It's so darn simple. When you dollars are worth half as much, gas will cost you twice as much as it did. Who was leader as our dollar crashed?

It was the debt and the subprime crisis that caused the dollar to tank during the Bush rein.

If, Clinton had ran up debt and there was a credit crisis on his watch, conservatives would be correctly point their finger at his economics.

Get real, its the fault of the greedy oil companies. That's it. Trying to blame everyone under the moon reminds me of the parents who blames xbox for all their children's problems. The people who set the prices and who profit the most are to blame for the high prices. It's not rocket science.

Good grief.

I suppose Bush's attempt to curtail Social Security, trim Medicare benefits, and getting "C"s in college is also the fault of a Democratic congress.

Why should a oil producer have to accept dollars worth half as much? They need twice as many relative to what a Clinton dollar was once worth. Business is business: nor charity.

Really, here in Utah you get people writing to the papers to lay off president Bush. WOw.

Progressive Democrats are not in control of Congress. There is a residuum of rightwing Democrats, mostly from the South, who are really Republicans in ideology. They also could not over-ride a veto by themselves. But, more than that, what could they do? Take over Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Iran? We tried it in Iraq and it has cost over a trillion dollars and the impact on oil prices has been zero.

The previous commenters are far more in tune with reality than the letter writer. The dollar has fallen in value for the reasons stated (and more besides) and oil companies are making fantastic profits, much of it windfall profit.

And increasing drilling in the US will have no effect until 2020 or so and then its effect will be negligible. Demand will have gone up by then and the price per barrel will be even higher. They're not going to give us that new oil production, you now. We will pay world market prices for it and have to compete with Europe, China, India, the rest of developing Asia, South America, and the Martians to get it. Nothing good there.

Brad,

I am sure you would admit that each time Bush/Cheney threatened Iran with military action the price of a barrel of oil increased.

It is a cause and effect relationship.

The oil speculators would give the excuse of instability in the political situation in the middle east.

Specifically when the Israeli Defense Minister said that an attack on Iran by them was unavoidable the price of a barrel of oil went up ten dollars a barrel in one 24 hour period.

I find it funny that after almost eight years of rule they now try to blame others for the high costs of gasoline.

I guess here in Utah we should not complain because we returned the two oil men Bush/Cheney back into power with the highest approval rating in the nation.

JTM,
Actually it is Not the Oil company that sets the price of oil, but the speculators.

I am not sure how it all works, but that is why the oil companies are asking the people to talk to their representatives about controlling the speculators and thus reducing the price of oil.

Apparently, a few people around here could use a class in economics.

Anybody who knows anything about economics knows that the President actually has very little to do with the economy. World oil prices are a product of many factors--world demand, fluctuation of currencies, etc. The President actually doesn't have much ability to do anything about it. He just doesn't have that kind of power.

Unfortunately, bad public policy has had a lot to do with it also. Congress needs to get out the way and stop trying to pick winners and losers in energy or in the economy in general. We need more drilling, coal gasification, solar, wind, tar sands, shale oil, nuclear and any other energy sources that are available to us.

We have the ability to solve this problem if we can get Congress to stop this suicidal energy policy we have had for a lot of years. OUR NATIONAL SECURITY DEPENDS ON IT.

continues.And now Nancy Pelosi won't even allow a vote in the House on whether to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. Who is she representing? California citizens or Saudi Arabia? Talk about political suicide...

There are a number of factors driving oil prices, many of them the work of the Bush Administration. First, by not demanding fuel efficiency standards for Detroit, the result was people buying vehicles that last many years and "locked" drivers into gas guzzlers. Second, after 9/11, Bush extended incentives for small businesses to buy 6000 lbs.-plus SUVs, regardless of need, with the allowance of writing off the SUV within a year. This sparked demand for gas guzzling SUVs and steered Detroit to create manufacturing infrastructure for such vehicles. The outcome was America became more dependent on oil from countries waging terrorism against us. Third, Bush ran up trade and budget deficits, driving the dollar's value down, making oil increasingly expensive. To blame Democrats for refusing to allow oil companies from drilling is silly. Bush has expanded consumption to make oil more expensive rather than follow Democrats desires for developing an infrastructure of greater fuel efficiency. Yes, Bush's shortsighted policies -- that benefit his oil investments -- is partly to blame. I think America has learned a lesson regarding putting into office someone so tied to one industry can result in disaster!

I just came from Mexico where the price of gasoline is just about the same as here in the U.S. So, if the dollar were the only factor in the price of oil, why is the price in Mexico the same as here?

I am sure that the "evil" Darth VAder I mean Pres. Bush loves the the high price of gas. The day Baraack Obama becomes Pres. gas prices are going to fall back to $1-$2 doallars. What is wrong with this sentence?

The fact is that the price of gas is multifactorial. That is a big word but it means that there are many reasons for the higher prices we pay at the pump.

I am disappointed that neither congress nor the executive branch have shown any restraint on spending. Yes, congress controls the purse strings but I have not noticed many vetoes. Maybe Mr. Obama will reign in government spending.

Notice that most problems have more than one cause. So please when when posting, put down your axe and partisan commentary and ad some reasonable thought to the conversation.

I know that won't happen but I had to try.

All of the comments above have validity (well almost all of them.). I'm the last person to defend President Bush but let's give credit where credit is due. When I was a youngster in the 70's we experience the famous oil embargo that sent gas prices skyrocketing from 35 cents to over 85 cents. We all talked about alternative energies and our need to wean ourselves from foreign oil. Well, that was 35 years ago and what has changed. NONE of the presidents since that time has shown the leadership necessary to make gasoline powered automobiles a thing of the past. All of the presidents and all of us get the blame. How much would all of our lives changed if we didn't need foreign oil? Just sayin'.

@ How about this idea?
How about this idea: we start using our own resources to not rely so darn much on Iran and others for our energy appetite.

Brad, gas prices are going up for a variety of reasons, but primarily because of increased demand and a decreasing, finite resource. Political instability in the Mideast contributes, speculation also...To blame "not drilling" is baloney and the only ones who believe it drank the kool aid long ago. Come out here to Vernal and see whether or not we are drilling. The Bush Admin rammed through a blitzkrieg on all oil and gas within their reach, which is one reason I don't blame him alone for gasoline price increases. ANWR and OCS drilling will no doubt be debated, and no doubt will be allowed by the American people in some cases.
These facts won't stop people like you pinning the blame on those evil environmentalists, though. For such people, the gasoline crunch is just another stick to hit enviros with.

Oil is pegged to the dollar, Bush destroyed the dollar......any questions?

For the ? time. World oil prices are set by the world oil monopoly made up mainly by United states Oil interest. There is no free market in oil and speculators do what they do because of their expectations of what the oil monopoly will do.

The Iraqi war was started to allow the oil corporations to gain control over a rogue nation who was upsetting the oil cartel. That mission was accomplished early in the war. Thousands of people both American and Iraqi have died to accomplish what the oil companies and their puppet Bush wanted.

Unless we can regain controll over the oil interests, gas prices will continue to rise and America will sink into a third world status.

Obama is predicting $12 gas if he is elected, That is one thing I believe him on.

I find it kind of funny that people are blaming Bush for thier woes like the writer who's handle is Bush's hand. Saying that it is all Bush's fault that we the Americans are driving gas guzzlers. Like Bush forced you to buy the SUV or other gas hogs. Heck, the high MPG cars were around all this time for you to buy. So why didn't you buy one of them to drive around in? Oh, I know it is easier to blame someone else for our problems then look at the real person to blame. Which is themselves!!

You are so correct, corporate and individual greed has never been a trait of republicans.
Also, all that demand in China & India is just a myth.
Don't forget that the US never did reach their peak oil in the 70s and that there is plenty of it.

What a sad state of affairs. DRILL DRILL DRILL. That's all I keep hearing. What a WASTE, Drilling isn't going to solve our energy problems.

Good Grief.

People...Please! We keep crying over how bad we have it. I just got back from Europe, and trust me, they have it even worse than we do. After converting euros to dollars, and liters to gallons...they are paying between $8.25 & $9.00 per gallon for their gasoline!! Also you don't see ANY suv's or trucks over there! Everything is small and economical! We can blame Bush all you want, but the real problem is OURSELVES! Remember WE vote these knuckleheads into office. If you don't like what is going on, then educate yourself and put the right people in office. Unfortunately, we have two more knuckleheads running for President again! We need to quit being devided between Democrats & Republicans and get on with a better and stronger way of life. I don't like Bush anymore than anyone else, but name me a President that ever had to deal with the type of world that we are dealing with today? The oil prices are a direct result of China and India becoming more modern nations and pushing for their fair share of the world's oil reserves. We need to find alternative solutions for our oil dependence!!!!!

I`mean`t Irag not Iran.

When did gas prices start going up? When bush started the war with Iran. Of course it is mostly his fault. It doesn`t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. I`m soon going to be out of a job because of the price of corn the production of ethanal. I`ll be voting for Obama

Sorry, Ernest, you lost your credibility yesterday when you couldn't divide 3 Trillion by 300 Million and come up with a number even close to correct.

And Rey, are you aware that Brazil gained energy independence in a matter of a few short years by pursuing offshore oil resources? 20% of their oil comes from sugar cane conversion, and 80% from off shore oil. So, if this is a world wide commodity, and drilling one's own resources won't have any impact on prices, etc., then how did Brazil do it?

Fact is, drilling our own resources, and passing legislation (CONGRESS!!) that requires using our own resources for internal consumption, with no exporting allowed, would go a long way toward solving our short term energy needs. This should not be done without a long term plan to reduce our dependence on oil.

Or we could continue to sit back and allow China to drill our offshore oil reserves. Strangely, enviros seem to have little imfluence on the Chinese Government to curtail their appetite for more oil. If we don't drill it, they will.

One commenter hit it on the spot... Gas is expensive everywhere in the world... not just in the United States. The declining dollar actually has little to do with it. It's supply and demand, the speculators, and a variety of factors. Quite frankly, I think Big Oil is seeing a bubble that will burst just like the dotcome bubble... and we'll be back down to $2.50 gas sometime in the next year or two. Nevertheless, the Democrats need to come up with a better solution than just "alternative energy". This issue has the potential to derail the Democrats if they persist on no drilling at whatever cost.

ALL economists agree that the gas-price spike is due mostly to the 40% tumble in the value of the dollar, which is due DIRECTLY to Bush's outrageous deficit. A gallon of gas is actually worth about $2.50 in Clinton dollars. Oh, for the good old Clinton days!

Blame! That game is about as productive as "I told you so!" and it only feels good for a minute. Bush, Oil Companies, Middle Eastern oil cartels, Republicans and Democrats, American Consumers all are a piece of the puzzle of how we got here. Now why not focus on what we do from here on (and complaining is not a solution).

I get the biggest kick out of the Bush supporters.
If something goes right ... (sorry, I can think of anything that has gone right at this moment) the Bush-worshippers say it is because of Bush. If things go wrong (seems to be a multitude of that category nowadays) the Bush-worshippers (and Bush himself) say, "it's all Congress's fault!"

Ah, politics!
Ain't it grand?

You blame the price of oil on a Democratic Congress, but fail to give them credit for the safety of this nation.

Since the Democrats took control of Congress, there has not been a single terrorist attack on this nation.

Isn't your safety worth a few more pennies at the gas pump?

I don't need any more reasons to think Bush has been a disaster. I'll give him a pass on this one.

I love letters like this one: all those Hannity/Rush talking points laid out so neatly. The problem has nothing to do with oil companies needing more places to drill. They've got lots of oil reserves they've chosen not to drill, because its more profitable for them to sell oil they buy internationally--most of it from Mexico and Canada. These other respondents have it right--a devalued dollar is more to blame than Congress. As for energy independence--no one on earth is energy independent. Not Brazil, not Venequela, not even Saudi Arabia. Kuwait imports energy. Energy independence makes for a nice slogan, but that's about all it is. Energy diversity, though, that's a good thing.

One more time for Stevo and all those who have never had a class in economics: THE PRESIDENT HAS ALMOST NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ECONOMY OR THE WORLDWIDE PRICE OF OIL!!!

International demand has much more to do with the current price of oil The Federal Reserve is much more involved in the strength or weakness of the dollar than the President. Congress is much more responsible for the sitation with energy policy and tax policy than the President. In fact, the President tried to get an energy bill through Congress several years ago. It was pronounced DEAD ON ARRIVAL as soon as it hit the Hill.

Once again the Professional Bush Haters come out of the woodwork. Most of their comments are based on a lack of understanding of the economy, the international economy, the geopolitical situation, the federal reserve, the Congress and, quite frankly, just about EVERYTHING ELSE.

The world economy, the U.S. economy, and the dollar fluctuate, and prices generally increase over time. They always have, and they always will. The President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, have very little impact on it all.

Oil companies can charge whatever they want for their product. They are for-profit businesses. They will, and should, charge as much as they can to maximize their profits. They will also direct their R&D toward what they think will make them the most money in the future. There's no need to be angry at them. Rather than getting angry, just stop buying the product, or buy less of it. Oil companies can do what they want to do, and you can do what you want to do. Take control of your lives.

@ Oh Please - Claiming that 'ALL economists agree that the gas-price spike is due mostly to the 40% tumble in the value of the dollar' is either a lie, or so mis-informed it's ridiculous. Please show me where this claim has some validity.

Then, explain why gas prices in Europe have gone up 40% since January when the Euro is so strong.

George Bush, Junior sold 60% of his stock in Harken Oil in June, 1990 for $848,560. That was brilliant timing; in August, Iraq invaded Kuwait and Harken's stock dropped 25%. Soon after, a big quarterly loss caused it to drop further.
A secret State Deparment memo in May of that year had warned that Saddam was out of control, and listed options for responding to him, including an oil ban that might affect US oil prices.

We can't be sure that the President or an aide mentioned these developments to his son, or that Harken's representative who was admitted to meetings with the President picked up something and reported back to Junior. But it is the simplest and most logical explanation. The Bushes acknowledge that George Senior and his sons consult on political strategy and other matters constantly.

When will you people quit calling for windfall profit taxes on the oil companies? The windfall profits are being made the the corn producers who have turned off the food flow to turn on the ethanol faucet. Tax them!!!

Cats being a Faux News parrot isn't doing your homework. Countries paying for gas in euros haven't been affected as much as we have been affected, because of the dollar.

Add in a bit of speculation to the mix. and you have high prices.

If you thought independently, you would realize the most we can add to the supple, until these wells run dry, is maybe four percent. Four percent Would drop oil by maybe $6 a barrel.

American oil will sell for the global price. Why do conservatives believe business is altruistic in nature? BP is going to invest money to drop their profit margin.

Is using every remaining oil source in America good for the future security of America?

And You liberals don't spout off whatever your leaders tell you? Give me a break! Don't go off attacking other people for using points given by Rush or Sean because you don't like them, and then do the same thing! The point is a good one, and it deserves to be made!

On March 5, 2003, Senator Carl Levin, the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report prepared by the minority staff that reveals why gasoline prices soared under the Bush administration. It has to do with the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and some odd decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) after consulting with White House officials.

According to the Senate Report, the Bush administration added forty million barrels of oil to the nation’s reserves in 2002. That wouldn’t be a problem in and of it self. But the purchases represented an extreme change in energy policy; they were made in a strong market, with a tight supply of oil, which increased demand, which in turn pushed up the gasoline prices to their highest levels in twelve years.

The Senate report said in a one-month period in mid 2002 the Bush administration purchases caused crude oil prices to soar, raising the cost of heating oil by 13%, jet fuel by 10% and diesel fuel by 8%. The bottom line was the Bush policy change cost citizens between $500 million and $1 billion.

When crude oil jumps from $20 a barrel to $30, the Senate report says, the costs to U.S. taxpayers are an additional $1 million per day. “Over three months, the additional cost of filling the SPR approached $100 million,” which will ultimately be borne by U.S. taxpayers.

It will only take ten years to get oil out of the ground because of the greens and their lawyers. If you want inexpensive oil quickly, open ALL AVAILABLE PUBLIC LANDS, stop the activist EPA and the “green” lawyers. We would have gushers in a matter of months.
Nuclear power would be a mere fraction of the current cost by getting the hysterically paranoid “greens” out of the courtroom and into the insane asylums.

Really, think about it. | 12:37 a.m.:

"It's so darn simple. When your dollars are worth half as much, gas will cost you twice as much as it did. Who was leader as our dollar crashed?"

Then explain why gas prices around the world, not just in the US, are at an all-time high. (Hint: a dollar devaluation means foreign currency valuation increases.)

"It was the debt and the sub-prime crisis that caused the dollar to tank during the Bush rein."

The debt is the prime responsibility of Congress... as is legislation controlling real estate mortgage rules and regulations. You'd do well to direct your vitriol at the proper institution.

To: Cats @ 10:13 a.m. - Absolutely the best post of the day. You hit the nail on the head.

Why did Bush do it? For one thing, he was advised to do it. It has to do with the secret National Energy Policy advisory group headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney has steadfastly refused to release the names of those who advised the administration on energy matters. However, according to an article published in the Sunday Herald in Scotland (October 6, 2002), by Neil Mackay, it was former Secretary of State, James Baker who personally carried an advisory report to Cheney in April of 2001. Assembled at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, the task force consisted of oil and energy executives. The report, Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century is referred to simply as the “Baker Report” or “report”

To: GB @ 10:36 a.m.

What you seem to be saying is that the oil companies have their own well-being in mind... not the American economy or the American consumer. They don't seem overly concerned about how high the gas prices go because the higher the price the more they rake in. They know that the relationship between price and demand is essentially inelastic.

Solutions?:

Do what most other countries around the world have done. Nationalize the oil industry. Is Saudi oil a private enterprise? How about Iran oil? Or Venezuela? Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who recently threatened oil executives with nationalization may be onto something.

Oil production is a monopoly. Most monopolies are controlled by anti-trust laws. Why not oil?

Public policy can encourage this bursting bubble scenario. The Democrats want to tax the oil companies or use the antitrust laws against them. Big mistake. More taxes get you LESS oil and "concentration" in the oil industry is not really the problem. The on-going Congressional hearings "investigating" oil prices and profits is a charade and is purely political theater. The very same federal and state governments that complain about high oil prices continue to tax gasoline at a rate (40 cents per gallon) far higher than the profit rate for the oil companies. So much for government concern about consumers.

The report advised the new president, “At a minimum the government should aim to fill all of the nearly 700 million barrels of [reserve] capacity it currently has available.” Later, the National Energy Policy report recommended that the President wait until exchanged SPR barrels were returned and then he should determine whether offshore Gulf of Mexico royalty oil deposits to the SPR should be resumed. So after September 11, 2001, George W. Bush vowed to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to capacity.

The Baker report was not irresponsible, it also warned the president, “One problem with trying to refill the reserve at this time when markets are strong is that any purchases made by the U.S. government would add to the current tight supply.” In other words, prices would go up!

the method the Bush administration chose was to fill the SPR without regard to crude oil prices at all but simply at a constant rate of speed. The result was extremely high prices for gasoline and increased charges to be born by the taxpayers. The Bush administration denies this. But the method they chose did not add any additional reserve oil to the nation’s strategic supply. So why do it? Oil companies were happy, after all oilmen contributed $26.7 million to Bush’s campaign in 2000 and another $18 million for the 2002 election.

Another possible reason is this: The only way to get oil companies willing to make investments in drilling new sources of oil is to keep oil prices high. The nice thing about this methodology is that criticism can be so easily deflected as a White House spokesman did in a recent interview, by claiming the “purchases were for national security reasons.”

In a Wall Street Journal piece approximately two months ago, an interview with an OPEC representative was outlined wherein he was asked why OPEC refused to increase production in a time of increased demand. The obvious answer, according to all who seem to post here, should have been that OPEC wished to drive prices to the limit. His answer was, however, surprising. Simply said, OPEC would not increase production, because there was not sufficient demand to justify the cost. A business decision. A telling one. It would seem to be in OPEC's interest to cash in on the "skyrocketing" demand, but there isn't enough to support the cost of increased production. They did increase some at the request of the POTUS in an effort to dampen an increasing speculation in the futures market. Fact is, the oil companies are receiving windfall profits, but it is at the hand of market speculators. We want to blame the "big bad oil barons", but they benefit because of our own greed and rush to panic, not because of normal supply and demand economics. The only way more drilling would reduce cost is to nationalize oil fields. Dangerous precedent.

To: John Galt | 11:47 a.m.

I agree that more taxes for big oil is not the solution. They merely jack the prices to cover any increase.

But applying antitrust laws is a different matter. Antitrust laws are essential where competition is weak of nonexistent such as the oil industry. And especially in an industry that provides a product so essential to the health and well-being of the American economy.