So why isn't BUSH manipulating oil/gasoline prices downward??

[leftyandproud]

We had a bunch of people claiming Shrub had an arrangement with the Saudis and big oil companies to drop the price of gasoline and heating oil just before the election...Well, here we are...two weeks away and prices are at an ALL TIME HIGH.

If the prez really has any control over the markets, this is a pretty STUPID political move wouldn't you say??

[TheFarseer]

1. Maybe they did BUT

Turns out they are at peak production. Alot of people believe the Saudis have lost control of price. This is really scary.

[MercutioATC]

2. I've asked myself the same question.

Either he DOESN'T have that much control or he thinks he can win without it. I'd like to see what'd happen if he was 4 or 5 points behind right now.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. OPEC has lost.

Their back is broken as a price-fixing cartel. That might be the one intended effect of all this. Might not as well. But there it is.

[troublemaker]

4. 1) He has no control 2) The Suadis want him out

The Saudis do not want Bush elected.

The longer we stay in the region the harder it is for them to survive in power. If we are on the scene we will not prop them up. We will let them fall so we can annex the eastern Saudi oilfields.

Only if we are out of the middle east do we need to prop them up from afar.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. I think that the Saudi's are as afraid of...................

a new shrub administration as the rest of us are. All the money in the world won't help them if they lose power.

[Mr_Spock]

6. Just another FUCK UP by Mr. FUCK UP! He can't do anything right.

Everything he does that doesn't involve manipulating weak-minded stupid ignorant bigot red-neck morons fails miserably. Bush hasn't done three thing right in his entire 4 years. Why do people vote for him? Because we're a country filled with stupid angry mindless ignorant simple-minded ass holes who just want a guy to "talk plainly" like the ignorant fools they are.

[El Supremo]

7. He can't.

Prince Bandar Bush said that he would help lower the price. But we are all in such a mess, nobody can now.

Check out this story about my natural gas prices:
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=a3cccbf0-0abe-421a-01d6-8e8b1820c89f&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

13. Agreed

The chaos in Iraq is having a predictable effect on the oil market, driving up the prices. Prices rise on uncertainty and no one is sure how the mess in Iraq is going to play out.

IF the Iraq insurgency gets exported to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, $55 a barrel for oil will seem cheap.

[T Roosevelt]

8. I think the price is being kept down already

Remember, crude has gone from $25+ to ~$55 a barrel. But I don't believe a gallon of gas has increased accordingly (I realize there's no direct correlation because of state and federal taxes). The crude component is about 44% of the price of a gallon (A PRIMER ON GASOLINE PRICES); crude $ has more than doubled, so a gallon that was $1.50 (here in Florida not so long ago) should actually be ~$2.20, though it's still around $1.90 a gallon.

[Auntie Bush]

10. Here in VT...heating oil was $2.02 and gas was $2.02.

One hundred gals. of oil only lasts for two weeks all winter.

This winter is going to be tough. Brrrrrr!

[5X]

11. I agree, in Ok. price is $1.86

I also wonder if it is being kept down in certain
states to stabilize shrubs base, or to try and swing the
swing states.

[are_we_united_yet]

9. Perhaps the Russian Yukos fiasco wan't anticipated?

:shrug:

[sofa king]

12. Because he's lost control of world oil production.

The "terrorists" have ensured that Iraqi oil production cannot affect world supply.

Venezuela, still angry with the Bush-administration backed coup attempt, probably isn't falling over itself to overproduce.

And, tellingly, OPEC made a symbolic decision to raise production. The new output ceilings were scheduled to go into effect on November 1, the day before the US election. Whatever minimal positive effect on oil prices the ceilings may have, it's not going to work for Bush this election.

(It's also worth noting that the OPEC decision directly contradicts statements made by "Bandar Bush" and other Saudis earlier this year, when they said they would be sure to create a glut in order to drive prices down prior to the US election. Looks like they've put the proverbial foot-pegs on the hind legs of the Bush camel.)

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[Sporadicus]

15. Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Pull *'s Biscuits Out of the Fire

but it's the wrong crude at the wrong time. SA has high-sulfur crude, and US refineries are swimming in the stuff right now. The refineries need light sweet crude, which Iraq has, but those pesky insurgents keep blowing up the pipelines.

[951]

16. I paid $2.53 for regular gas here in Southern California

[Cha]

20. Whoa Dude!

$2.19 here in New York.

[leftyandproud]

22. Those are your taxes. CA pays around .90 in gasoline taxes

state and federal combined of course ;)

I think their state tax is only .60 a gallon

[gohawks]

17. Prices are "manipulated down" ....

wait and see what happens after election.... you are not going to like it....

[Cha]

18. Good Question, and I thought of the same

thing when I was at the gas pump today and the pump guy was majorly grousing about the prices..he said a woman had just come in and filled up her truck and her car and it was $90.00 bucks. And he had a truck and it was killin' him.

He said his boss said it could reach $3 or 4 a gallon by next year..I'm thinking ..when is bush inc. going to swoop in and lower the prices?

[DemFromMem]

19. They're not?

Oil prices have risen dramatically, yet gas prices have barely changed.

[leftyandproud]

23. in KY, they went from $1.50 to $2.00 this year...a 35% hike. *NT*

[Pax Argent]

21. They tried

For the past couple months the Saudis have been marching out telling people that they are going to "open the spigots". This usually resulted in a short-term drop in the oil futures market and at the pump prices. Its not working anymore.

The problem is that Shrub has destabilized everything and the demand for oil in China has grown enormous. There are threats of rebellion in Nigeria (I believe), the US has tried to cause a coup in Venezuela and Iraq is down as often as it is up.

I find myself wondering if the rest of the world is voting a little sooner than us......