Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT
Spence, as I posted above, gas was under $2 bucks a gallon when Obama got sworn in. Please enlighten me, what skyrocketing energy costs, exactly, did poor Barack inherit?
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The average price of crude dramatically rose under Bush's second term and has continued this trajectory under Obama. Certainly there have been recession based fluctuations in the strength of the US dollar used to trade oil which has been an exacerbating factor...along with global tension and Iran causing a lot of speculation in oil futures. In many areas production is shifting to deep water and oil sands which are more expensive to extract and process.
Obama didn't cause any of this nor is there a lot he can do about it.
Federal gas taxes are already very low so cutting them wouldn't help. We don't have a supply problem to opening up the strategic reserves wouldn't help either...if anything high global energy costs are making domestic refined goods more valuable to growing economies overseas.
Long-term we can work to be more frugal, produce more efficient products and exploit sustainable resources...but there's no magic fix.
It's a global problem and impacts more than just gas.
-spence
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