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President Barack Obama confronted Americans' anxiety over rising gasoline prices by drawing attention to his energy policies and taking credit for rising oil production in a speech Thursday to students and faculty at the University of Miami.
With gas prices expected to rise throughout the summer, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the effect high gas prices could have on President Obama's re-election chances.
Obama touted an energy strategy that the administration says will reduce dependence on foreign oil in the long term and called sustainable energy initiatives the only “real solution.” But Obama's pitch also carried a subtext: the federal government can do little to halt the current rise in gasoline prices.
Recommended: Slideshow -- Obama's third year in office
“The oil market is global,” the president said. “The single biggest thing that’s causing the price of oil to spike right now is instability in the region – this time around Iran.”
But Obama said developing new technologies to reduce energy consumption – such as those that use alternative natural resources like algae – is the real key to minimizing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and that that additional drilling will not solve the current problem.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Obama shakes hands upon his arrival in Florida to speak to students at the University of Miami about oil and gas prices in the U.S.
“I’ll save you the suspense – step one is to drill and step two is to drill, and step three is to keep drilling,” Obama said of Republicans’ forthcoming plan to lower gas prices.
The president also pledged to try and make available 75 percent of the nation’s offshore oil and gas reserves.
White House advisers believe Obama needs to address the recent spike in gasoline prices, even though they see it as a cyclical occurrence. The current $3.58 per gallon is the highest price at the pump ever for this time of year.
Obama aides worry that the rise in prices could reverse the country's economic gains and the president's improved political standing. A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows that though Obama's approval rating on the economy has climbed, 58 percent disapprove of what he's doing on gas prices.
Republicans have seized on the issue, citing Obama's decision to reject a permit for a cross-country oil pipeline as evidence of a misguided policy. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has warned of $5-a-gallon gas, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he could lower prices to $2.50 a gallon.
White House officials point to increased oil production and decreased consumption as evidence that Obama's policies are working and will lead to greater energy independence in the long run. But they assert there is little Obama — or any president — can do to change the trajectory of prices now.
Despite more domestic oil and less consumption, "these prices are going up, and that tells you that there are other things beyond our control, like unrest in the Middle East or other factors like the growth of emerging countries such as China and India," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday.
To be sure, oil and gas production has increased during the Obama administration, though the trend began during the presidency of George W. Bush, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The increase has reversed a decline that began in 1986, and the agency projects that by 2020 oil production will reach a level not seen since 1994.
The agency also has reported a drop in petroleum consumption, caused by the economic downturn after the 2008 recession, new efficiencies and changes in consumer behavior.
While in Florida, Obama also plans to raise money, including a $30,000-a-person event at the Windermere, Fla., home of Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter. An avid basketball fan, Obama will attend a dinner Thursday at Carter's house just three days before the NBA All-Star Game in nearby Orlando.
Obama also will attend fundraising events at the Biltmore Hotel and at the Coral Gables home of lawyer Chris Korge, a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.
Last week, Obama took a three-day West Coast trip and raised about $8 million in eight campaign events.
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the fact that we have a horrible incompetent president in these horrible economic times has only made things worse.
Two thumbs up from me for you, honest jo. Pass this along as well:
Read this article from Thomas Sowell before you even consider to vote this November. Feel free to pass it on:
____
Many people are looking to the many primary elections on March 6th -- "Super Tuesday" -- to clarify where this year's Republican nomination campaign is headed.
It may clarify far more than that, including the future of this nation and of Western civilization. If a clear winner with a commanding lead emerges, the question then becomes whether that candidate is someone who is likely to defeat Barack Obama.
If not, then the fate of America -- and of Western nations, including Israel -- will be left in the hands of a man with a lifelong hostility to Western values and Western interests.
President Obama is such a genial man that many people, across the ideological space, cannot see him as a danger.
For every hundred people who can see his geniality, probably only a handful see the grave danger his warped policies and ruthless tactics pose to a whole way of life that has given generation after generation of Americans unprecedented freedom and prosperity.
The election next November will not be just another election, and the stakes add up to far more than the sum of the individual issues. Moreover, if reelected and facing no future election, whatever political constraints may have limited how far Obama would push his radical agenda will be gone.
He would have the closest thing to a blank check. Nothing could stop him but impeachment or a military coup, and both are very unlikely. A genial corrupter is all the more dangerous for being genial.
What is more radical. Giving rich people more of my hard earn money and telling young, old you deserve no help fin for yourself or someone who is willing to help everyone.
My stupid guess is you'll pick anyone who is not black or a Dem or just a Dem.
Women and Spanish will be the deciding votes not your stupid thoughts or Fox noise talking points.
As a matter of fact what was so radical President Obama has done. OH OH OH I know make healthcare more affordable for everyone.
But of course you have an opposite view - The HCL is going to kill eveyone in the United States Gloom and Doom if President Obama gets re-elected Yeah Yeah Yeah - wait for it. You'll be working at your same as job probably making more money, when that happens I want you to say thank you Mr President.
I am not sure if I missed anything on these posts but have any of you heard in a hearing about the admission that the Obama administration along with the Energy Secretary Chu that they want high gas prices, that they want Americans to feel more pain at the gas pump to achieve the goal of weaning the nation off fossil fuels? Are you liberals OK with this everytime you go to a gas station and pump gas? Just curious? How would you guys defend this admission? I think this self serving liberal agenda is disgusting, that the obama administration wants to play political games of squeezing more out of the pockets of Americans in the midst of a recession. This admission alone in my opinion should be enough to kick Obama out of office!! Someone defend this, please! I would love to hear this!!!
Energy Secretary Chu Admits Administration OK with High Gas Prices
http://news.yahoo.com/energy-secretary-chu-admits-administration-ok-high-gas-193900713.html
COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama's Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu uttered the kind of Washington gaffe that consists of telling the truth when inconvenient. According to Politico, Chu admitted to a House committee that the administration is not interested in lowering gas prices.
Chu, along with the Obama administration, regards the spike in gas prices as a feature rather than a bug. High gas prices provide an incentive for alternate energy technology, a priority for the White House, and a decrease in reliance on oil for energy.
The Heritage Foundation points out that hammering the American consumer with high gas prices to make electric and hybrid cars more appealing is consistent with Obama administration policy and Chu's philosophy. That explains the refusal to allow the building of the Keystone XL pipeline and to allow drilling in wide areas of the U.S. and offshore areas.
The consequences of the policy are not likely to be of benefit to the Obama administration. The Republican National Committee has already issued a video highlighting the spike in gas prices and the failure of the administration to address the issue.
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has issued a half-hour video touting an energy plan he claims would result in $2.50 a gallon gasoline. The plan is based on unfettered drilling for oil and gas instead of a reliance on green energy. Gingrich has also savaged Obama's touting of algae based biofuel as "weird."
Chu has likely highlighted an issue Republicans are going to pick up and run with. Americans are not going to be appreciative of schemes to hit them in the wallet so the American economy can shift to green energy. Besides American traditional adherence to the free market, the idea of being fleeced by a deliberate government policy is likely to be greeted with anger.
Add into the mix green energy fiascos like Solyndra, and Chu might well have kindled a full blown scandal.
How the Obama administration reacts to the expected firestorm is open to question. Green energy is as part of its fundamental religion as is universal health care, another unpopular Obama policy. If it tries to bull ahead, the electorate will likely punish Obama and the Democrats. If it tries to backtrack, Obama looks weak and facilitating, and likely will still not appease gas strapped Americans experiencing price shock at the gas pump.
Yeah and we hear that Fox Noise is running a loop of his comments 7/24 so it can be in stillied in your head.
The President Just said in a press conference "Anyone who thinks the President wants higher gas prices is a fool"
You look like a Fool
You know what a scandal is = IRAQ Has WMD's and sending 4,000 troops to there death. That is a scandal can you remember that far back?
Honest Joe, Well then, in this case, you can say good bye to Obama's second term. I don't see how he can get elected again when people are hurting and are purposely paying higher gas prices because the administration wants them to. I hope the republican candidates communicate this to the American people in case many are left in the dark about this. They will not be forgiving of this.
it is amazing how many lies this administrations tries to force down our throats. what is more amazing is how many people believe them.
Oil Company “Subsidies” Clarified
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/03/oil-company-subsidies-clarified/
posted at 9:25
am on May 3, 2011 by Jazz Shaw
We’re still
seeing a flood of calls from both sides of the aisle to cut subsidies as part
of an overall strategy to reduce spending in Washington. While there is plenty
available to cut, there has been a steady and disingenuous conflation being
promoted by the White House which seeks to describe certain tax benefits received
by companies in all manner of industries as “subsidies for big oil.” Just
last week Tim Pawlenty was taking
to the stump in an attempt to call out these warped descriptions.
MANCHESTER, N.H.
– Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty called a White House proposal to reduced
tax breaks for oil companies “ludicrous” after a gathering of tea party
activists.
“I think we
should have a discussion about all subsidies,” Mr. Pawlenty told Washington
Wire at a forum for 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls. “But the Obama proposal is
ludicrous. I mean the worst thing we could do is raise the cost burden on costs
on energy and oil… What he’s proposing is a tax increase on energy at a time
when the gas is $4 a gallon. It’s preposterous.”
For those
seeking to sort out the definitions of the terms being used, the American
Petroleum Institute has published
a new paper doing just that.
Contrary to what
some in politics and the media have said, the oil and natural gas industry
currently enjoys no unique tax credits or deductions. Since its inception, the
US tax code has allowed corporate tax payers the ability to recover costs and
to be taxed only on net income. These cost recovery mechanisms, also known in
policy circles as “tax expenditures”, should in no way be confused with
“subsidies”, i.e., direct government spending.
Here are a few
of the items which are being incorrectly identified as “subsidies” inside the
beltway:
Intangible
Drilling Costs
– Companies which engage purely in energy exploration and discovery can recover
their costs related to exploration at tax time at a rate of 100%. This lessens
the burden on energy providers for the number of “dry holes” which may be found
in the process. Integrated companies (i.e. “big oil”) can recover these
exploration costs at 70%. Not a subsidy.
Domestic
Manufacturer’s Deduction (Section 199) – A deduction (not a credit) equal to
9% of income earned from manufacturing, producing, growing or extracting in the
United States, is available to every single taxpayer who qualifies in
the U.S. The oil and gas industry, and only the oil and gas industry, is
limited to a 6% deduction.
Percentage
Depletion
– The percentage depletion deduction is a cost recovery method that allows
taxpayers to recover their lease investment in a mineral interest through a
percentage of gross income from a well. This depletion method is not available
to companies that produce oil as well as refine and market it (i.e. “Big Oil”.)
This is available to all extractive industries (gold, iron, clay, etc) in the
US and is in no way unique to the oil and gas industry.
There are more,
so download the paper and read them for yourself. Then, when you hear your
congressman talking about all of the “subsidies” for big oil, you can set them
straight based on the facts.
To be clear, the
federal government does engage in the handing out of a lot of actual subsidies,
including those for ethanol and a variety of wasteful programs which are
essentially failures on their own merit without feeding off the teat of Uncle
Sam. And we should certainly be looking at those areas as way to address cost
cutting. But trying to depict tax credits used by the energy industry – in the
same fashion as every other industry – as some sort of special love festival
for Big Oil is dishonest.
Energy Experts Say Cutting Tax Breaks Will Have Little Effect On Oil And Gasoline Prices
Borenstein: "The Incremental Change In Production That Might Result From Changing Oil Subsidies Will Have No Impact On World Oil Prices." According to Severin Borenstein, co-director of U.C. Berkeley's Center for the Study of Energy Markets, cutting subsidies for oil companies "would not affect gasoline prices." He further explained:
Canes: Ending Oil Subsidies Would Have "Very Little" Effect On Gasoline Prices. Michael Canes, a distinguished fellow at the Logistics Management Institute and former chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute wrote in an email to Media Matters that ending subsidies to oil companies would have "very little" effect on oil prices. He further said that there could be "Some small effect if at the margin domestic production is adversely affected, but I suspect that effect would be very small indeed. Personally, I'd like to see an end to ALL energy subsidies, but that's another issue entirely." [Email to Media Matters, 4/27/11]
Kingston: "It Won't Change The Price Of Gasoline." When asked how the proposed cuts to oil subsidies would affect gasoline prices, John Kingston, Director of News at energy information firm Platts said: "It wouldn't, and I don't view them as subsidies." He added:
Lafakis: Decisions On Production And Development Of Oil Wells "Are More Influenced By Other Factors Such As Oil Prices And Technological Innovation." In an email to Media Matters, Moody's economist Chris Lafakis stated that while he hadn't conducted a full analysis of the implications of tax breaks to oil companies and thus couldn't comment on the impact of Obama's proposals, generally speaking, factors other than tax incentives have more of an influence on oil companies' decision to begin exploration or production of a well. According to Lafakis:
JEC: Eliminating The Domestic Production Tax Deduction "Would Have A Negligible Effect, If Any, On Consumer Energy Prices." One of the tax breaksObama seeks to end is a domestic manufacturing credit. According to a 2007 analysis by the Joint Economic Committee, eliminating this tax credit would "have no effect on consumer prices for gasoline and natural gas in the immediate future." From the JEC report:
CRS: The Market Price Of Crude Oil "Would Not Be Expected To Increase Very Much, If At All," If The Domestic Production Tax Break Were Rescinded. According to an analysis of the Section 199 deduction for domestic manufacturing:
CRS Said Some Tax Increases For Large Oil Companies Would Not Increase The Price Of Crude Oil. According to a CRS analysis of a proposal that would have taxed the profits of "super-major" oil companies (ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and Conoco/Phillips), such increases in taxes would not have increased the price of oil:
End the oil government hands out now.
How much does the Federal Government get in Taxes on a gallon of Gasoline? Perhaps we should start looking at that instead of trying to punish those that produce it by cutting their subsidies. How about for every penny that is removed from oil company subsidies, we reduce a penny in gas tax. That way the people benefit instead of the Government, which would only waste it on one of Obama's pipe dreams, like pond scum.
If the big oil teabaggers can't have it, the big algae scumbaggers ought not have it, either.
The government spends that money in the economy here........... Now will the oil industry do the same.......ya, ya, "we can't there is to much regulation, and we can't drill in your back yard". You are comparing apples and oranges, that guy is out of politics,,,,,,,,ya ya "It was the media that made me drop out, and my family's values", get real.
Dam you the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I am an Independent but lean Red. for all of my voting years I have voted for the least of the evil people running for President. Yes, I voted against Obama and his Lies, false promises and his disdain for the country he wanted to run. I simply do not understand why there are so many people blind to his lack of leadership. I was again somewhat inflamed by the recent "GREEN EFFORTS that are presented as successes over the past year. Today's paper, the day after the president gave a glowing report on the success of the Volt, an article in the paper stated that sales of the Volt are so poor that production has been halted until the available supply is sold. In the same paper, the "Fastest 4 Door madie in America was featured. At 560 HP, this new Cadillac produced by that Obama favorite, GM seemed to say that the President is once again out of touch with reality or he just doesn't get it.
Americans can't afford it but It's the car of the year in Europe
Obama energy policy = dogma over common sense = higher gas prices now.
Why not develop new oil sources to service our petroleum based economy until green is more of a reality. They are not mutually exclusive and by having a reasonable transition, the burden on American middle and especially lower earners would be greatly lightened.
Is it common sense when return on capital is at 40% for oil,,,,,,,that is for every dollar invested in Oil Corporations the return to the Corporation, not you or me, is a dollar and forty cents........ Greed, and a diminishing supply,,,,,,, Just like the "Gold Rush" in the 1800's, The bigger they get the better off they will be in the end, that is not a economic model, or "free enterprise".
I get a kick out of the conservatives who preach "free enterprise" and the market will take care of itself, yet this industry is controlled by a few HUGE Corporations, and has little competition inside our borders ,and is profitable no matter what the country's economy is. Yet they want less regulation and more land opened to scrap and frac for oil.
BP's oil spill was paid for with our tax dollars, and conservatives had no problem with their negligence, "Ah, it was a accident", but when a American Corporation is bailed-out like G.M. they cry " they should have gone bankrupt, along with the unions and their suppliers" and "the market would have corrected itself with out G.M."
Get your priorities straight. BP is foreign,,,,,,,,G.M. is not,,,,,.
Liars
How stupid are you to say the President want high gas prices.
President Obama just said in a news conference" Anyone who believes any President wants higher gas prices is a fool"
You fool
Candidate Obama: " but we could save all the oil they are talking about getting out of drilling, if everybody would just inflate their tires and get a tune-up"
President Obama: "Under my plan..., electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket"
His fellow Nobel Laureate and Energy sec., in 2008 " We have lots of fossil fuel... that's really bad! What we have to do is find a way to boost the price of gasoline to the levels of Europe"
In 2012: When asked by Alan Nunnelee if the overall goal of the DOE was to lower gasoline prices his answer was " NO"! He went on to say "As I have repeatedly said, in The Department of Energy, what we are trying to do is diversify..."
Obama takes credit for an increase in oil production, ignoring that it is primarily on private land. In fact since he became President our off shore production is down 30% and our on shore is even less productive being down 70% on land controled by the Government!
His actions speak so loudly I can't hear a word he says
Our peak production of oil has declined since 1970, with the arrival of O.P.E.C..... now how will that fit into your political theory,,,,,,,,NOT........http://www.evsroll.com/Peak_Oil_Myth.html
tedcrawford,
So you think we can drill our way out of these high gas prices.
Fact: China and India use more oil than the United States does.
As a matter of fact we for the first time have cut our oil production.
A bunch of old white men again spewing their hate.
And of course, since the democrates and EPA have done everything they possibly could to prevent America from exploitting the natural resources we have right here, then the "Peak Oil" theory makes sense.
Duluth, you said it youself "exploitting", yah, we don't want the oil barrons to do that............The theory is correct, we have a non-renewable resource..........the "sweet oil" is gone........ oil production and exploration is like the "gold rush in the 1800's", only the BIG Corporations in oil will survive.........Is that what you want? A few Corporations telling us what we have to pay?
Play the E.P.A. game......... The Dems. did not have control for the entire life of the E.P.A., yet you blame the Dems. for their existance......and have no problem with the BIG oil Profits.......
There is one immediate solution; remove the commodity traders (overhead only) from the price equation. Simply pass a rule which requires those who purchase oil be capable of accepting delivery, i.e. only refineries/oil companies need to be in the buying and selling of oil and gas. This removes a huge overhead from prices, also will stop the silliness in running up oil prices because Iran (or the newsmaker of the day) makes another stupid comment. Alot of oil price is the fear of the commodity trader, not economic supply and demand price principles.
Yah, but the neo-cons would be screaming. It is a financial transaction, if only on paper, and I am afraid it is a part of our life. O.P.E.C. has the ball in their court and has for 40 years, as our max. production ended in 1970.
Politics will throw this around for a long time, with the help of the oil investors as was done during the "Gold Rush". The building of the Trans-Continental Railroad was accomplished by Federal release of Land and investment by the gold barons, and gold money. At least the country progressed in Infrastructure at that time. Oil research and development in this country now has a much greater negative effect on our environment and is not stimulating the economy's growth as once was, except on paper as you suggest. Our days of opening up new land and investment that benefits our entire economy, builds towns and community with oil reserves is reduced, and we may see ghost towns and abandoned wells as the resource and profit moves elsewhere.
It may well be the "Greening of America" a book written in the early 70's, that we are approaching............
I would like to know when the President is going to visit the areas devistated by the recent storms. These areas are in bad shape. Remember the outcry when the President didn't rush right to areas of impact after hurricane Katrina? Where is the outcry in the media now? The answer is the President has no polictical capital to gain from visiting the Mid-West. C'mon, Mr. President, get off the campaign trail and do something for the people that hired you. Do your job, man Miami, really??????
Maybe he does not care and the liberal limpwrist media slobbers on him???
Read this article from Thomas Sowell before you even consider to vote this November. Feel free to pass it on:
____
Many people are looking to the many primary elections on March 6th -- "Super Tuesday" -- to clarify where this year's Republican nomination campaign is headed.
It may clarify far more than that, including the future of this nation and of Western civilization. If a clear winner with a commanding lead emerges, the question then becomes whether that candidate is someone who is likely to defeat Barack Obama.
If not, then the fate of America -- and of Western nations, including Israel -- will be left in the hands of a man with a lifelong hostility to Western values and Western interests.
President Obama is such a genial man that many people, across the ideological space, cannot see him as a danger.
For every hundred people who can see his geniality, probably only a handful see the grave danger his warped policies and ruthless tactics pose to a whole way of life that has given generation after generation of Americans unprecedented freedom and prosperity.
The election next November will not be just another election, and the stakes add up to far more than the sum of the individual issues. Moreover, if reelected and facing no future election, whatever political constraints may have limited how far Obama would push his radical agenda will be gone.
He would have the closest thing to a blank check. Nothing could stop him but impeachment or a military coup, and both are very unlikely. A genial corrupter is all the more dangerous for being genial.
Wow, that reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly scares people..................
Save the country, buy a VOLT!!!!!!!! Oops, too late..... Pray that the liberals are not stupid a second time....
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.
I thought Fox Noise was on - Website: www.foxnews.com
If you hate him don't vote for him but trying to convince women, gay, spanish, blacks and others not to vote for President Obama is futile.