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April 25, 2006Fill the tank? Find a noose? UPDATEDJason at Texas Rainmaker has a post - including graphs - which helps explain the dynamics of rising gas prices. You’ll want to read it: But let’s look at two things higher gas prices bring us: 1. Conservation - people generally don’t buy what they can’t afford And Henry Payne also looks at the government’s hand in rising prices. Second, the energy bill required that ethanol replace MTBE as an additive in gasoline to meet smog rules in urban areas. Because smog is heaviest in summer, oil companies are refining their “summer blends” now. Already struggling to meet the initial 4 billion gallon mandate, the ethanol industry cannot keep up with the additional demand from the MTBE mandate, resulting in shortages and price spikes. “We asked for a more orderly, two-year transition from MTBE to ethanol. But we didn’t get it,” Gilligan laments. An easier transition would have required offending another powerful group: the Democrat-allied trial lawyers. They await the potential windfall from lawsuits alleging MTBE has leaked from gas tanks and tainted groundwater. As long as MTBE was federally mandated, oil firms had legal cover. But the energy bill set a May 5 deadline for the transition — without any continuing liability protection for MTBE. Michigan’s proximity to ethanol production and its own corn crop means it has never depended on MTBE. But that hasn’t spared us from the gas spike. America’s coasts most need the smog-compliant gasoline, taxing ethanol supplies and driving up prices everywhere. I’m frankly tired of finger pointing and I’m tired of a congress so paralysed by partisanship that nothing effective can be done on - seemingly - any issue. I’m also becoming a little leery of the ease in which GOP’ers - many of whom I respect a great deal - jump on the Bush-Bashwagon every time an issue doesn’t play out exactly as they wish. (I am not speaking specifically of Jason, here, just of the general tone found in many blogs and forums). People act like he “invented” illegal immigration and oil dependency and over-regulation on his watch. They forget that both issues have been with us for 30+ years as president after president stepped deftly over them like a kid skipping over a deep puddle. Now, folks seem to think Bush should just wriggle his nose and make all of these issues right. Oh, and please do it while you’re trying to bring an entirely new world into shape in the Middle East, and while you’re dealing with an unprecedented media malevolence (and a treasonous CIA and State Department), and a War on Terror. And please make sure we don’t get attacked again, too. “Keep all those balls in the air, Mr. President, and pick up these ones over here, too…if you drop any, you’re a moron and a fiend. And we might stay home in November anyway, just to prove our point. We may as well! It’s like the Dems are in control, anyway.” Think about that for a second. Do you really think that it’s “like the Dems are in control, anyway?” Play it out in your imagination a little and then ask yourself if you really believe that. If you do, then we’re already sunk. Dr. Sanity has a thoughtful “analysis” of what sort of man we have in the WH. UPDATES: Bush is putting a hold on some of the environmental regulations to get more gas onto the market. While the Democrats are offering a temporary tax break. Heh. They’re going to race to see who can please the American public more and be called the “heroes” of this little crisis. Instapundit calls it a Rovian plot. John Hawkins has much, much more. Meanwhile, Varifrank solves the energy problem if we’d just listen. http://theanchoressonline.com/2006/04/25/fill-the-tank/trackback/ 8 Responses to “Fill the tank? Find a noose? UPDATED” |
April 25th, 2006 at 11:30 am
[...] Others: Wizbang has more. Anchoress and I exchanged some emails on the topic. She doesn’t like the Bush-blaming. - Though I’m not blaming or bashing Bush for the gas prices, just that he’s acting like a Democrat in responding to them… instead of just explaining the concept of market forces in simple terms… like I have. Posted 9:47 am 1 Comment » [...]
April 25th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Legislators want windfall tax for oil companies
WASHINGTON — The government should consider a tax on oil companies if they make excessive profits a
April 25th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Excellent. While your observations are correct, what really struck home for me the obvious truth you point out- “…I’m tired of a congress so paralysed by partisanship that nothing effective can be done on - seemingly - any issue.”
That is what leads to the finger pointing and every other tactic emplyed to divert attention from the real problem.
As Bob Dole made clear, at some point, you have to address the problem.
April 25th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
There was no “home” for this comment when I posted it. Now it’s found a place! Sorry for the double-posting!
Maybe our “concerned” lawmakers would like to suspend taxes while they conduct their investigations/plan their strategies for “fixing” the problem. I’m sure they feel our pain!
Mad about high gasoline prices? Who isn’t! Whenever I pay $3/gal to fill up, I always remember that Al Gore wanted $5/gal gasoline in 1992(Earth in the Balance). And that would be 1992$…
Instead of investigating the profits of the oil industry(current running at around 9%), a better use of investigator’s time might be to look at what actually caused the run-up in oil prices–the oil futures market. Let’s see who was playing the market. There was a big influx of money from new players, outside of the producers and larger consumers that normally use the market for hedging. Since some of those new players (like George Soros) were known Democrat supporters, from the timing(2004-before the election), one could guess that it had something to do with creating trouble for Bush and the US economy to help the Dem candidate. After the election, there was a retreat in the oil futures price, then renewed pressure. The Left has money, of course, but do they have enough to manipulate the market? Hmmm. Who might have enough money? Oil Exporters? Could the Left have been using Arab oil money to change prices and wreak havoc in the Industrial World? Assuming 82 million bbl/day of oil in international trade, the annual bill has risen from around $450 Billion to $1.5 Trillion($22/bbl to $73/bbl). A sidenote, the OPEC “official price band,” the price they expect to sell oil at is still $22-$28/bbl) Lots of new money flowing into exporting countries, wouldn’t you say? Money that could be used for all sorts of things, even mischief, wouldn’t you say? I bet if we were at war, we’d look into this! Of course, lots of people are playing the oil futures market now because that is the big game in town. And every day those people run up the prices on news of trouble in the Middle East and rumbles coming out of Venezuela. And Iran. How convenient! The beneficiaries of higher oil prices can even move the market with “news.” Imagine what could happen if the Left had any influence over the media! Or if we could find some link between the Left and Islamofascists? Like their joint, mutual declarations reported on their respective websites pre-and post- 9/11, say(see LGF at the time).
April 25th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
The President’s call for investigation into possible oil price gouging
Here’s the story, via AP:
WASHINGTON - President Bush, under pressure to do something about gasoline prices that are expected to stay high through the summer, has ordered an investigation into possible cheating in the markets.
During the last fe…
April 25th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
High gas prices hurting Bush
It’s especially disconcerting when you consider that in 2000 the Bush campaign criticized the Clinton-Gore administration for its inability to lower gas prices. … After an announcement that the Federal Trade Commission would be investigating possib…
April 27th, 2006 at 5:57 am
Gas prices and Democrat hypocrisy
From the ever amusing Ann Coulter… I would be more interested in what the Democrats had to say about high…
April 28th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I’m at a point where I’d buy a car that ran on pure ethanol and pay twice as much per gallon than petroleum just to stick it to the oil companies.