"Why doesn't Obama do something about gas prices?????"

[scheming daemons]

Just about everybody was asking this question a month ago.


Well... today he took a baseball bat to the collective heads of the oil speculators by releasing 30 million barrels from the SPR.



Thank you, Mr. President.

[ck4829]

1. And now he's "manipulating the market" and "trying to score political points"

[Drale]

2. RABBLE RABBLE SOCIALISM RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[larwdem]

4. HAY

FUCK THE MARKET

[Tx4obama]

7. No matter what President Obama does there will always be folks out there that accuse him of ....

"trying to score political points".

It's sad ;(

The amount of Obama bashing and hate speech that I've seen over the past 2 year and 5 months, since Obama took office, is pretty disgusting and discouraging at times.

[William769]

8. You also forgot well deserved.

[Tx4obama]

9. No, I did not forget anything. n/t

[Whisp]

25. bwahahaha!

:rofl:

its funny because it's true!

[OregonBlue]

3. What's really great is that they were taken by surprise and weren't able to get out of the market

before the news hit. I love it!!! Hope a bunch of those speculators lots their shirts today!!!!

Thursday's release of 60 million barrels of crude reserves was aimed at chasing oil speculators out of the market. It seems to be working. By John W Schoen MSNBC.

[William769]

5. I thought it was 60 million barrels from the SPR?

[woolldog]

11. no

30 million from US reserves, and the other 30 mil from other countries.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Good start

[woolldog]

10. Wait a minute....

where are all the knuckleheads who told me how wrong I was when I suggested Obama do this 3 months ago?

"Releasing oil from the SPR won't do anything woolldog!"

:rofl:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x621128#621146

Had he been more decisive on this and acted earlier, we might've avoided this soft patch altogether.

[ClarkUSA]

14. President Obama prudently waited until after the result of OPEC's vote on increasing output.

Don't pat yourself on the back too hard.

Once it became clear Iran would play the spoiler in the OPEC vote, there was a series of very discreetly coordinated secret meetings with the countries involved in this action, according to The New York Times. Much planning and discussion went into yesterday's surprise move. This action would not have the same global effect on oil speculation had President Obama acted unilaterally without consultation with other nations affected by the absence of Libyan light crude.

[woolldog]

16. It's too late

Clark,

Oil has been falling steadily for a while now already. It was $95 when this was announced, and is ~ $92 right now having gone as low as $89 right after the announcement. Meanwhile the economy has taken a hit over the past few months because of the sustained high oil prices, which is the reason for the recent downturn in all the macroeconomic data. We may, or may not be able to dig ourselves out of this.

It's actually puzzling that we waited this long to take action, and then take action after the price is already down big of it's own accord. It doesn't make much sense to me, to not do anything when oil is $115 a barrel, and wreaking havoc on the global economy, but then after its fallen 20% in a couple of months to THEN release the SPR. I mean, that's just weird.

Diplomacy and secret meeting are great. But they aren't an end in themselves. The timing is odd. If this was going to be done, it should've been done 2-3 months ago when it would've actually had a positive and important impact.

[ClarkUSA]

17. Says you. I disagree. A big gas price drop will act as Stimulus Plan III for most consumers.

[woolldog]

18. Disagree with what?

I agree a drop in the price of oil will help the economy. Of course it will.

The point is the lack of timely intervention by the Administration. This should have been done months ago to keep oil prices from going as high as they did and inflicting the damage they did.

[ClarkUSA]

19. I disagree with your claim that this move came "too late" given the global cooperation involved.

27 industrialized nations who belong to the International Energy Agency are joining in this clear message to speculators to cease and desist. If speculators do so, as has been observed by a CNBC reporter yesterday, then the long-term effect will be most beneficial to the US economy given that many lost their shirts today. The threat by President Obama of similar action in the future may deter further manipulation, after all.

[woolldog]

20. Well it is too late

Sorry. Significant damage has been done to the economy by the period of sustained high oil prices. You can't unring that bell. This will help us dig out of that damage and ameliorate the damage. But we wouldn't be trying to dig out of it now, had there been some decisive action on this issue months ago. The current downturn could've been avoided entirely.

The global cooperation and secret meetings and diplomacy is cool and makes for good newspaper articles, but not an end in itself. And mostly cosmetic. This isn't the first time there's been a coordinated worldwide release of reserves.

[ClarkUSA]

21. You are entitled to your opinion but again, I am completely unpersuaded that "It's too late."

I've heard such doomsday economic rhetoric about President Obama's policy decisions for the past two years and I've yet to see anyone's Chicken Little predictions come true.

[woolldog]

23. Fair enough.

I'm glad we can debate our opinions in a civilized manner.

[woolldog]

22. also, nobody lost their shirts today

WTI was trading 4 days ago at basically the same price it is today. No message has been sent to speculators. Speculative interest in oil has been declining for weeks if not months, which is why the price had been declining long before this announcement. Look at the daily chart:



I'm not saying this won't have a positive impact. Just that the timing is very odd and that this move could have been much more impactful (on the economy, on speculation, on oil prices) 2 month ago.

[Swede]

12. I like how the threat of doing it again was left on the table.

This will scare the speculators off.

[vroomvroom]

13. Why not just fix the root problem -- Regulation of the Speculation Market?

[ClarkUSA]

15. Democrats have a bill pending but you try getting that bill through the Teabagger House.

No chance of that bill getting through the House unless Pelosi becomes Speaker again.

[The Eagle 718]

28. Or the Senate without 60 votes. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

32. And she didn't do it...

when she was speaker. We always manage to come up with good legislation when we have no chance of passing it.

[MadMaddie]

29. Until we have a true solid majority in the House and Senate

it won't happen. This type of bill won't make it to the floor of the House.

[FrenchieCat]

24. Prices down in the Bay Area from $4.19 for regular to $3.75 thus far!

Actually, I get it at $3.69 at my station of choice....but $3.75 appears to be
the average of high & low!

Of course, the President won't be credited for this as loudly as he was bashed
when the prices were shooting up, but I'm getting used to the Unfair and Unbalanced
treatment he gets all the way around.

[Whisp]

26. nah, Obama had nothing to do with that! It was Jane Hamsher!

yah

:rofl:

[Honeycombe8]

27. Ummmm...I'm perplexed by his action. Gas prices had ALREADY come down, when he did that.

Talking heads on TV said it was to give a boost to the economy.

[Doctor Hurt]

30. that's when you do it.

Forces more shorting.

[Enthusiast]

31. I have to give him credit for that.

It's refreshing to give the President for "something".