[speechlesstx]

A couple weeks ago when someone asked him about gas prices, Obama responded, "If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know, you might want to think about a trade-in."

Ah, but that was before he engaged in full campaign mode...

"I remember before I was president the last time gas prices went up this high -- it's tough," he said. "Maybe you don't have the money to buy a new car that gets better gas mileage... I've been there. It hurts...This gas issue is serious."

He also mentioned something about politicians suddenly noticing gas prices and how they'll start "going in front of the cameras and they’ve got some new three-point plan to promise two-dollar-a-gallon gas. And then nothing happens."

Ironically, he seems to have suddenly noticed gas prices and promises to do something about it. So what is this man who wants to raise gas prices, who has had his boot on the neck of BP for the last year, who told a family to buy a non-existent hybrid minivan and once said we could beat gas prices with proper tire inflation going to do? He's creating a task force to root out fraud and abuse.

Oh yippee! Another task force. I'm sure they feel our pain, too.

[smoothy]

I wonder if they will investigate Obamas part in driving up fuel prices by the drilling moratorium HE imposed and technically is still in effect as they are dragging there feet allowing drilling to happen.

But we all know... thats George Bushes fault... he is secretly running the country from Crawford TX... and isn't allowing Obama to do anything.

[tomder55]

Why appoint another task force ?The Simpson-Bowles Report is gathering dust on the book shelf.

The one thing you can be pretty sure of is that the gas prices are not the result of fraud. There may be some gouging or skimming at the local pumps ;but that wouldn't warrant a new blue ribbon taskforce. Of course with someone like Holder ,the recommendation may be similar to a Chavez-like nationalization.

Truth be told. This is a campaign promise he has kept.He did promise that under his plan energy prices would necessarily skyrocket.

Yeah I know he was talking about coal and electricity .But the mindset is the same . The only mistake was that as he said ;he'd prefer that the gas prices rose gradually.

[paraclete]

Still caught in the myth you can continue to do the same things and expect things to change, you have been insulated from inflation for too long and when it happens you are in crisis and you fail to recognise you have destroyed all the mechanisms economists use to manage. You cannot shift interest rates without destroying the economy, you are unwilling to raise taxes and unwilling to cut expenditure, you have nowhere to go

[tomder55]

There is truth in what you say. The price is not related to supply despite any uptick due to speculation. It is almost totally due to QE in my view. Our economists distort the inflation numbers by ignoring the consumer price index in their calculation. Yeah there is no inflation if you don't eat or drive a car .
The monetary policy of this Fed has been a disgrace for most of a decade now.

[excon]

Hello:

Buy gold. It's gone up $900 since I first said that here... Going to go up higher - MUCH higher.

excon

[smoothy]

Hello:

Buy gold. It's gone up $900 since I first said that here... Gonna go up higher - MUCH higher.

excon

You are going to need guns too, and lots of ammo... to protect it when Obama brings about the collapse of the nation as we know it, because even a complete idiot can see what he's doing isn't going to achieve anything but that..

[excon]

because even a complete idiot can see what he's doing isn't going to achieve anything but that..

Hello again, smoothy:

You DO represent a particular wing that is just laying in wait with your guns. If you decide to act, you should know that MINE is bigger than yours.

excon

[cdad]

I believe gas would drop sharply if it were to return to the free market and oil companies controlled the pricing rather then by speculation. It was wrong to move it to the speculation market in the first place.

[talaniman]

When demand is up, prices go up, and demand is up on the global market. Thought you guys knew that?

[tomder55]

Demand is not up . There is a supply glut. That is why the Saudis are considering a production slowdown.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnal...thy-Supply.htm

The speculators are playing a big part of this ;but the value of the dollar is the biggest determining factor. When S&P downgrades the US rating, that should be a major wakeup call.

[excon]

It was wrong to move it to the speculation market in the first place.

Hello dad:

Speculation MAKES markets. It doesn't control them.. Otherwise, the speculators on the WRONG side of the bet, would do a better job at CONTROLLING the market.

The REASON why commodities are sold on the futures market, is so that producers and buyers can LOCK in the prices they pay for their product... WITHOUT speculators, if the orange grower couldn't lock in his price BEFORE he brings his crop to market, the buyers would be able to LOW BALL him when the market is FULL of oranges...

In fact, when they're not being made scoundrels, they're held up as hero's that the markets couldn't function without.. And, that's what they are.

By the way, do you think it's speculators that are driving the price of gold? Or is it bad fiscal policy?

excon

[cdad]

When demand is up, prices go up, and demand is up on the global market. Thought you guys knew that?

Im not so sure that this is exactly true as it was before it went to speculators.

Oil Speculation

[smoothy]

You knew Obama has all but shut down drilling and caused a sharp decrease in output as a result... I though the left knew that?

[tomder55]

Agree with EX . Speculation is a critical part of the market place. Always has been ;always will be.
Call them the canary in the coal mine if you wish . The speculators have neither fixed the US interest rates too low causing general inflation ;or created the uncertaintly of the Arab Spring.

People always cry when a speculator bets high and wins. There is a silence when they bet high and are wrong.

[talaniman]

Im not so sure that this is exactly true as it was before it went to speculators.

Oil Speculation

Not saying the price going up so fast is not due to speculators, but demand from other countries especially India, and China is rising faster in the world, and no doubt the scavengers are trying to make a buck on the deal. They always do.

[talaniman]

You knew Obama has all but shut down drilling and caused a sharp decrease in output as a result.....I though the left knew that?

Drilling in the gulf is doing very well as long as they don't take dangerous short cuts and kill people.

Show me an oil company whose profits suffered because of the moatorium. There ain't none.

More oil drilling rigs are in Gulf of Mexico than before BP oil spill | NOLA.com

[tomder55]

The article you link to says that the rigs although in the Gulf ,are sitting there idle.

34 of the 125 rigs in the Gulf are actually working -- half the total that were active before the Macondo well blowout

Now maybe they expect to be drilling as soon as the red tape is cleared. But production levels are not where they were a year ago.

[cdad]

Hello dad:

Speculation MAKES markets. It doesn't control them.. Otherwise, the speculators on the WRONG side of the bet, would do a better job at CONTROLLING the market.

The REASON why commodities are sold on the futures market, is so that producers and buyers can LOCK in the prices they pay for their product... WITHOUT speculators, if the orange grower couldn't lock in his price BEFORE he brings his crop to market, the buyers would be able to LOW BALL him when the market is FULL of oranges....

In fact, when they're not being made scoundrels, they're held up as hero's that the markets couldn't function without.. And, that's what they are.

By the way, do you think it's speculators that are driving the price of gold?? Or is it bad fiscal policy?

excon

What your missing is that there has been speculators in the market all along. But certain commodities that define as basic nessecities shouldn't be speculated against and should go for actual cost. Sure they can do what they want with oranges. But you don't have to eat them nor do you have a baseline for the economy running on them either. So if a speculator drives up the price too high on a given product then the marketplace can reject that product. With oil and natural gas that's not the same option.

As far as gold goes. Right now there is a paniced run on it. Its going to be key to monitor it and world events to figure out when the best time is to buy or sell. If everyone (now) is buyng then its going to keep going up. In reality its not worth any more then you paid for it until you sell it. So if you buy early you have a cushion. Its those last minute buyers that will lose their shirts.

[talaniman]

While only 34 of the 125 rigs in the Gulf are actually working -- half the total that were active before the Macondo well blowout -- the vast majority of the idle rigs, particularly those slated for big-ticket jobs in deepwater, will remain under contract for the rest of 2011.

In the shallow-water Gulf oil fields, where the government has never officially banned drilling but has issued few work permits in the past several months, activity has rebounded to near its pre-blowout

You have to expect lower production levels after a disaster that took 11 lives and made a mess that still impacts the entire region, but the price didn't go up last year did it? Supply is at an all time high, and global demand is at an all time high, ans somebody may have a thumb on the scales because its easy money.