Economic illiterates have no concept of supply vs demand. They think that government can just "control" pricing. You want to lower gas prices? Remove the taxes, get rid of regulations to make it economical that we can build new refineries, and allow drilling anywhere and everywhere.

- The largest supplier of oil to the United States is Canada (EIA)
- The second largest supplier of oil to the United States is Mexico (EIA)
- 60% of United States oil imports come from non-OPEC countries (EIA)
- The average amount of tax on gasoline in the United States is 47.0 cents per gallon (API)
- The average amount of tax on diesel in the United States is 53.6 cents per gallon (API)
- No new refineries have been built in the United States since 1976
- The U.S.G.S. estimates 4.0 billion barrels of oil in the Central North Slope in Alaska (USGS)
- The U.S.G.S. estimates 10.4 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska (USGS)
- The U.S.G.S. estimates 10.6 billion barrels of oil in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPRA) in Alaska (USGS)

Give me a break - Oil Prices (Video) (5min) (John Stossel, 20/20)

For Now, Gasoline Is Our Only Cheap Fuel (Cato Institute)
Myths About Breaking Our Foreign Oil Habit (The Washington Post)

Prices - Going Green's No Good for Gas Prices (ABC News)
Prices - Price Gouging in the Public Interest (Cato Institute)
Prices - Myth: Price-Gouging Is Bad (John Stossel, 20/20)

Refineries - Behind high gas prices: The refinery crunch (CNN Money)
Refineries - Hyperion says plans first US refinery since 1976 (Reuters)
Refineries - Pain in the Gas: Refinery Troubles Push Gas Prices Higher (ABC News)
Refineries - Refining the Battle Against High Gas Prices (Competitive Enterprise Institute)
Refineries - Refining: the Untold Story of the Oil Chain (BMI)

The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource

Of course, it's BIG ENVIRONMENT which helps distorts the domestic harvesting of crude oil to the United States, and then its refinement into gasoline.

I know, that's a revolutionary concept to Jack.

Then there's BIG GOVERNMENT which takes a higher tax cut than the Oil refining/selling companies do in profit from each gallon.

But Jack Cafferty likes BIG ENVIRONMENT & BIG GOVERNMENT, so they get a BIG LIBTARD PASS.

But do you think John McCain (and the rest of the RINOs) will be making any conservative/free market arguments along these lines? Depressingly NO.

Oh... and break the evily monopolistic and illegal cartel OPEC. That would help.

Vote 4 change. Vote 4 anything. See Jack & Mr Shy's first campaign ad for the ONLY viable 3rd party candidate.

Oil was well below $60 dollars before we elected a democrat Congress in 2006. Look what has happened since. Nothing but price increases.

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

Jack Cafferty really lowers the standards at CNN. His whole schtick basically is "Bush sucks". I really wonder what these left wing water carriers like Jack Cafferty and Keith Olbermann will do if a Democrat takes over the White House next year.

I remember Cafferty being somewhat of a good newsreader when he was on a local tv station.   He did his job and was somewhat amusing.  I guess he does not consider himself a journalist now, as he seems to have drunk the kool aid from the  daily kos well. His perspective on every story is slanted and right wing conspiracy is around the corner on every issue.  He thinks 911 was a Bush led conspiracy. Or it could be he is off his meds. Usually this would be a person to just ignore but with revisionists like him and Olbermann and Matthews passing themselves off as news media journalists it becomes frightening that they have access to thousands, well in Olbermans case hundreds of viewers.

Red

"Dont' let te bastards grind you down"

No new refineries in 30 years, no new nuke plants in 25 years, no drilling in ALASKA, OR FLORIDA COAST.

Look, the big companies who fund campaigns, want oil prices high. The politicians won't buck their masters. If we went 50% nuclear , oil would drop like a lead balloon.

Get real folks, the oligarcy controls both parties & we are just left to get screwed & lied to.

Bush could have used the bully pulpit to push "nucyular" energy for 8 years, or for drilling in Alaska.

Fact is, he is cozy with big oil...and they are cleaning us out, & that alone has lead to the economic downturn.

Bush is a sellout & no conservative!

Cafferty loves to claim he is unbiased. I think he really believes it. He can barely contain his bitterness and vitriol towards the Bush administration. Too many Americans receive their economic wisdom from Cafferty and Dobbs.

“Without freedom, there is no true humanity.”

W.F.Buckley

on petroleum economics.  Or else the company agenda trumps every thing else that resembles cogent thought.

If President Bush was self-promoting, he would benefit more from a populace happy about low gasoline prices than from an oil industry happy about high crude prices.  He would benefit more from economic growth driven by cheaper energy than he would from the oil industry.  And besides the oil industry sells more during economic boom times than during recessions.

Since Cafferty and the clueless twits at CNN seem to wander through the forest of hypotheticals for a living, offer them an opportunity to make a legitimate comparison -- one that no liberal, Democrat, or activist/reporter can dispute.  As they say at Sears, "try this on for size":

The auto industry, restrained, shackled, and regulated into small, overworked corners of society, continue its effort to meet demand.  Since the mid-'70's, no new manufacturing facilities have been allowed, yet demand by an expanding consumer base has increased nearly twofold.  Feckless, pandering, and intransigent politicians continually interfere with domestic production, forcing US consumers to buy foreign autos at increasing volumes.

Suddenly, foreign auto makers demand higher prices for automobiles.  Domestic production, curtailed by obsolete and incompetent regulation, can't offer solutions unless the shackles are immediately removed, and even then, can't get quality product into the market place for two years.  Failing to address population growth and lack of infrastructure, US production and output slowly erodes, forcing more Americans into less productive, lower paying, freedom inhibiting jobs.

The nefarious schemes of socialists, liberals, and their enablers in the Democratic Party -- hoisted to phony relevance by the likes of CNN -- have done what no foreign army, navy, or terror cell could ever do: cripple American capacity to develop long term, self- sustaining industrial bases.  Now, those same Democrat endorsed and enabled factions declare the incumbent US president responsible for the problem.

Just how stupid do they think legitimate Americans really are?

Judging from repeated inaction and support of Democrats by clueless masses, we are very nearly the definitive version of "sheep to a slaughter". Time for action has passed.  We are in the penalty phase now.        

JACK "A--" CAFFERTY: And wait until the economy gets a little worse -- and it will in the next three or four months, and I'm hoping and praying it will.... man, would I be giddy if that happens -- and we wind up in a good deep recession about late summer... and, gosh, WOW, wouldn't that just be delicious!! PLEEEEASE, deep recession, we want you! We neeeeed you!!! Anything to return the White House to the good, compassionate Democrats. McCain's going to have a lot of work to do.

WOLF "EVERYTHING'S A SITUATION, ALL THE TIME" BLITZER: Well, can he disassociate himself, distance himself from the President? You know, George W. Bush, who we here at Hillary/Obama/Causcus/Primary-loving (it's all democratic-race news all the time here), Bush/GOP-bashing CNN have managed to render incompetent and unpopular in the eyes of Americans, no matter what he does?

JACK "A--" CAFFERTY: I don't know. Oil was $28 a barrel when George Bush was sworn in. It's $104 right now and could go to $120 soon (man, would that be sweet if it got up to $120... and if gas shoots to $4 dollars per gallon!) Now, why do you suppose that is? It wouldn't have to do with the policies of the Bush administration or the relationship they have with the oil companies, would it? Haha, that's sarcasm.... Get it? SARCASM?? Haha! Of course it has everything to do with that G*d damn Bush, his administration, his cronies, heck, the entire uncaring, vile, greedy, white-men-dominated Republican party. Come on.

* * * SOCKS THE CAT '08 * * *

For REAL Change

Hey Cafferty, use some logic. If Bush has such an effect on global oil
prices wouldn't he make sure that they were $2.00 a gallon to make
himself look great?

Dumb ass.

Perhaps the reason for the high oil prices these days is that it takes a lot of gasoline to expel all the hot air from Jack Cafferty's oral cavity.

Hey, Jack, run over any more bicyclists with your car lately?  Scumbag.

...the fact that OPEC is run by a bunch of America hating Arabs? Maybe? While Bush went and asked oh so politely if they could cut prices a little bit, they laughed in his face. Funny, isn't it? A bunch of cavemen running our oil industry. Somehow that NEVER gets mentioned in the 'news'.

"To beat Violence, You must ignore the focus groups. You must send in the Mossad, turn off the BBC, CNN, and don't look back. Rest assured there'll be no more ME crisis. "

More likely, if oil prices move up after midterm elections it would mean Democrats did better than Republicans and markets are reacting to that bad news.

Those who have not swords can still die upon them.

Gas prices are related to demand far outstripping supply.  The only way to address this problem is to increase the supply.  But too many politicians are in the flea-infested back pockets of the scum who call themselves "environmentalists".  Out of this relationship comes the conventional "wisdom" that we need to reduce our demand for oil and accept inferior "alternative" sources for energy.  NO!  Sorry, you can't limit worldwide demand for oil simply by cutting off American supply sources.  This is a supply side problem, and the only way to solve it is to increase the supply...drill off shore, drill in ANWR, explore for our own resources.  In the meantime, let the markets reward real technological developments (and their developers) in alternative energy...when those alternatives prove competitive with oil.