Why didn't his Saudi brethren help Bush with oil prices ??

[kentuck]

Just before the election? Oil prices were at all time highs but the Saudis sat on their hands and did nothing. Why? Did they really want Bush elected?

[Shoeempress]

1. They did, he & his cronies are getting richer.

[sangh0]

2. Took the words right out of my mouth

.

[KingChicken]

3. Notice how the gas price at the pump doesn’t correlate with the oil price

If the current gas prices reflected the increase in the oil price year-to-date, then we should be sitting around $2.70 national average. We have matained $2 gas even when the oil prices continued to increase.

[Killarney]

4. There's only so much they can do when Iraq is on fire.

Much of it is out of the Saudi's hands when the oil fields in Iraq are burning.

[leftofthedial]

5. the election fix was in

so why stop the flow of loot?

[hexola]

6. They did...gas dropped at least 5 cents right before the election...

They wanted it to be under $2.00 before the election...they got what they wanted...

[Dora]

7. Because we're still buying gas!

They didn't step in because Americans didn't stop buying gas.

The American fuel industry is profiting hand over fist. There's no way in hell that * would have interfered with that.

There was no need for intervention because we kept pouring our money right down their gullet. Yum.

Okay, people: If you can do it, stop driving so much. Get your ass out of the car and walk. Share trips to the store with friends or neighbors. Carpool. Ride the bus. Ride a bike. Get yourself a little wheeled cart so that you can actually walk to the store that's only a mile away and carry all your groceries back. Stop driving an extra fifteen miles to shop at Sam's Club for cases of cushy-quilty toilet paper, when you can buy a monster roll of not-so-cushy-quilty toilet paper for 99 cents at the drugstore on the corner. It won't feel like a down coverlet on your bottom, but who says it should? Stop using gas mowers and share an electric with a trusted neighbor. Get your kids away from the television and into the yard. Stop signing them up for activities you have drive them to and from every single freaking day. You'll save money AND time, and you'll reduce the entire family's stress load.

I apologize for the rant.

[Javaman]

8. Money. The oil refineries made 13% more this quarter over their...

regular earnings. If this is about anything else, please tell me, I love a good laugh.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

9. It dropped just enough.....

....to make it a non-issue. Now the question: is it enough to earn them yet another free pass when they launch the next 9/11 on us?

[snippy]

10. They tried but the market was too strong to be manipulated downward.

The Saudis announced several times that they were going to increase production but the market ignored it, in part because the Saudis were going to increase production of "heavy sour crude" which many refineries can not handle and was not the oil that was in high demand. And sabotage in Iraq and the effect of hurricane Ivan also interfered with supply of the "light sweet crude" that was in high demand.

Another probably larger factor was that the oil market was being dominated by hedge funds and Wall Street investment banks. Those buyers just kept pushing the price upward as long as demand was strong. Finally, when the price is extremely low or extremely high, OPEC has less of an ability to influence it. This is because all of the members are producing at or near their capacity.