Election Gas (part 2)

Republicans believe they are the party of business yet they seem to have a big problem understanding the concept of supply and demand. I'm listening to another round of pompous acceptance speeches where they all think they won the primary and there is one theme they all agree on. That common theme is that Obama has caused this price hike by not allowing drilling in the gulf after the oil spill and requiring a proper environmental study for the pipeline. Their supporters are eating it up and cheering away! But there is a big problem with that lie. It's a lie. There is no shortage of oil right now (yet) and according to several articles I read the projections for demand are being downgraded slightly. That means that there is plenty of supply and not as much demand. Any economist would agree that should mean dropping prices. I'll cover the real reason for the high prices in a bit but my question is how can these candidates for President of the United States of America get away with telling lies like that?! And sadly, it is not the only lie they are telling. Their entire campaigns are based on lies and misinformation that is twisted to please their cheering fans. And it is all supported by gigantic Super PAC funds. Is this how we want our country run?! No thank-you.

So why are gas prices so high? The real answer is speculation (which I think should be illegal) and politics. There is no doubt that high gas prices will reflect badly on President Obama because typical Americans believe the President has control over those prices. The truth is that presidents don't have that kind of control over gas prices. However, political parties do. It is a common fact that most American oil companies are owned by Republicans and those oil companies are members of OPEC and OPEC does have control over the price of oil. OPEC has the power to override the rules of supply and demand - at least temporarily - and you better believe they will use that power to affect a very crucial election. If you don't believe me - take a look at gas prices over the course of the Bush administration. The prices raised considerably (for no apparent reason) during the middle parts of political terms and then dropped suddenly at critical election times. Then rose again after the election and dropped again for the next one. It was amazingly obvious for those of us paying attention (http://denbec.blogspot.com/2008/08/election-gas.html). Well I'm still paying attention and this current rise is completely political in my opinion.