Passing Gas

I find it ridiculously humorous that the entertainers posing as newscasters in Fox News keep blaming President Obama for the price of gasoline.  Equally humorous is the fact that Newt Gingrich keeps promising that if elected he will bring those prices down.  If someone had any doubt of the lies the far right tell, those absurd claims and accusations should be enough to show the world what big liars they are.

First and foremost, crude oil belongs to the oil companies that own the wells, not the government of the United States, unless of course it is offshore drilling. Even in that case, only if it’s within 3 nautical miles off the coast. Nowadays, deep sea drilling occurs at distances greater than 3 nautical miles, so the Federal and State governments don't receive any profit from it. Most of the time the refineries where the crude oil is processed and turned into gasoline belong to the big gasoline companies but not one belongs to the government of the United States.  Then we have the gas stations, who are privately owned and under contract with the gasoline companies.  So far, I am sure, everyone agrees.

The law of supply and demand stipulates the price of a barrel.  The less the demand, the lower the price and vice versa.  Over 82% of the price we pay at the pump goes to pay for the extraction of the oil (68%), the refinery (7%), marketing and distribution (10%) and finally a portion is the mark up for the gas station (1%).  Around 14% of the total price is taxes.  We don’t have to be rocket scientists to see that the bulk of the price comes from the owners of the well, not the government, the refineries or the gas station owners.

President Obama can’t lower these prices.  No president can.  Fox News knows this, Newt Gingrich knows this, Wall Street knows this and most of the 1% knows this.  The average American is so gullible (we know this from past experience, when they believed the infamous "death panels") that they do believe O'Reilly when he states that Pres Obama is driving the prices up or when NG promises to bring them down. These people suffer from what I call “selective amnesia” and even though they are an avid audience of Fox News, they forget not too long ago when George W. Bush was president and gas prices were rising, Bill O’Reilly explained to his audience that no president can change the price of gas... However, now that the president is a democrat, O’Reilly changes the rules to suit his purpose or party.

We want lower gas?  Let’s begin by being smart consumers.  If you are going to buy a new car, do the environment and your wallet a favor and buy a hybrid or electric car.  Try to drive as little as possible and stretch that tank of gas as much as you can and buy the cheapest gasoline brand, most likely that gasoline comes from the same well and the same refinery just under a different label.

Let’s change the supply and demand, remember if we demand less they’ll be stuck with the barrels of oil and will have to reduce the prices to move their product… Walk a little more; it’s good for the environment, your body and the price at the pump.  Pass the gas… you’ll feel better!

Oil companies lobbying in Congress by Party.

Edited by J. Schapiro