Gas Prices -- the Cause

[delldude]

Bush has on at least 2 occassions cut the education budget for government backed student LOANS. This is not even free money but he reduced the amount. When I decided to go to college at the age of 30, I made just over the poverty line so that all I qualified for was student loans. If it had not been for those student loans I would not have graduated. Why cut the amount of student loans that are backed by the government? doesn't make sense. Under the Bush administration it seems to me that most every area in our economy is suffering (at one point or another).

Maybe if more actually paid back these loans...the government would see fit to continue the program at higher levels.

 

[Bobbie]

Wow did I read that right? you and I are on the same side for once?

Believe it! I don't drink the water or the Kool Aid. I'd rather a bottle of spring water. Out here, we have Liberal Republicans and Liberal Democrats. It's very difficult to tell them apart sometimes. Generally speaking, I think California's viewpoint on things tends to be a real mix of ideas from all sides. I wish we got a lot more done. The one thing about a Republican administration is that you can always count on them doing something. It may be something awful, but they're always at least doing something. Sometimes, I find, the more liberal administrations tend to stagnate a lot.

 

[Tug McGroin]

Common sense: They have millions acres under lease and with oil at $150 a barrel they did not try to drill so they must not want to expand supply that bad. As long as the supply is tight (which I do believe it has been but demand is slowing) and they can get $150 or about that then why would they want to mess with that formula? We can see that when the prices reach a certain point people use less and therefore prices go down. They do not need to control foreign oil supplies (allthough they tried when they went into Iraq) If they have control of just 10%, that is enough to have influence over supply. The saving grace for us as citizens is the demand question. If we continue to reduce the amount of oil we use then their control over prices at the pump are deminished. If we redirect our tax dollars to new fuel sources instead of tax credits or breaks for oil companies then we can continue to reduce our dependence on oil, it really doesn't matter if it is foreign or domestic because the oil that is pumped here domesticly is sold on the international market.

Common sense: They have millions acres under lease and with oil at $150 a barrel they did not try to drill so they must not want to expand supply that bad. As long as the supply is tight (which I do believe it has been but demand is slowing) and they can get $150 or about that then why would they want to mess with that formula?

Cooper43, you really need to check your facts before making such outlandish statements about something you apparently know nothing about.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_...ating_that.html

We can see that when the prices reach a certain point people use less and therefore prices go down. They do not need to control foreign oil supplies (allthough they tried when they went into Iraq) If they have control of just 10%, that is enough to have influence over supply. The saving grace for us as citizens is the demand question. If we continue to reduce the amount of oil we use then their control over prices at the pump are deminished.

Let’s say you have a basement that is filling up with water at a rate of 100 gallons a minute. Are you telling me you can have an “influenceâ€￾ on that rate by pumping out water at the rate of 10 gallons an minute? It’s all about supply and demand, no matter what kind of political spin you so disparately try to apply to it.

Crude oil prices are NOT controlled or influenced by oil companies. In case you missed it, today OPEC announced that they would cut oil production to stabilize falling oil prices. It’s difficult for me to grasp the arrogates that some Americans have in demanding that foreign countries supply oil for our consumption, then turn around and blame the oil companies for high gas prices. I question the intelligence of anyone who thinks they can simple rescind tax breaks on oil companies and solve the discomfort we experience at the gas pump.

Realistically, if you look at the profit margin oil companies make and compare them to other industries in America, you will see that their profit margin is less than half of other major American industries. If rescinding tax breaks to oil companies will lower consumer prices then it would seem to reason the same results could be achieved by simple rescinding tax breaks on all the other major industries in America. History shows a very different result. Look it up Cooper43.

http://www.api.org/statistics/earnings/upl...perspective.pdf