April 28, 2011
NYC Letter: Trust Team Barry, Part XVII -- Passing Gas
Day 828 of CHOPE
Every few years, gas prices go up; politicians pull out the same old political playbook, and then nothing changes. And when prices go back down, we slip back into a trance. And then when prices go up, suddenly we're shocked.
... With respect to the overall economy, I think my assessment and the assessment of most economists is that, although gas prices are hurting individuals right now and obviously taking some of that tax cut that we gave them and forcing them to use it on gas as opposed to buying other items -- that...the economic growth continues in a positive trend.
Mr. Obama,
reassuring all the trance will return
WASHINGTON March 11, 2011 (White House)
No worries. The economy is good enough to have us back in our trance if we just wait out these high prices. That's the table-setter. Now let's follow the narrative arc.
March 15, 2011 (Sarah Palin on FB) - The President may try to suggest that the rise in oil prices has nothing to do with him, but the American people won’t be fooled. ... This was no accident. Through a process of what candidate Obama once called "gradual adjustment," American consumers have seen prices at the pump rise 67 percent since he took office. Let’s not forget that in September 2008, candidate Obama’s Energy Secretary in-waiting said:Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.That’s one campaign promise they’re working hard to fulfill! ... Meanwhile, the vast undeveloped reserves that could help to keep prices at the pump affordable remain locked up because of President Obama’s deliberate unwillingness to drill here and drill now.
OP-ED March 21, 2011 (IBD) - While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we'll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil. WHAT?!?Now, with a seven-year offshore drilling ban in effect off of both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in much of the Gulf of Mexico — and a de facto moratorium covering the rest — Obama tells the Brazilians:
We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers.Obama wants to develop Brazilian offshore oil to help the Brazilian economy create jobs for Brazilian workers while Americans are left unemployed in the face of skyrocketing energy prices by an administration that despises fossil fuels as a threat to the environment and wants to increase our dependency on foreign oil.
HIGH GAS PRICES COULD HURT OBAMA IN 2012
March 24, 2011 (USNWR)
Uh-ho. Better do something. [Panic.] K-Ka-Quick!
PRESIDENT OBAMA ANNOUNCES TEAM TO
"ROOT OUT ANY CASES OF FRAUD OR
MANIPULATION IN THE OIL MARKETS"
April 21, 2011 (White House)
Does Mr. Obama seriously believe that a wicked cabal of big money and big oil are behind high gas prices? What's the cabal's motive? Crippling the economy -- from which it derives its wealth -- for sport? Apparently this cabal is so clever and so powerful that it has gone undetected and requires a supererogatory "team" to do what justice and the interior should've been doing as a matter of course.
BATTERED BY GAS PRICES,
WHITE HOUSE STARTS ATTACKS ON OIL COMPANIES
April 23, 2011 (The Hill) - The White House has joined congressional Democrats in targeting oil companies with criticism for nearly $4 per gallon gas. ... Going after oil companies is smart politics for Obama, according to polls and Democratic strategists.Members of Congress are hearing complaints from their constituents, which has led to tensions between the White House and Democrats in the House and Senate. ... But by hitting the oil companies over subsidies and sending the Justice Department on an investigation, Obama can try to mend fences with his allies.
... Obama has been battered by polls showing voter angst with the economy and worry over the president’s leadership.
We stand corrected. Mr. Holder's special oil fraud team is only a ruse. This ginned-up boogeyman is really "smart politics".
OIL IMPORTS SPIKE AS OBAMA OIL BAN
DECREASES DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
April 27, 2011 (WAEx)
GEORGE W. BUSH: DRILL MORE
TO LOWER GAS PRICES
April 27, 2011 (Politico) - Former President George W. Bush wants to see more oil drilling to combat prices at the gas pump that are nearing $4 a gallon, he said Wednesday. Mr. Bush:I would suggest Americans understand how supply and demand works. And if you restrict supplies of crude, the price of oil is going to go up and it affects gasoline.
Team Barry's on it! Reader Duncan sent this and we pass it along.
WISHING IS DOING AND DOING IS DONE
The 1% Solution
[Picture credit: Michael Ramirez/IBD]
Clean energy provides about 1% of America's energy. See if you can find some of that for your gas tank.
CHOPE.
Busy doing nothing.
Posted by Damian at April 28, 2011 11:45 AMI love the symmetry of Obama's pronouncements...truly elegant to watch/listen.
In his first quote here he states that every time oil prices go up, "politicians pull out the same old political playbook." As I recall, that playbook is exactly what you point out in late quotes, investigate the b*st*rds. Wow, is he smooth or what?
But my favorite quote in your post is "...that tax cut we gave them." How arrogant! He gave us nothing. More accurately, the government agreed to extort less from us for a little while. Gee, thanks guys.
Posted by: Duncan at April 28, 2011 08:35 PMGood point. Mr. Obama manages to pack that one quote with misconceptions and fond notions. Some additional points:
- It's not a tax cut. It's letting stand the standing rates. It was a tax cut, i.e., a reduction in the tax paid, when Mr. Bush first signed it into law. That is why these rates are called the "Bush tax cuts" but their extension is NOT called the "Obama tax cuts".
- Mr. Obama implies with the extension of the standing rates, the taxpayer somehow has MORE money under the same rate. We would love to see the supporting arithmetic for that position.
- The locution "that tax cut that we gave them" insinuates a munificence the government does not possess. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 restricts taxation to specified business of the nation. The determination of the tax needed for the nation's business is a calculus not a benignity. The locution betrays the stoop of the ruling class.
DGB
Posted by: Damian at April 29, 2011 09:38 AM
