I think a fix is in the works. Very uneasy.

[Avalux]

Gas prices have climbed so high that people are demanding Bush do something to ease the burden on the American people. At first he says he is powerless and nothing he does will help prices. He won't call oil company execs to a meeting at the WH. The fallout has helped to bring down his poll numbers.

The excuses are numerous; refineries can't keep up, unrest in the middle east, Americans are addicted to oil, larger global demand. Sorry guys, there's nothing to be done.

Keeping this in mind, let's not forget 3 things:

1. Bush is an oil man. His buddies are oil men.

2. There is a national election in 7 months.

3. Republicans will do anything to remain in power

Today, we have been given a glimpse of the plan, or the fix. Bush has announced a halt in adding to the federal oil reserves and a loosening of environmental restrictions for fuel grades. He will also pretend to get tough with oil companies. He will get full support from his boys Congress who will laud his efforts and support any measure he puts forth. As fuel prices prices drop, Bush will become a hero for dealing with the big bad oil companies and saving us from $4 a gallon gas. Of course it was planned this way, the rise and then the fall.

I predict that right before the election, we will see gas prices at well below $2.00, probably even below $1.50.

I may be wrong about this but I think they've decided manipulating us through fuel prices is the most effective way Brand "W" Republicans can regain support from the American people before the election.

[LiberalVoice]

1. I think you're wrong.

The one sided mindset of the * administration is not lacking but the part I dont htink he can control are the oil companies. They will not forgo billions of dollars to get * reelected. Prices ALWAYS go up. They never go back down to what they were before.

[Avalux]

12. There's definitely more to it, I'm sure -

Something that will insure the oil companies continue to make huge profits even if prices drop before the election. I'm just not seeing what it is right now.

[LiberalVoice]

13. You cant make huge profits if you cut gas prices in half.

Sorry doesn't work that way. And like I said before you better believe these companies will give up ENORMOUS amounts of money just to get repugs elected.

[libhill]

21. As long as the Repukes

have political power, Big Oil will get what they want and fuck the American public. That's what it's all about to Repukes is money. And how to get more of it by any means, fair or foul.

[joeunderdog]

24. penny wise, pound foolish.

Shrub is their gravy train. It would be a small--VERY small--investment to keep Congress from cutting into their profits.

[LiberalVoice]

25. These companies wont stop making money for anybody.

We were saying the exact same thing about gas prices before the '04 election :eyes:

[rock]

2. It may be. But I don't think it'll work.

We've already spent a great deal on over-priced gas. Such a plan would do nothing about the pain that has already been caused.

[Singular73]

3. You're so far off base it hurts.

[Avalux]

10. Thanks. I hope so.

:hi:

[Love Bug]

4. Yep. That's my take on it, too

All of a sudden congressional repubs are calling for windfall-profits legislation for the oil companies. Just trying to make themselves look better for the fall elections. The oil companies can now take their excessive profits and donate to repubs. It's a win-win! :sarcasm:

[libhill]

5. I think you may be on to something -

call me a tinfoil hatter, but I would not put anything past these ass clowns. As you stated yourself, "Republicans will do anything to remain in power".

[leveymg]

6. Something like this happened before the 2004 elections

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0408/S00278.htm

Bush's Gas Pump Ploy
Thursday, 26 August 2004, 12:05 pm
Opinion: Mark G. Levey

BUSH'S GAS PUMP PLOY

Are Major U.S. Oil Refiners and Distributors Holding Back Price Increases Until After the Elections?
By Mark G. Levey
The Bush Administration is putting a happy face on the near-doubling of the world price of crude oil to $50 a barrel during the last 18 months, a price explosion brought on by the Iraq War and other bungled adventures in petroleum producing countries. Here's the spin: it's an economic stimulus package.

On Saturday, Aug. 21, The New York Times carried an interesting article by business writer, Eduardo Porter, "An Oil Shock That Could Be an Economic Stimulus in Disguise". Porter assumes the oil price spike means the Federal Reserve is unlikely to substantially raise interest rates, which will extend the U.S. borrowing binge in spite of historically high costs of energy imports and the growing trade imbalance.

< http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/21/business/21oil.html>

Unless you're Vladimir Putin, a Saudi sheik, or a Halliburton executive, the economic logic in this may seem more than a little perverse.

It all comes down to a false perception that cheap energy is going to continue forever for America. The Bush Administration has some powerful friends interested in maintaining this charade. In April, the White House denied Bob Woodward's report that Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar, a long-time Bush family friend, pledged that "over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly." < http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/19/bush.oil>

While there are no reliable measures of actual Saudi crude production, oil traders are skeptical the Saudis can quickly bring large amounts of new oil to market.

The Russians also did their part to upend the Bandar-Bush deal. As a result of this, and the failure of the Administration's strategy to effectively control exports from Iraq and Venezuela, crude prices escalated steeply over the summer, nearing the psychologically important $50 a barrel level this past week.

ADVERTISEMENT
If gas prices were keeping pace with crude oil prices, Americans would be paying nearly $3.00 a gallon for unleaded regular.

Nonetheless, domestic pump prices dropped to an average of $1.87 last week from their May highs of $2.06. That's nearly a forty percent discount. What appears to have happened is that domestic prices of motor fuels somehow decreased dramatically during the "peak summer driving months". That doesn't normally happen - not in a market that is operating according to market forces.

Gas prices usually go up and inventories go down during the summer. By July, domestic refineries are usually switching over to fuel oil production. But, not this year. Why is this occurring now?

The August 18 report of "This Week in Petroleum", published by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, states that all indicators in 2004 pointed to rising prices over the summer months, but that failed to occur:

"At the start of the year, both crude oil and gasoline inventories were tracking at levels either near or below the lower end of their respective average ranges. Following a

SNIP

[LuCifer]

7. Why cut oil profits when...

...they can just nuke Iran in Sept. or Oct.?

[Kansas Wyatt]

8. Let's not forget Bandar Bush's comment

That the Saudis were fine tuning the gas prices for the 2004 Election, to help with George W. Bush's re-election. Bush allegedly gets the victory, and boom, gas prices start rising.

[Warpy]

9. They won't go lower than $2.50

If prices peak at $4.00, they may slide back to $3.00.

Whether or not John Q. Public is stupid enough to fall for it depends entirely on Stupid's performance between now and October.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Here's the thing I don't get.

How can playing with gas prices make voters collectively forget about Iraq, job outsourcing, Mexican expatriots who aren't American citizens, the fundamentalist right getting their agenda enacted into statutes, the environment being poisoned all around ALL voters, etc. It seems so futile . . .

[madokie]

14. I wouldn't go as far as to predict the price but I think your premise is

correct. Make the problem so he can look good correcting it. thats how KKKarl does things.

[zeemike]

15. None of t hat is necessary if you control the vote count

All that is necessary is a plausible explanation of why voters one again voted against their economic interest so that the press has a way of explaining it to us and the world.
I predict that the house will make small gains for the democrats but not enough, and the explanation will be that the fundies turned out big because of gay marriage.

[Avalux]

16. Nope - I didn't consider stealing votes.

Very interesting take you've got there and you may just be right. :hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. I'm guessing IRAN will be involved in shrub's 'solution' to the gas price

problem.

[Nia Zuri]

18. Yep. You are correct. We are being manipulated so bad it's not funny.

Gas and immigration are part of the November strategy. Watch gas start to come down late summer and well into November all a result of Repugs' "get tough" strategy with big oil. The public will be so grateful that it just might work.

[OneBlueSky]

19. also remember that oil company profits are surpassing the . . .

quarterly profits of any corporation at any time in history . . . that's certainly accounting for some of the increases . . .

[KyuzoGator]

20. The only thing they like more than their power is their money.

I think you're wrong on this.

[natrat]

22. but long term big oil does better w/ scum in office

so the roller coaster price theory is possible; anything to get the elections close enough to steal again

[Innoma]

23. Having their cake and eating it too...

Never before have I heard so many people complaining about gas prices so strongly, but when I see the price of regular pass $3 in my area, I get the idea its all a triple-edged ploy:

As fuel prices rise and people complain about oil company greed, Bush claims there is no magic fix and prices spiral ever higher. At a certain pre-determined moment, however, he steps in, gets 'tough' with the oil industry, prices fall, and it all adds up to a plus for Republicans.

Its really a triple-win for Bush because 1) he gets to act resolute, 2) he gets tough with the oil industry and prices fall, yet remain higher on average than they were a month ago (after all, aren't you glad gas is down to $3.10 a gallon rather than it being $4?), and 3) he gets to play fast and loose with environmental restrictions on gas.

I hate to give Bush or republicans that much nefarious credit, but maybe their secret is Evil Machinations covered with an obscuring veneer of Outward-Seeming Idiocy.

[linazelle]

26. Prices always drop after the summer and during the holiday season

So your prediction is somewhat correct. However 1.50 is not realistic--I think that we are being given the boiling frog treatment. They turn up the prices and people yell, so they turn them down--but not much--then they ratchet them up even higher the next time and people wish for the prices they yelled about before. Then they warn of extreme $4/gal. prices just to keep everybody from yelling even louder. All psyops IMHO.