Would Big Oil (spelled GOP) lie to us ?

[SparkyMac]

I heard a bit of propaganda this morning that I thought might interest other DUers.

This is a lengthy thought - and I don't pretend to be the smartest poster at DU. So please bear with me.

I was in the car and had Neal Boortz on the radio.

Boortz was in the middle of a tirade against people who oppose Big Oil -- as usual. Here is a short history lesson -- as told by him.

In 1996, The Republican Congress had voted to permit drilling in the Alaskan reserves. But Bill Clinton vetoed the bill. How terrible :sarcasm:

Looking at the price of gas today -- and hearing that if Big Oil could only drill in the wildlife areas, all would be alright -- it made me wonder. What would effect the have been had the oil companies been allowed to drill in 1996 ?

Here is a site that give us the price of a barrel of West Texas crude over the years since WW2.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/OILPRICE.txt

In 1996, oil was at $24 a barrel. Two years later in 1998, oil was about $11.

My point is this -- these thugs will use anything to convince us to let them drill in Alaska. Had Clinton not had the courage to veto that bill in 1996, Big Oil would have claimed that only by such drilling were they able to bring the cost down to $11.

Let the next president dump our strategic oil reserves on the speculators, and oil will be back to $25 a barrel. Where it belongs.

We must never forget that these people in Big Oil -- and their flunkies in the GOP -- will lie to us.

Thank you for your patience.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Globalization & speculation is why prices are so high & will get higher.

If they had drilled all that oil in Alaska it would be gone now & we would be in the same boat. It's pitiful that the best that they can come up with now is to blame Clinton for it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. This is what so confuses me.

Now, I am not arguing against a new national energy strategy that carves Dinosaur Wine out of the equation, for the large part. That said, when I see what is happening and the amount of speculation that is taking place, and I look at the players, the same oil field trash that have never been worth trusting to give anyone the right time of day, I am amazed at the credulousness of a lot of intelligent people.

I predict that when things settle down to a dull roar, and we have a government that is willing and able to investigate the commodities markets effectively, that a lot of people are going to learn a lot of very surprising things about what has happened, in truth. Because it all ain't just Peak Oil and it all ain't just China and India using more. Not by a hell of a long shot.

[DCKit]

3. Did you also notice that the *last* thing the MSM brought up in the conversation...

was speculation in the market? They threw the kitchen sink at explaining oil prices, but there's always just one more excuse before you ever get to speculation by commodities traders, hedge funds, sovereign funds and Big Oil itself to explain current prices.

We've been Enroned.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. That's exactly it. Enroned.

Enroned by the trading loophole written into law by, once again, Phil Gramm.

Now there's a motherfucker who belongs in jail, with Lexington Steele as his cellmate. Lex Steele on Viagra and Meth. Nothing's too bad for Gramm, the predator that he is.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. dumping a mere 700million barrels on the market

would cause little more than a 'blip' if that. The US alone would use that much oil in 40 days at current consumption rates.

sP