MSNBC's token conservative Pat Buchanan has really been having a lot of fun lately taking on the liberals at the so-called news network he contributes to.
On Monday's "MSNBC Live," Buchanan in the middle of a discussion about oil prices and subsidies told the host, "You’ve got to learn a little bit about supply and demand as Barack Obama never did when he was out there in that Saul Alinsky outfit in Chicago" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
PAT BUCHANAN: The problem Cenk is the American dollar is sinking like a stone. It’s almost at an all-time level. It keeps going down to the point where Standard & Poor's thinks we're going to have to default. This is the responsibility of Barack Obama and no one else. It’s in terms of dollars that the gasoline prices are soaring.
CENK UYGUR, HOST: Pat, if you're going to try to make a case to the American people that gas prices are going down relatively and that we should be giving the oil companies more subsidies, I'm going to wish you a lot of luck.
For those that are unfamiliar with Buchanan's point, part of the reason for the spike in oil and gas prices is the declining dollar. Historically, there hasn't necessarily been an inverse relationship between the two, but there most certainly has been in recent years largely due to what's called the carry trade.
Put simply, large investors can short the dollar borrowing the proceeds at a virtually zero percent interest rate and investing same in oil, gas, gold, or whatever they want. This has been a very profitable arbitrage in recent years as traders have made money on the downside in the dollar and the upside in commodities.
Of particular concern to average Americans not involved in such transactions, the lower the dollar goes as a result of this nation's profligate spending and runaway budget deficits, the higher oil and gas prices go.
One of the other reasons normally attributed to an inverse relationship between oil and the dollar is the fact that oil is traded around the world in dollars. So, as the dollar declines in value, it must therefore be able to purchase less volume of oil. This latter explanation has not always been the case historically, as there have been many times in the last century when oil and the dollar rose and declined coincidentally.
As for Uygur, clearly such economic and financial matters were way over his head leading Buchanan to have some fun at his host's expense. Doubly delicious was that this happened shortly after MSNBC's Chris Matthews demonstrated a similar ignorance of the law of supply and demand on "Hardball."
Makes you wonder if one of the requirements to be a host at this sad excuse for a news network is to have absolutely no rudimentary knowledge of business.
And Paul Krugman wonders why voters are so ill-informed.
(H/T Real Clear Politics)
