't do shit to lower prices.
jus sayin.

classicman;802464 wrote:

Also note that the 14 BILLION dollar plan she directed didn't do shit to lower prices.
jus sayin.

How can you say that ? :eek:

Pelosi (the Nazi witch, and source of all evil) was speaking in 2007,
and then, less than 18 months later the U.S. saw a precipitous drop
in gas prices from $4+ to less than $3 per gal.

Then, the GOP gained the House in 2010, and back
up went gas prices again to more than $4 per gal.

Nevermind any financial crises or OPEC production levels, the spells of
witches and correlations like that just can not be denied. :rolleyes:
.

Well in your scenario the 14 BILLION lowered prices for a grand total of 6 months...
Woo Hoo - Not. ;)

How about the $1 Trillion plan known as operation Enduring Freedom? :bolt:

classicman;802572 wrote:

Well in your scenario the 14 BILLION lowered prices for a grand total of 6 months...
Woo Hoo - Not. ;)

You seem bitter.

Me? not at all. Just thought about it after watching the video.

classicman;802572 wrote:

Well in your scenario the 14 BILLION lowered prices for a grand total of 6 months...
Woo Hoo - Not. ;)

Classic, I'm sure you know I was kidding.
I certainly don't believe Pelosi caused the 2009 drop in gas prices,
or that the GOP caused them to go back up again in 2010.

And likewise, I don't think Pelosi, Reid and/or Obama are
the sources of all things evil.

Higher or lower gas prices being attributed, one way or the other,
during an election year is a faux-issue.

Yes Lamp. I knew. I do not however think that Ibby was aware that "his team"
did the same thing and the "other team" before and that its been going on for decades.

Put $35 of gas in your car. Something like $5 moves the car. The rest is wasted as heat, noise, and pollution. If gasoline was so expensive, then we would have addressed this problem. We don't for one good reason. Gasoline remains cheap. Not if one is emotional. But the facts and numbers are that damning. Gas is so cheap that we waste that much of it.

Worry more about the price of milk - also approaching $4 per gallon.

Some organizations sell future contracts. They must have the fuel. When instability or fear exists, then these organizations consume and store fuel for crisis conditions. That also causes price swings. Normal and mostly trivial price changes that still get so many to become emotional.

If really concerned about gas prices, then never buy WaWa, Sheets, Hess, grocery store, US Gas, etc products. Because the actual price is something like 29 cents higher than its posted price per gallon. But again, many are only emotional. ignore facts. They buy convenience store gas because the price looks smaller. Add 29 cents to the posted price. That is what you are really paying if replacing feelings with facts.

tw;802665 wrote:

Some organizations sell future contracts. They must have the fuel. When instability or fear exists, then these organizations consume and store fuel for crisis conditions.

They could store and pay their contracts in oil, but it's more likely they just pay the contracts in cash, depending on how the security operates.

Undertoad;802666 wrote:

They could store and pay their contracts in oil, but it's more likely they just pay the contracts in cash,

If the Straits of Hormuz are threatened, future contracts say that oil must still be provided. So all over the world, oil tanks are topped off just in case. This causes price spikes that cause conspiracy buffs to invent evil. Welcome to a market where the actual price changes are not absorbed by the middlemen. Where price changes are near zero. Welcome to how all commodity prices really change.

Watch prices for electricity on the grid. Current prices are extremely stable. Currently at $19.6 per megawatt hour to $23.8 at the same minute. Prices can vary from $15 to $70 throughout the day. In the summer, those prices have risen to over $200. At one point, $400 per megawatt hour even when the grid was not overloaded. Why? In markets where price variations are actually seen by the consumer, these oil price variations are near zero.

But again, gas at $2.50 per gallon, $3.65 per gallon, and $6 per gallon is cheap. After all, what saw the largest increase in sales during the previous gas price jump? Largest SUVs. The lowest performance vehicles with the worst gas mileage were top sellers during that last price jump some years ago. Because gasoline prices are really so low. And price changes are trivial.

One can deal logically with the facts. Or let spin doctors and the local gossip News get then all childlike and emotional. When gasoline prices changed in the 1970s, those prices doubled. Did the $3 per gallon gas suddenly become $6? Only then were price variations worthy of historical note. Even electricity on the grid varies from $17 to $40 most every day.

Meanwhile, unstable news in the Persian Gulf (for political spin we now call it something different) means substantial oil is being stored all over the world. Causing a normal and tiny price spike.

Only the most excitable and emotional would entertain such local gossip news stories. Oil price changes are so tiny as to not even be relevant. But if you are a politician who gets elected by inciting the least educated and most childlike voters, then hype evil oil prices. Those are the people whose votes are manipulated by bogeymen. Gasoline at $6 per gallon is still cheap.

Addendum: ten minutes later, prices on the grid jumped to between $40.3 and $45.4. Where are the politicians hyping fears about our obsolete grid causing price spikes? It does not create fear and votes. Hyping near zero gas price changes does create a bogeyman.

future contracts say that oil must still be provided

Some do -- but others just pay the difference between the price of the security and the price of oil when the security matures.

Sometimes there is physical oil involved which is stockpiled. But even that oil may never be delivered, because the contract that is due is exchanged for another contract for the future.

In any case the futures markets reflect monetization of risk. Iran realizes this, and this may be why they are threatening: the price of oil then rises, which causes certain nations to ignore sanctions and trade with Iran anyway.




[1] If you saw "Trading Places" you realize that when Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice futures are bought and sold, there may be no actual juice present, just a report of how the orange crop is doing.

Damn you and your facts, UT.

It's the Pork Futures Warehouse in Discworld that is really creepy.

Undertoad wrote:

[1] If you saw "Trading Places" you realize that when Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice futures are bought and sold, there may be no actual juice present, just a report of how the orange crop is doing.

There's so much that Dan Akroyd can teach us, if only we'll listen.

Clodfobble;802813 wrote:

There's so much that Dan Akroyd can teach us, if only we'll listen.

Yup. When things go wrong, blame the juice.

:D

Undertoad;802735 wrote:

If you saw "Trading Places" you realize that when Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice futures are bought and sold, there may be no actual juice present, just a report of how the orange crop is doing.

And there is an 800 pound gorilla somewhere in the room.

My preference is to trade for the Swedish meatballs. I dream of futures trading.

Obama owns the rise in Gas prices, he can't dodge it. It happened on his watch and it is important that the fact that gas prices have damaged the economy while he was president is really an important fact to hammer during the upcoming election.

Quite the opposite, gas prices reflect demand which is driven by (worldwide) economic recovery.

Obama should lower gas prices by bombing Iran. Problem. Solved. :angel:

I agree with UT. As long as China and India, primarily, are wiling to pay more for it, the price will increase for us here. Its that Free Market capitalism thing I hear so much about from the right. Sucks when it works against you, eh?

And as long as the Middle East remains unstable (or potentially unstable).

To those who think the president controls the price of gas: gas prices have come down. Time to thank your president, Mr. Obama.

Spexxvet;816873 wrote:

To those who think the president controls the price of gas: gas prices have come down. Time to thank your president, Mr. Obama.

Good luck with that. They only BLAME the President for imagined things. Giving him CREDIT for ANYTHING, real or imagined, ain't gonna happen.

Sheldonrs;816881 wrote:

Good luck with that. They only BLAME the President for imagined things. Giving him CREDIT for ANYTHING, real or imagined, ain't gonna happen.

It's really funny watching them try to spin his accomplishments, those things he was able to achieve in spite of Congresses intransigence.

It sort of makes you wonder how they would have handled it if Jesus was a Democrat.

Speaker Boehner: Mr. Chairman, last night it was reported that Jesus turned water into wine. While many individuals were impressed by this act, I wish to point out that while Jesus appeared to have the capacity to do so, at no point did he turn water into beer. Jesus, it appears, is a snob. In addition, his healing of lepers was done without any form of compensation. This my friends, is socialized medicine at it's worst and may even descend into Communism. I for one am concerned about an elitist liberal having such an influence on our youth.

:D

Mr Chairman, my constituents needed that water!