The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

They Told Me If I Voted For McCain, Politicized Economists Would Engage In Class Warfare Instead Of Speaking Truth To Power, And They Were Right!

Posted on | March 16, 2012 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Robert Reich:

But the rise in gas prices has almost nothing to do with energy policy. It has everything to do with America’s continuing failure to adequately regulate Wall Street. But don’t hold your breath waiting for Republicans to tell the truth.
As I’ve noted before, oil supplies aren’t being squeezed. Over 80 percent of America’s energy needs are now being satisfied by domestic supplies. In fact, we’re starting to become an energy exporter. Demand for oil isn’t rising in any event. Demand is down in the U.S. compared to last year at this time, and global demand is still moderate given the economic slowdowns in Europe and China.

Regulation! It’s what’s for breakfast! Seriously, one wonders what this jackwagon would consider too much regulation. Regulation is the salvation of the #Occupation, I suppose.
How about something akin to a real-world answer, from last year about this time?

An analysis produced by the Republican staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee blames the falling value of the dollar and the Fed’s quantitative easing policy for inflating the price of oil, and therefore the price of gasoline.
The report explains that while many factors contribute to the market price of oil, one is the value of the “unit of exchange” – the currency in which barrels of oil are traded.
“Oil is an international commodity that trades in dollars,” the report states. “The value of the unit of exchange, in this case the dollar, plays an important role in determining the ‘headline’ price for the underlying commodity.”

In summary, if “Zimbabwe” Ben Bernanke was not excreting a blizzard of currency from wherever, oil prices wouldn’t be, you know, inflated. Alternately, one wonders what the price would be if our government wasn’t systematically abusing the money supply. Economics, Reich: would you know it if it slapped you upside the head?

Update: more good stuff at The Rio Norte Line.

Category: Economics, Weimar America

Comments

6 Responses to “They Told Me If I Voted For McCain, Politicized Economists Would Engage In Class Warfare Instead Of Speaking Truth To Power, And They Were Right!”

  1. DonaldDouglas
    March 16th, 2012 @ 11:22 am

    Yo, Smitty, take down that mofo Reich! Dude!

  2. The Dog Ate My Homework « The Rio Norte Line
    March 16th, 2012 @ 12:09 pm

    […] Smitty at The Other McCain has more… 55.957870 -3.199357 Share this:FacebookEmailPrintRedditTwitterStumbleUponDiggLinkedInLike this:LikeOne blogger likes this post. Posted in: Economy/Economics ← What Once Was Old Is New Again Faith of Our Founders → 3 Responses “The Dog Ate My Homework&#8221 → […]

  3. Michael Smith
    March 16th, 2012 @ 12:13 pm

    Tattoo is a moron. John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell said:

    Hofmeister predicted that Americans won’t have enough oil to fill their gas tanks no matter the price, which will lead to another recession.

    “We’re not going to have enough oil to fill the tanks everyday of consumers at whatever price it might be, so Rex may be correct in the course of the next several months that the economy could falter because people don’t have the money to both buy clothes and books and food and medicine, because they have to get to work every day, and the higher priced gasoline courtesy of the American government is causing people to choose to not buy things,” he said.
     
    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/former-shell-oil-president-we-won-t-have-enough-fill-gas-tanks-no-matter-price

  4. Robert Reich is Short… « The Rio Norte Line
    March 16th, 2012 @ 1:06 pm

    […] Smitty at The Other McCain posts: They Told Me If I Voted For McCain, Politicized Economists Would Engage In Class Warfare Instead Of … […]

  5. Bob Belvedere
    March 16th, 2012 @ 6:20 pm

    Can I slap the little s–t upside the head?  Can I?  Please, please!!!

  6. Ford Prefect
    March 17th, 2012 @ 9:52 am

    “In fact, we’re starting to become an energy exporter.”
    This statement is meant to imply that we have MORE than enough oil in this country. So much in fact, that there is no reason to drill for more.

    But what’s to explain this statement just a few words earlier:“Over 80 percent of America’s energy needs are now being satisfied by domestic supplies.”This statement is categorical (and nonsensical): But he appears to be saying that the US does not have enough of its own domestic energy supply to meet its needs. We are still short by 20%.Of course, Reich is using the term “energy” generally even though we’re talking about the price of oil/gasoline specifically.This would be like 1.) complaints that supply of Apple’s new iPad were in limited supply but then someone else using Reich’s logic would say, “no, we have plenty of electronic products here in this country.”Well, Mr. Reich, if you looked at my complaint, it wasn’t that there weren’t enough “electronic products” but rather, that it appears we’re running out of iPads.The issue right now is that we have a very limited supply of oil, we have a limited number of refineries, we have a limited number of ways to transport oil from our largest foreign supplier (Canada), and for an economic imbecile like Reich to not understand that that translates into higher prices, is amazing.  Just because we have an increasing amount of say, natural gas, doesn’t really help keep the price of gas down much, does it?In fact, import about half of our oil (see this USEIA chart: http://205.254.135.7/energy_in_brief/images/charts/imports_domestic_petro_shares_demand-large.gif)Also, we because of the aforementioned refinery issues, we actually have glut of unrefined oil in the midwest while other parts of the country that rely on foreign oil are seeing shortages.  This combined with market uncertainty, climate legislation, and inflation, all combine to force the price at the pump to all time highs.