Democrats and hoaxes
Monday, Nancy Pelosi called President Bush’s lifting of the Executive Order banning off-shore drilling a “hoax”. She said that it would do nothing to lower the price of gasoline today. Instead, she said we should he should release the oil in our strategic reserve – gasoline for about 34 days consumption (we use about 20,687,000 barrels/day and there are 700,000,000 barrels in the strategic reserve). Yeah, that’ll help.
So let’s look at Obama’s plan. He must have a plan that lowers our needs today, since that’s Nancy Pelosi’s biggest concern;
Obama’s plan will reduce oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels per day, by 2030. This will more than offset the equivalent of the oil we would import from OPEC nations in 2030.
[…]
Obama will double fuel economy standards within 18 years.
[…]
He’ll also establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal.
[…]
Obama will require 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be included in the fuel supply by 2022 and will increase that to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030.
Yup, all of that will help Americans today, I’m sure. We’ll all feel so good about ourselves that our general collective vibe will just drive the price of gasoline to new lows. Now that’s change we can believe in.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Economy, Politics
Pelosi is half right. Newt Gingrich wants the President to dump 1/3 of the strategic reserves on the market to punish oil speculators. It was part of a longer speech he gave recently. You can watch it on YouTube. It was hugely interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWYTFS6yR20
Jonn wrote: But Pelosi’s plan to just release the reserves and not drill our own resources is just a half-measure. One that will be forgotten within weeks. I agree with selling off a portion of it, as long as there’s a longer term plan.
Jonn,
People in glass houses:
“More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress critical of oil companies have investments in the industry, according to a review of lawmakers’ financial assets.
At least 14 Democratic members of the House and one senator have holdings ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars in companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. or partnerships such as Schlumberger and Hornbeck Offshore Services.
These lawmakers have accused oil companies for making record profits, manipulating prices, benefiting from unnecessary tax breaks and trying to gobble up federal lands.
Democrats argue that their criticisms of the oil industry show they are willing to do what is best for Americans despite their own financial interests.
“I always vote against the companies I own,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). “I don’t give a damn.”
Cohen owns $15,000-$50,000 of stock in Chevron, $50,000-$100,000 in Exxon Mobil, and $15,000-$50,000 in Schlumberger, a highly profitable oil-services company that provides technical expertise and equipment.
While many Republican lawmakers also have investments in the oil and gas sector, Democrats have generally been much more critical of the role oil companies have played in rising gas prices.”
Link: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-willing-to-criticize-oil-despite-holding-stock-2008-07-01.html
Democrats put on a dog and pony show; berating oil company execs and benefiting from the profits raked in from skyrocketing prices, all the while.
If/when the bottom falls out of the market thanks in part to the antics of these assclowns, they’ll be the first to blame the oil execs and the (next) Republican administration.