Why?

[KevinWestern]

Hmmm.. If I recall it was right about that time that George Bush lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, with Congress following suit in September of 2008.

Maybe that played a small role (very small role) in the reason why prices dropped, but I don't think that moratorium lifting was the anywhere near the primary reason gas fell by almost 60% between June and November.

The primary reason (in my opinion) was that when the economy slowed down, crashed, demand for oil also fell and thus brought the price down with it. Plus, we were just coming off a huge oil price spike, so the resulting price fall was also "over correcting" and dramatically low (hitting rock bottom in in Oct-Nov 2008). It quickly bounced back up in the months following.

 

[Wiseacre]

Far as I'm concerned, Bush is old news. Comparing him with Obama or the repubs then to the dems now is OBE. I look at what Obama's energy policy is and what he's done while in office with respect to energy and the price of oil.

IMHO, his record is not so good. When I see that this president won't okay the XL Pipeline after 3 years of study, when I see a president that wouldn't permit drilling to resume in the Gulf even after a federal judge ordered him to, when I see the president wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on companies like Solyndra instead of opening up federal lands, ANWAR, and offshore sites to increase our own supply of oil so we are not dependent on our enemies, that tells me he doesn't give a rat's ass about gas prices. And in fact his energy sec'y has said in the past that they need to find a way to bring gas prices up to what they are in Europe.

Conclusion: the environmentalists have this president by the balls. Don't know why, but they definitely do.

 

[Vel]

Hmmm.. If I recall it was right about that time that George Bush lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, with Congress following suit in September of 2008.

Maybe that played a small role (very small role) in the reason why prices dropped, but I don't think that moratorium lifting was the anywhere near the primary reason gas fell by almost 60% between June and November.

The primary reason (in my opinion) was that when the economy slowed down, crashed, demand for oil also fell and thus brought the price down with it. Plus, we were just coming off a huge oil price spike, so the resulting price fall was also "over correcting" and dramatically low (hitting rock bottom in in Oct-Nov 2008). It quickly bounced back up in the months following.

Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that soon after Obama took office he re-instated the drilling moratoriums.

 

[paulitician]

Boooooosh Racist!!!!

 

[Sweet Willy]

Ok, wait a minute. Didn't we lift the moratorium on drilling already? I thought this happened a while back? I know deep water drilling ban was lifted after BP got cleaned up but i thought we had opened up a whole bunch of off shore exploratory stuff too. Am I wrong about this?

Again... the conversation seems to be drifting into a bizarro world for me.

 

[paulitician]

Boooosh Hitla!!!!!

 

[KevinWestern]

Conclusion: the environmentalists have this president by the balls. Don't know why, but they definitely do.

You make good points, but just to play devil's advocate, are low gas prices today worth trillions of dollars of damage (or more) to our environment 50-100 years down the road?

I think that debate is at least worthy of discussion, which is why I think the Dems are holding out on the Keystone Pipeline.

 

[paulitician]

Booooosh AWOL!!!

 

[boilermaker55]

Did democrats hammer President Bush over high gas prices. doyathink?



Go.

It sure makes me wonder why individuals like you never ever blame the real source.
Those on wall street might have a bigger hand in the price of oil in this country.
Ever hear of speculators in the trading market, specifically in the oil market.
Right.
Never pressure those people, keep it all political.

 

[paulitician]

Booooosh COWBOY!!!

 

[KevinWestern]

Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that soon after Obama took office he re-instated the drilling moratoriums.

Now you're just being silly. Let me just lay this straight for you:

(Information via Michael Canes, former Chief Economist of the American Petroleum Institute)

"Any such impact would be slight at best because worldwide production and consumption of oil at the time was about 85 million barrels per day, whereas new offshore U.S. discoveries from lifting of the moratorium likely would have yielded production of several hundred thousand barrels per day to maybe a million barrels per day, not many millions. While every bit helps, such incremental amounts could not have reduced world prices by over one hundred dollars per barrel".

Correlation is not causation.

I think your argument is incorrect.

 

[paulitician]

Obama-Bot programming: High Gas Prices BOOOOOSH = BAAAAD!! High Gas Prices Dear Leader = GOOOOD!

 

[Steelplate]

Booooosh COWBOY!!!

Pawwwwwlllll...MORON!!!!

 

[paulitician]

Booooosh COWBOY!!!

Pawwwwwlllll...MORON!!!!

Whatever. You know you used that pussy line a time or two.

 

[Vel]

Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that soon after Obama took office he re-instated the drilling moratoriums.

Now you're just being silly. Let me just lay this straight for you:

(Information via Michael Canes, former Chief Economist of the American Petroleum Institute)

At the time of the moratorium lift, the worldwide production/consumption of oil was about 85 million barrels. It's believed that by lifting the moratorium, only about an additional hundred thousand barrels would be added to that mix, maybe maximum a million additional. Less than 1 million barrels a day from the US is not enough to drive oil prices down by $100/barrel.

That's a fallacy, Vel.

Your problem is that you're looking at only numbers and not the psychological impact of the moratoriums. It would be the same type of impact as suddenly announcing a truly viable and affordable alternative energy source.

 

[Steelplate]

Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that soon after Obama took office he re-instated the drilling moratoriums.

Now you're just being silly. Let me just lay this straight for you:

(Information via Michael Canes, former Chief Economist of the American Petroleum Institute)

"Any such impact would be slight at best because worldwide production and consumption of oil at the time was about 85 million barrels per day, whereas new offshore U.S. discoveries from lifting of the moratorium likely would have yielded production of several hundred thousand barrels per day to maybe a million barrels per day, not many millions. While every bit helps, such incremental amounts could not have reduced world prices by over one hundred dollars per barrel".

Correlation is not causation.

That's a fallacy, Vel.

Yeah... ya know... just for the sake of your own sanity? Try not to reason with these people so much... they aren't going to listen. In fact, they'll just label you as a Communist...

They aren't interested in discussion... only the blind adherence to their ideology. Lately, I'm finding it much more satisfying to sink to their level and treat them as they treat anyone with a dissenting opinion. Funny thing is... they don't like it when it's done to them....so perhaps there is hope for serious discussion and perhaps some real solutions that all can live with.... I doubt it, but...who knows?

 

[Inthemiddle]

Your problem is that you're looking at only numbers and not the psychological impact of the moratoriums. It would be the same type of impact as suddenly announcing a truly viable and affordable alternative energy source.

Oh, boo-fucking-hoo. I can hear the oil execs now:

It just hurt me little psyche, all those mean ol' mortatoriums. I just HAD to charge 4 times more for me oil, I just HAD to!

 

[paulitician]

He wasn't a Democrat.

 

[Steelplate]

Perhaps that might have something to do with the fact that soon after Obama took office he re-instated the drilling moratoriums.

Now you're just being silly. Let me just lay this straight for you:

(Information via Michael Canes, former Chief Economist of the American Petroleum Institute)

At the time of the moratorium lift, the worldwide production/consumption of oil was about 85 million barrels. It's believed that by lifting the moratorium, only about an additional hundred thousand barrels would be added to that mix, maybe maximum a million additional. Less than 1 million barrels a day from the US is not enough to drive oil prices down by $100/barrel.

That's a fallacy, Vel.

Your problem is that you're looking at only numbers and not the psychological impact of the moratoriums. It would be the same type of impact as suddenly announcing a truly viable and affordable alternative energy source.

Psychological impact? Really? The psychological impact of 1/85 decrease of production, or the psychological impact or right wing hate media screaming that the sky is falling? Which is more accurate?

 

[Rocko]

Your problem is that you're looking at only numbers and not the psychological impact of the moratoriums. It would be the same type of impact as suddenly announcing a truly viable and affordable alternative energy source.

Oh, boo-fucking-hoo. I can hear the oil execs now:

It just hurt me little psyche, all those mean ol' mortatoriums. I just HAD to charge 4 times more for me oil, I just HAD to!

What exactly are you in the middle of?