Politics

‘Real News from The Blaze’: Oil Price Politics

The price at the pump has doubled since President Obama took office, and no matter how hard Chicago campaign headquarters tries to deflect responsibility, discussion on the cost of gas will be unavoidable in the campaign chatter this summer.

In 2008, then-candidate Obama suggested a “windfall profits tax” that would help pay for a $1,000 tax rebate for the middle class, which disappeared once Obama took office. President Barack Obama introduced new measures Tuesday to limit speculation in the oil market.

Government and politicians may be limited in their ability to affect the price of oil, but has the government done anything to make the problem worse? Is there anything the government can stop doing to lower the price of oil?

CNNMoney reports that the new proposals require oil traders to put out more of their own money for transactions, ask for more money for market enforcement and monitoring activities, and calls for higher penalties on market manipulation.

During Tuesday’s “Real News,” Will Cain questioned if attacking the president’s actions on this issue, or at times lack there of, is politically wise for the Romney campaign.

“I’m not sure that this is the issue Mitt Romney wants to really take voters to the polls with,” said Cain.

“One, I‘ve seen some people write that this is not the right kind of voter you’re appealing to here. When you appeal to the gas pump voter, you’re appealing to a voter who is largely voting on shallow mechanisms.”

“The second argument on why this bad,” which Cain supports more than the first line of reasoning, is that if you hang your hat on gas prices too heavily now, what happens if gas prices go down come September? S.E. Cupp agreed with many of Cain’s comments, but questions if hammering the president on gas prices is a political opportunity Romney can afford to pass up.

Jedediah Bila commented that Romney may be able to gain traction with the American people on gas prices if he is able to sell, and eventually enact, effective long term goals on the issue rather than promise short term solutions.

“Years back people were saying ‘well if you open up ANWR we won’t see the results of that for ten years.’ Well guess what if they had opened up ANWR– It’s been ten years later, now we would be reaping the benefits.”

Comments (26)

  • bustedupvet
    Posted on April 26, 2012 at 4:32am

    Rediculous gas prices should be subsidized by the EPA so we pay under $2.00 per gallon. Then money used by the EPA would go to a worthwhile cause. They are the obstructionists that use radical B$ that endanger our wallets in the name of clean air. What a bunch of genetic damaged 60s left overs. Get rid of every one of them!!!

    Report Post »  
  • bigmac46034
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:42am

    Why is everybody talking about the orice of pride oil ? Do you know of anything you can use 45 gallons of crude oil for? I don’t ! You must refine crude to make a usable product out of it .
    Blame the envirolist for the price of Gasoline and crude oil byproducts. They yelled loud enough to move the government to restrict how they could manfacture crude oil at refinerys ,most all of the refineries have closed down in the U.S. Most of the oil rigs in the Gulf have been closed down and moved to foriegn countries . Which make transportation costs to refineries higher. I don’t think air polution stops at any border between Countries ,so how is forcing refineries to move out of the United States where little though is given to manfacturing exhusts helping the world or the United States.

    Report Post » bigmac46034  
  • Samurai
    Posted on April 19, 2012 at 3:53am

    What most people don’t understand is that rising oil prices are directly related to the devaluation of the US$, as almost all contracts for oil are made in US$ as it is the world’s reserve currency.

    When the FED prints $TRILLIONS of dollars to purchase US T-Bills/Bonds, that are needed to finance the $1.6 TRILLION annual budget deficits, this INFLATES the US$ money supply, which devalues the US$, requiring more US$ to purchase the same amount of goods.

    The ONLY way to stop this monetary inflation (manifested in rising oil prices, food, commodities, gold, etc.) is to balance the budget. As balanced budgets will NEVER be done under either Obama or Romney, the FED will merely continue to print money, so oil prices (and just about everything else) will continue to rise as a result. My projection is that we’ll see $150/bbl oil by the end of this year.

    Since neither Republicans or Democrats (with the exception of Ron or Rand Paul) have plans BALANCE the budget within 3-4 years (Paul Ryan’s plan will take 40 Yrs LOL!), the US economy will soon experience the worst economic collapse in history.

    All this rhetoric that speculators, ME tensions, China/India, etc., are causing rising oil prices are just ruses. These factors have little to do with it. Conversely, oil future trading adds liquidity to the oil trading market, which stabilizes prices and lowers them in general.

    My advice: get out of the US$ and buy gold mining stocks. That‘s what I’m doing, anyway.

    Report Post » Samurai  
  • wbalzley
    Posted on April 19, 2012 at 3:49am

    OPINION: Eliminate expensive EPA regulations, and offer a subsidy for converting automobiles to NATURAL GAS…this will provide immediate relief and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.

    Report Post »  
  • thx1138v2
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 5:57pm

    The one thing that fuels speculation in any market is uncertainty so if Obama wanted to reduce speculation he would need to establish policies that created a stable business environment not only for the oil industry but all industry. Instead we have wars on selected businesses and capitalism in general.

    That said, I can‘t help thinking that much of the increase in the price of gasoline has somehow been created by the oil industry itself as payback to Obama for his handling of affairs from the BP Gulf spill and blocking development of resources domestically to the Arab Spring and uncertainty engendered in the middle east that I’m sure is angering the Saudis.

    If that’s the case, I’m quite willing to pay higher prices at the pump to get rid of Obama in November so double it again guys if you can.

    Report Post »  
  • TheBoracle
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 5:07pm

    Raising margin requirements do work. When the Silver market went crazy a few months ago, raising margin requirements from 10% to 30% stabilized the market in a hurry. They should do the same for oil.

    Report Post »  
  • garybkatz
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 3:55pm

    The system by which crude is priced is overdue for overhaul. If institutional mass buyers think the price may go up, they can buy enough futures to CAUSE the price to go up. Then we get mostly BS reasons why the price spiked: speculation the economy might improve, tension with Iran, the SURPLUS oil supply was 1% lower than expected (American oil companies export massive amounts of refined crude, so obviously there’s more than enough for American needs), blah, blah, blah! Ironically, if there were a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, oil companies/gas stations might be prosecuted for price gouging. In the absence of a real shortage, they can legally gouge, based on fears (hopes) of shortages that, surprise, never occur.

    Report Post »  
  • righthanddrive
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 3:51pm

    We do not need to spend a penny more, nor do we need more GSA types hired to impact gas prices. The Federal Reserve already has the weapon called ‘Margin Requirement’ in its arsenal to control rampant speculation. This weapon allows the Fed to increase the margin requirement on loans against crude inventories. Increasing the margins would release inventories into the market thus affecting supply and prices. All this is basic econ 101 or should be required in the sophomore year at least. Given that the price of gas has doubled, it means the Fed has not used this weapon to date. The question is why? Does the Fed/Bernanke agree that the price of energy and gas must skyrocket? Is Benny and company highly invested in alternative energy and want to see their green ship coming home? Something to discuss at the next panel meeting. OK?

    Report Post »  
  • blackstone22
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 10:02am

    Where is the TSA segment from last nights show ? I wanted to send it to all my friends that are victims of airport tyranny and I can’t find it on the Blaze. Could you please post it? That’s a segment we can all relate to. Wake up Blaze !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • sparkspeaks
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:52am

    OIL? Let’s discuss the coming “PLANET X” and the Polar Shift affects!

    Report Post » sparkspeaks  
  • sparkspeaks
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:50am

    Let’s discuss the coming Planet X and polar shift…. This is being ignored! It will blow all the other topics covered today out of the water.

    Report Post » sparkspeaks  
  • sparkspeaks
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:48am

    When will REAL NEWS from the BLAZE do some research and study and reporting on the coming “Planet X” and the affect of Polar Shift? This topic is totally being ignored, kept silent, and under-covered. This planet has been spotted coming from the south twice since Jan. of this year. There is no discussion concerning it. WHY???? It will have large gravitational disruptions for us. Why are we not being open about this?

    Report Post » sparkspeaks  
  • Ron Staiger
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 8:26am

    Speculation in the oil market is a legitimate beef although it has very little to do with the price of gas compared to obama’s collusion with Buffett to kill the Keystone, his killing of oil drilling permits on federal land and off shore, or his hatred of fossil fuels. There should in fact be a mid day margin call in the oil trading trenches to prevent people from controlling $100,000 or more with a measley $5000. Perhaps if traders were subjected to a 50% or 60% unannounced margin call sometime during the trading day, less speculation would take place. There is a place for speculation in all facets of our capitalist system but abuses have always occurred with grim results because of poor regulatory action.

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  • CLG 4
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 7:56am

    The problem in america is that the middle class was starting to move up the ladder in life, the democrats were losing their base to republicians. wah la stimulas, keep the economy down, give away free money. Grow government and above all grow the base.

    Report Post »  
  • Bill Rowland
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 6:55am

    Sweet Old Barack (feel free to abbreviate) thinks that the solution to any problem is another government agency. Create more red tape and slow down the process of helping the middle class who are struggling because of his priorities.
    Some of ther western states are suing the feds now , trying to get back public land taken from them by Dept of the Interior. Dept of Interior, even now is trying to confiscate more land from the states and from private owners so that they can keep us from drilling.
    Pf cpurse
    Sweet Old baracks solution is more govt agencies.

    OMG 2012

    Report Post »  
  • Pacific
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 6:53am

    All of this while on Friday, April 13, 2012 Obama signed another executive order. See: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/221395-obama-signs-order-establishing-natural-gas-task-force
    This executive order to oversee (control/obstruct) fracking. With this president always look to see what the other hand is doing. He is so deceitful!

    Report Post » Pacific  
  • HKS
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 6:43am

    Are you better off now than you were four years ago? That’s about as simple as it gets.

    Report Post » HKS  
    • KangarooJack
      Posted on April 19, 2012 at 8:12am

      Unlike {figure off the top o my head} 95% of most Americans- I am better off than 4yrs ago. The reasons being: I trusted my gut and just KNEW to get out of debt. My gut got a boost from Listening to Beck.

      Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • petev1717
    Posted on April 18, 2012 at 6:36am

    it‘s Obama’s fault he is a disgrace to this country and should be jailed

    Report Post »  
  • booger71
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 11:58pm

    Barry

    You don’t need 52 million to get this done, just a stroke of the pen. The major oil speculators are big banks, that for the most part buy and sell oil futures without any money changing hands. Make them pay a fee to the government for every barrel bought or sold, and their profit margin goes away. Or better yet, make them take delivery of the oil.

    Report Post » booger71  
  • trueamerican40
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 10:17pm

    PROGRESSIVESLAYER–right on. I just pray that the ‘independent swing voters’ have gotten help from their crack addictions. Who are these ‘swing’ voters anyway? God help us all.

    Report Post » trueamerican40  
  • seeker9
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 9:53pm

    Oil prices generally rise before the start of driving season, then falls later in the year. This year, there have been other factors. Middle East unrest, some US refineries ave shut down (thanks EPA). Make gas prices an issue, but it better not be the “big” issue.

    Report Post » seeker9  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 9:41pm

    It‘s very simple more oil on the market and the price goes down that’s why the Marxist in chief is doing everything he can to restrict the amount of oil on the market.For our liberal friends who do you think will pay the windfall profits tax? We have enough oil here in the U.S to last two centuries,for those of you who voted for Barry that’s two hundred years.We have more natural gas than the Saudis have oil but these natural resources won’t be exploited as long as we have a Marxist POS in the white house who believes government is the answer to all our problems.

    We fire the Marxist heathen in November start slashing the budget by trillions and exploit all our natural resources and we might avoid a depression,anything short of that and the party’s over.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • leftcoastslut
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 9:40pm

    i feel the whole script was read well…. Lord help us

    Report Post »  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on April 17, 2012 at 9:36pm

    In 2007, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez used the same speculator theme, with no creation if a new 52 million dollar federal agency. Menendez wanted to investigate OPEC for manipulating the oil market. Neither actions ever materialized. Politics over substance (borrowed from MSNBC). Then and now.

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  

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