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Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
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I hope everyone saw the news last week about oil production. The United States is producing almost as much oil as Saudi Arabia. It also says the price of gasoline will not decrease because of it. So why all of the stuff about “drill, baby, drill”?
Republicans are blaming President Barack Obama for the high prices, but as you can see, the oil companies and speculators control it all.
If America is producing X amount of oil, natural gas and coal, but we could produce 40 % more, should we?
My answer is yes. The President's answer is no. If we restrict (in some ways) the production of fossil fuels, we bring closer the day when non fossil fuels can compete in price with fossil fuels.
The President, although he doesn't say so, ascribes to the idea that we 'need' to bring up the costs of fossil fuels before Americans will be willing to move away from them and toward non fossil fuels.
Until recently, Steven Chu (Secretary of Energy) has been more honest about the desire for higher gas prices.
I'm good with moving to non fossil, renewable energy, but I think we should move there without coercion, so I think we should develop all our own fossil fuels, while at the same time, investing in clean energy 'research' to try to find ways to make it more efficient and to be able to 'scale' it up to the size it needs to be to become a real part of our energy mix.
Michael
You need to REFINE oil to get gas
We do not have the refining capacity to keep up with demand.
Lack of pipelines prevents us from getting oil to refiners
When refiners have to shutdown to change from summer to winter blends we alway get a spike
Obama had four years to find the spectaculators but has not found one
It is still supply and demand
Don't underestimate the plans and power of oil companies in determining the price of oil refined in their refineries.
Many advancements and transportation systems have disappeared after the inventions or systems were bought out by oil and the automotive industries.
It also seems we are seeing more refinery shutdowns for various reasons that also increase the cost of gasoline.
I think there is more domestic market manipulation than we realize.
I agree with Michael in his stated approach of the simultaneous development of renewable energy. However, there seems to be a segment of society that doesn't see the need for such expense.
If we don't pursue that with intelligence, down the road we will reach the bottom of the barrel of oil and not have an alternative in place. The issue has to become more detached from politics, and taken seriously by all.
Empty barrels and no alternative is a fine inheritance for the "children and grandchildren", or future generations.
I have one phrase for the letter writer: Keystone XL Pipeline. And one word to go with it. Jobs.
Before you think oil prices are okie dokie, just remember we are paying, on average, $2 more per gallon than we were when President Obama took office 4 years ago. Grant you it has alot to do with the Fed's manipulation of the dollar and QE 1, 2, and 3 which caused hyper inflation. Especially for oil which is priced on the world market for sale in US dollars. But the last I heard and read, the Fed Chief Ben Bernanke works for the President.
CarmineD
Peace says "I think there is more domestic market manipulation than we realize"
Obama, Holder and Chu have had squads of specialist trying to find manipulation for four years - no luck in finding them.
We need to move on internally generating our energy supply - nuclear, clean coal, wind, solar, oil, etc
"Obama's secretary of energy, Dr. Steven Chu, "has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels (for gasoline), and that would be $9 or $10 a gallon."
Like Bernanke, Chu works for the president. Chu also uses a bike to get back and forth to work. So he doesn't have to worry about gas prices.
CarmineD
Of course it's not Osama Obama's fault. It's George W.'s. Dumbocrats! Can't take responsibility for anything unless it enhances their weirdo agenda!
The global supply and demand determine the price of oil and as a derivative the price of gasoline. It is not enough to say that oil production in this country is about the same as Saudi Arabia so everything on the oil production side of the equation is fine and then blame speculators and oil companies for the increase in prices. As I view it, Obama is anti fossile fuel development, and his policies reflect this . In order for prices to decrease global supply must increase relative to demand. That means more production must be supplied into the market. To unleash this supply iAmerican production can and should increase. To do this the overall level of the infrastructure must be raised for fossile fuels on a permanent basis. The overall supply of oil from the US must be raised. For this to occur federal lands must be freed to open up more oil production,environmental regulations must become friendly to development by use of fracking technology,and the Canadian pipeline must be approved. Setting in place this framework will assure refinery makers that their investments in new and expanded refinery capacity will be rewarded..
Republicans are fond of quoting gasoline prices of $1.80 per gallon the day President Obama took office. They fail to mention that gasoline was $4.30 a gallon just six months before and the reason for the price drop was we were losing 800,000 jobs a month and demand was cratering faster than oil companies could reduce supply. But, reduce supply they did and prices rose pretty rapidly after that.
I've worked for oil companies. I know how they operate and the first thing everyone should know is they have no incentive to reduce the price of their products. If oil prices drop, the first reaction is to quit exploring for more. If prices continue to drop, they take steps to reduce supply. Oil is not subject to spoilage and companies will just turn off the pumps and quit producing, they will reduce refinery utilization, or shut down refineries, until they have the prices they want.
So, absent taking another shot at Great Depression II, no president will ever preside over $1.80 gasoline again. Give up that pipe dream!
Carmine, better read it again...Bernanke does NOT work for the President.
Drill Baby Drill is the ULTIMATE kicking the can down the road as our great grandchildren will dance to the tune of a Canada/Norway/Russia cartel when we have finally used ours up.
Keystone Pipeline is to bring CANADIAN (i.e. foreign) shale oil to Gulf refineries so it can more easily be sold and shipped to other foreign countries. Yes, some jobs here, but if we really want our gas prices to benefit it would be way cheaper, faster and more effective just to build a new refinery in North Dakota.
Truman: "The buck stops here."
Obama: "Don't blame me. Buck? What buck?"
Except for the fact that drilling is up on private lands and down on federal land the letter-writer may have a point.
Obumma's energy secretary covets european gas prices. Enjoy, a second term may get us there.
Jim, Your factual and contextually accurate argument will fall on deaf ears such as Carmine and the usual crew of conservatives. They would have to admit their arguments on this issue are nonsense and they are incapable of doing this.
Peacelily said: 'I agree with Michael in his stated approach of the simultaneous development of renewable energy. However, there seems to be a segment of society that doesn't see the need for such expense.'
There are people on one side who don't want any more fossil fuel development and people on the other side who want no money spent on green energy development.
What we need is more fossil fuel exploration,development and production here in the US and money spent not on setting up retail green energy companies, many of which fail, but instead spent of green energy 'research'.
Michael
Enjoyed the letter, Mr. Worth.
Tea/Republicans just love to blame during this silly season before the election. Because they just LOVE to troll for gullible people who will believe the over-the-top rhetoric and vote for their useless politicians.
They have nothing to run on except gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, I'm not giving you anything, I just want to be in power, gimme, gimme, GIMME! but don't do anything to deserve it.
If bananas all of a sudden had bones in them, they'd blame President Obama and his entire administration.
The silly season is perfect for Romney and his ilk. They don't have to campaign on the truth, just play upon peoples' emotions to curry for votes.
It's not gonna work though. Most people out here can differentiate the truth from lies. They darn sure can see the difference between @#%@ and shinola.
By Pisces41,
"Republicans are fond of quoting gasoline prices of a $1.80 per.gallon the day Pres. Obama took office.They fail to mention that gasoline was $4.30 per.gallon just six months before (under Bush).And the reason for the price drop was we were losing 800,000 jobs per. month and demand was cratering faster than the oil companies could reduce supply.But reduce supply they did and oil prices rose pretty rapidly after that".
Great and very accurate breakdown how oil companies operate and control prices at the pump. This comes from a person who has worked for oil companies our own Jim Weber. It dosen't matter how much oil the U.S. produces it's pretty clear that oil companies will continue to control the prices so they can keep up with 10 billion quarterly profits.
The only way to bring down oil prices is to flood the market with a over abundance of oil.As we just read the oil companies will never let this happen.
So scream all you want about it being Pres.Obama's fault for high prices at the pump.The problem will never get fixed until we address the real issue and that is the oil companies. Who control what we pay at the pump, and ever increasing profits for them.
Petroleum prices may have increased significantly between administrations because of the industries willingness to work with the President and his green energy goals. So what, we are going to have to buy vehicles that attain set goals in energy consumption or pay more, the same with industry and housing. Look at the bright side of the last four years though, the Harry, Barry and Barney team have brought down housing costs by 66%, land cost by a whopping 90% with their one time walk away specials for mortgaged homeowners, then theres the Toxic Asset Relief Program for those evil rich people that we just can't do without, bankers ! In eight weeks, FREE health care, they even saved GM and Chrysler just in time so they could move expensive labor burden operations to China.
It doesn't really matter how much we produce if we can't get it refined into gasoline. Unfortunately the democrats and environmentalists won't let us do any refining.......so we ship the petroleum over seas and pay more for refined gasoline at home....brilliant
@CarmineD
Your comment is a classic example of conservatives deliberately misrepresenting the facts. Steven Chu made the comment about $9 gas SIX MONTHS BEFORE OBAMA WAS ELECTED. Steven Chu was not part of the administration when he made that comment.
Here's what Obama said on March 6 2012:
Look, here's the bottom line with respect to gas prices. I want gas prices lower because they hurt families; because I meet folks every day who have to drive a long way to get to work and them filling up this gas tank gets more and more painful, and it's a tax out of their pocketbooks, out of their paychecks, and a lot of folks are already operating on the margins right now.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-offi...
I have to agree with Michael Casler. We need to pump all the fossil fuels we possibly can! Today!. If we restrict (in some way - such as exhausting them...) the production of fossil fuels, we bring closer the day when non-fossil fuels WILL compete in price with fossil fuels. But that price will be substantially higher than it is today. Maybe it's better to actually develop those non-fossil fuels before we have absolutely no other choice.
As oil is a globally produced and traded commodity pricing for similar grades are reasonably stable worldwide at the wholesale level. Local or regional pricing variations are due to distribution costs, taxes and/or subsidies and demand. No President or Prime Minister or Dictator-for-Life has much control over wholesale pricing. In the PacNW where I live regular is $.26 in Grand Coulee and $3.92 30 miles down the road. If I drive 200 miles over the pass to Montana it gets down to $3.40. Why? Transhipment point from the pipeline to the railroad so there is a lot of storage capacity that needs to be cycled.
Obama's "making electricity prices necessarily skyrocket" and Energy Secretary Chu's coveting european gas prices will finish off what's left of the middle class. Some defenders.
BTW, why has the price of natural gas fallen so much? Could it be "drill, baby, drill"?
Jumbo...everyone wants prices lower. Prices have been trending higher for decades. Everyone around the world wants a house and car. Tata has a $2500.00 car they want to sell to the masses. When I started driving in the early seventies gas was 35 cents a gallon. Today 10 times higher. When billions more folks enjoy the American dream and hit the road in Tatas the demand for oil will explode.
We can then add gas to education and healthcare in terms of things Americans can no longer afford.
Notice in my post above I put Chu's comments in parens. Just like I'm doing here now with the rest of his more recent comments backing off his comments.
""Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," Chu said in an interview with the Journal in September 2008. The quote did not appear in print until December, when the Journal ran a story after news emerged that Chu was being tapped as energy secretary.
It has been a target of criticism numerous times since then.
"The popularity of Chu's now-infamous quotation tends to track the rise and fall of gas prices: It enjoyed a huge surge of attention last spring and summer (2011) before largely vanishing from view in the fall, leading up to this month's renaissance," reporter Bob King wrote in a story in POLITICO.
As it happens, after Gingrich's comment, Chu backed away from what he said. At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on March 13, 2012, Chu said, "Since I walked in the door as secretary of Energy I've been doing everything in my powers to do what we can to " reduce those prices."
Chu added, according to POLITICO, that the "most important tool in DOE's tool chest is moving off oil."
"So are you saying you no longer share the view that we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in America?" Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked him.
"I no longer share that view," Chu said.
"When I became secretary of Energy, I represented the U.S. government," Chu added. "Of course we don't want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down."
Getting back to Gingrich's portrayal of Chu's 2008 remark -- that he "has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels" -- Chu's statement was indeed public. He said it to a newspaper. And he did express a desire to raise domestic gas prices closer to those in Europe."
CarmineD
Mea culpa: Should have said quotation marks not parens. But I'm sure you got the point. I was quoting another source: Politico.
CarmineD
Caribou Barbie is more qualified than Obama and Romney both on energy, she was right four years ago, still right, a 99%er, an American and ain't no dang draft dodger. Oil prices stay high because there is no competition and the federal lease programs are used as investment instruments. Of course everyone also knows what the Greenies and Tree Huggers, who are actually the EPA, Department of Aggravation and various other government nut-jobs constant interference with anything carbon based have on prices. If oil prices dropped to $25 a barrel millions of green energy investments would be totally worthless, exactly the same as housing.
For those that are uninformed and do not watch the oil markets globally (not just financial), there is another cliff coming in the next decade that is going to be much worse than any fiscal cliff! It is called Peak oil.
This is when the largest and oldest producing fields begin their decline and the newer Hi-Tech drilled, lower output fields cannot make up the steep losses due to geologic constraints, resource depletion and energy inputs.
The reality is we have burned up all the easy cheap oil..now we are desperately drilling in deep oceans, arctic, fracking, mining tar sands trying to keep our production up. This is the hard to get very expensive oil. The cost for a deep water drilling rig is between 500K to 1 million per day! The amount of energy to produce oil used to be over 100-1. Now the ratio is more like 20 -1 or less. that means we now need 1 barrel to produce 20. We use much more energy to produce much less oil. That creates a higher cost for the crude and the resulting fuels made from it.
We are on a treadmill that we cannot keep up with... but reality tells us that we better find another way to get by before the decline kicks in.. once the decline starts.. we will not have the energy to transition to alternates because that itself requires a lot of energy. Infrastructure changes take decades not years to occur.
So if we are so blind as to not start the transition now... we may be sealing our fate as a failed nation and civilization.
Capitalist economies require growth to operate. Growth is measured in energy that you can apply to create some productive work... with declining energy.. our capitalist economy will collapse and growth will be a thing of the past. Think hard about planning for a future with less oil.. whether you believe it or not has little effect on the eventuality!
Another question for the drill baby drill crowd.. why would we as a nation want to drill and use up all the available oil in the US as quickly as possible leaving nothing for future generations? Are we really that selfish and stupid ?
Rhetorical question, I know!
"I've worked for oil companies. I know how they operate and the first thing everyone should know is they have no incentive to reduce the price of their products. If oil prices drop, the first reaction is to quit exploring for more."
This is true of all commodities like oil. There is a cost to drill for oil and if the profit doesn't warrant, they cap the wells until the profit [read price points] warrants.
Gold is the same. At $200 an ounce, it doesn't pay to mine for new supplies. In fact, I think the break even point, cost to mine and then resell at no profit and loss, use to be $250 an ounce. Certainly, at $1800 it is very profitable to do so. No difference with oil and other commodities.
To President Obama's credit, he signed an executive order earlier this year to increase the margin requirements on oil futures to 50 percent from zero. I gave him credit here at the time when he did. But I also mentioned that members of the GOP were advising the President to do so months before he finally did.
CarmineD
PS: One of the GOP persons telling President to increase the margin requirements on oil futures MONTHS before he did: Governor Sarah Palin.
CarmineD
Enjoy the comments so far, but I have to chime in when someone is trying to say that Sarah Palin is some kind of resident expert.
She is not.
She was a poor choice as a Vice President. Then she quit as Governor to pursue some kind of Tea Party brand to make herself a multi-millionaire. Failing as a reality television star, she got hired as a pundit for Fox News. A poor one at that.
If she is a resident oil production expert, then Sheldon Adelson has no money.
My grassroots formed organization continues.
Called "LISP." That stands for "Let's Ignore Sarah Palin."
Becauthe thee is thtupider than rockth. Anyone who payth attenthun to her needth their head exthamined.
41 says "I've worked for oil companies. I know how they operate and the first thing everyone should know is they have no incentive to reduce the price of their products."
---
41 we have lost all all respect for you given that you worked for an evil oil companies - more that one. It is wrong for any Democrat to work in the oil or gas or coal industry.
I will certainly view your comments in a much different light now that we know you worked for big evil oil.
---
Drill baby, drill ! (While denying that global warming is one of our biggest problems as monster become the norm.)
***
Just for old times sake let's go back and take a look at GOP leadership in action. Check out this photo of failed republican president GW Bush as he stares blankly through the window of Air Force One at an underwater New Orleans after his long vacation was rudely interrupted by Hurricane Katrina --
http://www.erinrsilva.com/?attachment_id......
President Khardasian held a disaster relief press conference today blaming a YouTube video of Rush calling Sandy a slut thereby incurring her wrath. He quickly phoned Sandy to apologize and mentioned that he was looking forward to again getting his ego massaged in Vegas this thursday.
Don't let the affairs of state interfere with the affairs of my re-election. Hurrrmpf!
Mr. Worth....
Great letter...Thank you!
We knew some 30+ years ago that we would be facing $4.00 to $5.00 a gallon gas down the line if we didn't get serious about our energy problem...
When Jimmy Carter was in the White House, we were importing 40% of the oil that we used. We're now importing 60% of the oil that we use...
Also, we're spending $600 billion or more each year on foreign oil. The oil companies aren't interested in drilling for more oil here at home as long as they can continue to import foreign oil and make money "hand over fist."
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that sooner or later we're going to run out of oil, or what little oil that is left will be so expensive that the average American won't be able to afford it.....
Only then unfortunately, will we as a nation get serious about our energy problem and collectively do something about it...
I get a kick out of the Republicans who are always ranting about how this country is being over run with socialistic programs, but then they refuse to do anything about the hand-outs that the government gives to the oil companies.....
Why is that? Ha! Ha! Ha!
Sorry if I missed this above, but there is a serious reason for not depleting our resources.
Defense of the country!
Think of one generation sucking up all the non-renewable resources to use as they please, and leaving future generations in a desperate situation for survival as a democracy.
There needs to be a sane energy policy that is tried to sustainability, not only of resources, but of the nation.
Gung Ho depletion of our domestic supplies is against our defense interests.
Regarding the remark of Stephen Chu about wanting gas prices to equal Europe, I think he was expressing the fact that we need to feel the pain before we will get serious.
Fact is, Europeans pay their high gasoline prices, but also use their way more advanced train systems, including high speed trains.
Some also have street cars and electric buses, both of which the American oil industry succeeded in closing down here via political lobbying a long time ago. They cut into their profits on selling gasoline and oil for autos.
We need a good high speed rail system in the US, and Obama supports that.
It is an essential thing for our nation to be sustainable and domestically able to handle needs in defense of our nation.
Additionally, it can serve business and individuals business and pleasure needs, without putting an excessive demand on our resources. It is a conservative action. It is a conservation action.
Fortunately, Obama has the vision to see the need.
Will there ever be a headline that doesn't start with "Obama's not at fault" ?
In light of the major disaster facing millions of Americans along the eastern seaboard we need to remind ourselves that republicans hate government programs that help those besides the elite top 1% which is why they tried to shrink FEMA and drown it in the bathtub.
If the GOP had their way US disaster relief would have been privatized and turned over to Halliburton, Black Water, etc. long ago. Same as pre-9/11 when small-govt zealots surrendered our airport security to low-bid firms who then paid minimun wages and had a higher employee turnover rate than Burger King.
It's all about supply and demand. More supply, lower prices.
Another issue is the regulations that are placed with oil drilling that is supported heavily by democrats. Higher regulations make drilling more expensive, which makes the prices higher. It's all basic economics.
But even that being said another thing that would help prices drop would be do fight against collaboration amongst oil companies. I'm not sure if any politics are involved there but it would be nice to have a president that would ensure the companies are truly competing with each other.
Weren't we at "peak natural gas" a few years ago?
New drilling techniques discovered a 100 year supply.
Until a second Obumma term regulates it out of existence.
Carmine,
"This is true of all commodities like oil there is a cost to drill for oil and if the profit dosen't warrent they cap the wells until the profit warrents. Gold is the same.At $200.00 an ounce,It dosen't pay to mine for new supplies".
I agree that gold at $200.00 an ounce can't be mined for a profit.But gold is a luxury so most consumer's buy it only when they can afford to do so.Like for special occasions such as getting married (wedding rings etc.) or any number of other reasons.
Oil on the other hand is a necessity. Everyone needs to buy gas to get to and from work in order to feed one's family.There are no choices when it comes to oil (gas).It's in demand all the time,no matter what shape the economy is in. So it's safe to say that oil companies have us over a barrel,of oil that is.
There's a big difference between both commodities(oil and Gas). One we desperatly need to buy, the other we buy when we decide it's affordable for us to do so and not until that time.
My error I should have said big difference between oil and gold,not oil and gas.
Benghazi. Obama lied and people died!
In case everyone here forgot......
We now have hybrid cars and full electric cars.
That's the future.
We won't need dirty oil.
Buy them, drive them and quit crying.
BATTERY POWER!!!
We don't need no stinken gas.
And stop listening to these oil soaked
republicans.
They're wrong about everything.
We won't let them drag us backwards.
Peacelily writes "We need a good high speed rail system in the US, and Obama supports that."
I lived four years in Europe and the reason why trains work well in Europe is due to a majority of their population living in the city's downtown area most often referred to as city centers. Our population sprawls into many suburban areas which makes the European train model for most of the United States much less appealing.
"There's a big difference between both commodities(oil and Gas). One we desperatly need to buy, the other we buy when we decide it's affordable for us to do so and not until that time."
Both are commodities bought and sold on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange by US & world investors and speculators.
CarmineD
Carmine,
"Both are commodities bought and sold on the chicago Merchantile Exchange by U.S.& world investors speculators,Oil and Gold".
As I had said in my earlier post one (oil) we can't live without.Gold is a luxury we can live without.
Oil companies and speculators control the world's destiny.
BATTERY POWER!!!
Unfortunately, they are all going out of business. They were only fronts for Obama bundlers anyway.
"Gold is a luxury we can live without."
Really? Are you sure you are a Nevadan? What percent of Nevadans' jobs and economy depend on Gold?
CarmineD
"The mineral industry has been an important
player in Nevada's statehood and economic
structure. From 1860 to 1890, the Comstock
Lode in Virginia City initiated the state's mineral
industry growth and many historians
acknowledge the Comstock Lode for helping
the territory of Nevada to become the state of
Nevada. During the turn of the century, gold
and silver mining towns, such as Tonopah and
Goldfield, boomed along with the copper
mining towns of Ely, Ruth and McGill. The
second renaissance of Nevada's mineral
industry occurred in the 1980's with the
development of numerous large-scale gold
mines operating in central, northern and
eastern Nevada. There was also a revival of
copper mining in Ely in 1996 after two decades
of inactivity.
Although Nevada's mining industry faces
numerous technical and regulatory challenges,
the industry has developed a large, efficient
and economically viable capital base that is
fundamentally sound and sustainable well into
the future. This capital base has been built
through the investment of over $10 billion in
plant, equipment and exploration since 1980.
This investment has primarily come from U.S.
companies, although as the industry has
attracted worldwide attention, it has attracted
investment capital from all over the world.
Largely because of this investment and
favorable geology, Nevada has emerged as
the third largest gold producer in the world
behind South Mica and Australia during the
past decade (Table 1). With 1997 gold
production of just over 7.8 million ounces,
Nevada accounts for 69 percent of U. S.
production and approximately 10 percent of
world production."
With Gold and Silver prices at all time highs, I have to think Mr. Pizzo, that they [Gold and Silver] are among the brightest spots in Nevada and Nevadans present and future economy. More so than oil.
CarmineD
Smart people know that gas prices are controlled by a cartel which we are not a part of.
Smart people also know that the only way to get rid of this problem is to invent our way out of it like Thomas Edison did (No more candlelight, repubs!)
So let's keep buying cleaner cars until they are cheap enough that we can show OPEC the finger!!!
Carmine,
At this time in our country oil is more important than gold or silver will ever be.
Gold and silver does not effect Americans like oil does.So why go into a big deal about it. We are and have been discussing how the price of gas hurts most Americans.I think you have wandered off a bit.
Mr. Pizzo:
Last I heard and read, Nevada is in America and are Americans.
Yes, higher gas prices hurt Americans. And I opined on the reasons that under this president the price per gallon has gone up $2. That alone is reason enough not to reelect him.
CarmineD
Carmine,
"Under this president gas has gone up $2.00 per gal".
Surely you must have read Pisces41 (Jim Weber) post on Oct.30,at 6:11A.M. How oil companies control prices of gas at the pump.
You must be the only person in Nevada who really believes that Pres. Obama is the one who raised gas prices. You can't be that naive and don't believe that oil companies and speculators are responsible for higher prices at the pump.
If this is what you do believe is true, do you also believe that six month's(2008) before Pres. Obama was sworn in as Pres. Gas prices under former Pres.G.W.Bush were $4.30 per. gal.Was Bush responsible for those price increases at that time?
Bush2 is not running for President in 2012. Obama is. President Obama may not be directly responsible for gas being $2 more per gallon on his watch, but he is accountable for it.
CarmineD