Obama May Be Right about Oil Prices, But Only Partially

Obama May Be Right about Oil Prices, But Only Partially
Al Ritter

Obama went on the offensive last week to proclaim that Republicans will have three objectives to lower the price of oil….drill, drill, and keep drilling. Oil drives the economy of this country and not just to fuel our houses and cars. Everything we have around us uses oil. The petro chemical industry uses oil for production of plastics and other uses. In fact oil is used in the production in 80% of the items sitting close to you right now.

Oil is also a national security problem, as the oil we import usually comes from countries unfriendly to the U.S. For these countries to use this product as a wedge between something we need for the furthering of their cause challenges our security.

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil secures our future as a sovereign nation. This should be our #1 aim as a nation, to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.

President Obama claims that it’s the unstable Middle-eastern fear that drives up the price of oil and that in part is true. The big question is what has our president done to calm those fears? Supporting Hamas while pledging allegiance to Israel? We have supported the over throwing of foreign governments and the subsequent establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood? We have supported the removal of one regime for the installation of a worse regime. We have sat by and tried to put in economic sanctions against Iran while they build a nuclear weapons program to annihilate Israel.

What exactly has Obama done to calm the Middle East?

If you are like many Americans you see the price per barrel of oil and you think, well the price of gasoline wasn’t this high the last time a barrel of oil cost this much what has happened? The last time oil was this high per barrel our dollar bought more. We have printed so much money to accommodate our national debt and deficit that our dollar is worth much less now.

When our country defines what is or isn’t inflation, two things are taken from that equation, food and gas prices. Why is that you ask? Obviously it’s to bolster the politicians in office. Eric Bolling from Fox news has surmised that if food and gas were figured into the equation that inflation would stand right now at 5 to 7%. That’s radically different than the government claimed 2.9% isn’t it?

Obama claims that the cry from Republicans is out of his control, that may be partially true but all the situations leading up to it have been within his reach, and yet he has taken an active role to drive that price up whether he admits it or not.

Governmental Policy of Regressive Energy

Governmental Policy of Regressive Energy
Al Ritter

The year was 1977, and then President Carter was still reeling from the gas embargo. As a direct result of the gas crisis the Department of Energy was formed to “release us from the dependency on foreign oil.” As time went on the Department of Energy was saddled with other responsibilities, and as often happens with governmental excess the original reason for its inception was lost in bureaucracy.

Obama has declared the burning of fossil fuels as harmful to the world, even though Al Gore’s original claim has been shown to be a scam on the public. Cap and Trade is what this greedy President believes in, and he is poised to present it one way or another, even if it circumvents the senate through executive order. Originally Obama claimed that our aim was much like President Carter……to decrease our dependency on foreign oil. Obama has now proved that his REAL aim is to drive the price of oil so high that it can compete on an even scale with renewable resources.

Unfortunately the Administration is driving prices through the ceiling by driving more people into the unemployment line. Denying America the oil industry denies Americans jobs. This isn’t a big secret, the less domestic production of oil ties the hands of capitalism. We don’t need one man’s personal vendetta on fossil fuel we need JOBS to recover our economic status in the world. We need a fast line to approve drilling permits to put people back to work, and to lower fuel prices.

The Department of Energy needs to either reorganize, or the responsibilities need to be redistributed and the whole department dissolved. The bureaucracy of government has once again lost its way.

Obama wants to blame high oil prices on price gouging and speculation, but his view is rather skewed. Let’s look at supply and demand this way. China and India, along with the US are the largest oil users in the world, and at present they produce more oil than we do. This figure doesn’t just happen by choice. China and India run their oil exploration at full capacity, but we do not. We artificially hold production low……our country only produces 2% of the earth’s oil production, we could be MUCH higher. Now take into account that countries such as China, India, Egypt, Venezuela, etc. not only don’t charge tax on fuel, they actually subsidize gasoline and diesel to their citizens! Is there any incentive for their citizens to use less fuel when they can buy gasoline for 18 cents a gallon? You have to understand, when in a country of poverty, (making less than $2 a day), they can’t compete with a world price on oil, so the government has to subsidize it.

Obama has actually increased our dependency on foreign oil, and thusly puts our national security in jeopardy. He has shown his hand in the oil problem as being a grand falsehood, he doesn’t care at all about being dependent on foreign, in fact it plays better for his “one world order” intent. The people who suffer are Americans, and it’s up to us to change the direction of self-destruction.

Will Rising Costs Keep Obama From Being Re-elected?

Will Rising Costs Keep Obama From Being Re-elected?
Al Ritter

The administration from the very beginning wanted energy costs to “necessarily skyrocket,” but the question is…..Will it keep the president from being re-elected? It is no coincidence that oil prices and food prices are not factors in figuring the federal Cost of Living index. Many things can be affected by a formal raise in the federal cost of living index, including social security payments, which the government wants to purposely keep low.

The recent monetization of the debt, (government buying up bond paper) that the federal bank never said would happen has contributed to the devaluation of the dollar. Each year the government prints more and more money, and if 2011 holds true to the pattern established by past administrations will approach $900 billion give or take $20 billion. To put that figure into perspective, the money printed in 2005 was only $380 billion. The treasury department prints so much money a day that they consume 18 TONS of ink daily! President Nixon started this inflationary practice when he was the commander in chief, by taking the gold reserve standard off the table, meaning that the government could only print as much money as they had gold to back it.

Now money is created from thin air, and the more that is made the less the overall production is worth. Keep in mind that the government prints money, they then hand it over to the 12 branches of the Federal Bank for distribution. Now also keep in mind that the Federal Bank is not part of our government, regardless of their name. They answer to no one, not even the President, and the only one that can even remove their power is congress, and they refuse to intervene. The fed decides who gets money and how much they get; basically they control our economy, not Timothy Geithner.

How can deflationary practices lead to inflation? View the economy like this; deflationary practices make our money worth less than it was last year. When we have to buy more as a country than we produce, it means we have to import materials. If we use the money that is now worth less than it was last year we will have to use more of it to acquire the same goods. Thusly we have inflation. Oil and food stuffs are the leading contributors to inflation, and correspondingly are NOT included in the cost of living indexes the government releases. A rise in food and oil prices affects everyone equally, and when that happens, it disproportionately affects the poor to a greater amount.

Keep this in mind as President Obama demonizes oil “price gougers.” According to the EIA, the oil companies made on the average 8.3% profit after taxes last year, that 8 cents on the dollar folks. For 8% they drill they refine, and they do research and development. Now let’s look at the REAL PRICE GOUGERS, the government taxes that gasoline at about 40 cents per gallon (depending on what state you live in), but the federal government tax alone represents 13.7% of each gallon. The government produces NOTHING other than money so don’t think for a minute that there is a cost for each gallon of fuel they tax on other than in the collection of that tax. 13.7% clear profit, for doing NOTHING! If the definition of “price gouger” is nothing more than making an exorbitant profit on the back of someone else, the administration has no farther to look then their own back yard!