Job Worries In Congress Invade Gas Tax Holiday Dream

Despite calls from the presidential campaign trail for a Memorial Day-to- Labor Day tax freeze, lawmakers quickly concluded - with a prod from the construction industry - that having $9 billion less to spend on ...

[Manny]

Yep take care of their pork barrel projects in thier districts and at the same time stick it to those voters who are struggling to make it back and forth to work. Shows the unions and big business control the corrupt politicians in Washington. With the loss of jobs I hope it'[s for the crooks in Washington who vote for a higher gas tax

[FAV]

Amazing, Congress showing more foresight than both presidential candidates. Our warmongering all over the world has caused this great spike in the price of oil with the help of the sprculators expecting more aggression, this time toward Iran. The 6th fleet burning fuel in the Persian Gulf and now the 4th fleet steamong to So. America for more warmongering helps to keep demand for oil and weapons up, just great for the military industrial complex Eisenhower was concerned about.

[jschmidt]

FAV- We have a supply / damand problem with oil not caused by anything Bush has done. Democrats stopped offshore oil drilling since 1981. If they had allowed it 27 years ago, our supply would be up and price down. What do all you smart Democrats supporters say to people when they are cold this winter? Will Obama supporters have a smart quip for them about how well oil companies are getting rich or maybe they should put another sweater on? Oil companies make 8.5% profit. What are you Obama supporters going to tell the poor fixed income person that has to pay twice as much for their oil just to stay warm this winter? Supply is the problem and you can look at the world supply /demand tables, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ipsr/t21.xls
2005 Supply 84.63 Demand 83.65 Average
2006 Supply 84.60 Demand 84.62 Average
2007 Supply 84.52 Demand 85.37 Average
When you have supply/demand numbers like this any event, or even speculators can affect the price. But Democrats would rather believe sinister conspiracies of the oil companies and Bush than help fix the problem. So keep talking to those who will freeze this winter about how all they need to do is dial back their thermostats, use an extra blanket or sweater. I hope sure they’ll be able to use all that ‘hope and change’ to keep themselves warm.

[FAV]

jschmidt, I listened thru a couple hours of testimony given by experts in the field to a congressional committee, and they delved into your points. Drilling now will not help the current problem sice it would take several years for production to begin. It's true that the world is now using more oil than the added reserves, but again this is out in the future as we have ample reserves now. They were in near unanimous agreement that speculation accounts for 30 to 65% of the wholesale price, and this factor can be quickly neutralized. Congress has done nothing on this, just as they showed no oversight as the big financial houses ingeneered the sub'prims mortgage scam. Rather, Congress has been helping the oil crisis along by supporting the administration's proxy war against Iran. The speculators just love their billions in profit as most of our officials rattle sabres in prep for another oil grab.

[jschmidt]

FAV- did they talk to commodities dealers? Congress can interview the experts that will give them the answer the want to hear. It is a supply demand issue that will only be worsend by windfall profits tax which was tried by Carter and resulted in less supply.
I'll believe the experts below before Pelosi who doesn;t know what she is talking about.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/...
Look at what one of the greatest energy traders says-"Maxwell adamantly argues that the system needs more like an 8%-to-10% capacity cushion, especially to absorb inevitable weather and geopolitical shocks."

and another expert says allowing drilling to start now can bring down the price now.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1214868008373...
The relationship between future and current oil prices implies that an expected change in the future price of oil will have an immediate impact on the current price of oil.

Thus, when oil producers concluded that the demand for oil in China and some other countries will grow more rapidly in future years than they had previously expected, they inferred that the future price of oil would be higher than they had previously believed. They responded by reducing supply and raising the spot price enough to bring the expected price rise back to its initial rate.

Hence, with no change in the current demand for oil, the expectation of a greater future demand and a higher future price caused the current price to rise. Similarly, credible reports about the future decline of oil production in Russia and in Mexico implied a higher future global price of oil – and that also required an increase in the current oil price to maintain the initial expected rate of increase in the price of oil.

Once this relation is understood, it is easy to see how news stories, rumors and industry reports can cause substantial fluctuations in current prices – all without anything happening to current demand or supply.

Of course, a rise in the spot price of oil triggered by a change in expectations about future prices will cause a decline in the current quantity of oil that consumers demand. If current supply and demand were initially in balance, the OPEC countries and other oil producers would respond by reducing sales to bring supply into line with the temporary reduction in demand. A rise in the expected future demand for oil thus causes a current decline in the amount of oil being supplied. This is what happened as the Saudis and others cut supply in 2007.

Now here is the good news. Any policy that causes the expected future oil price to fall can cause the current price to fall, or to rise less than it would otherwise do. In other words, it is possible to bring down today's price of oil with policies that will have their physical impact on oil demand or supply only in the future.

For example, increases in government subsidies to develop technology that will make future cars more efficient, or tighter standards that gradually improve the gas mileage of the stock of cars, would lower the future demand for oil and therefore the price of oil today.

Similarly, increasing the expected future supply of oil would also reduce today's price. That fall in the current price would induce an immediate rise in oil consumption that would be matched by an increase in supply from the OPEC producers and others with some current excess capacity or available inventories.

Any steps that can be taken now to increase the future supply of oil, or reduce the future demand for oil in the U.S. or elsewhere, can therefore lead both to lower prices and increased consumption today.

[FAV]

jschmidt, I don't remember if they had commodity traders but the experts understand the commodity markets very well. Are you playimg the blame the democrats game? I am certainly no "we will end the war" Pelosi fan to take into account anything she might say. Worse, she along with Reid OKd 400million to the CIA to continue the terrorist activities in Iran. I have seen the charts on the world's energy reserves vs. consumption and there's too much of a spike in price to be explained there. Remember the experts said 30 to 65% of the wholesale price is attributable to speculation, abd the latest spike has occured as the sabre rattling on Iran has gotten louder. All the items you mention are those that the Vushies have fought or ignored. With his Enron buddies Schilling and Lay as advisers they crafted an energy policy that included some billions vor Big Oil. where's the oil, or have you forgotten? Also remember what happened when Enron controlled the US energy market and they raped California residents to the tune of several billions. Where was the "supply and demand" there? Summing up I'm well aware that markets are affected by long term facts but watch what happens to the oil market if Iran cries UNCLE SAM

[jschmidt]

FAV-The califronia energy squeeze was totally different. Electricity is not a world market and can moved by speculators when California could get energy contracts.
Below explains the world demand/ supply problems which allow speculators to move the market some, but not as much as those so-called experts are saying. World demand is greater than supply. Federal experts will send the message Congress wants to send because Pelosi doesn;t want to drill. I think everyone should write their representatives and tell them if they don;t drill, they don;t get the vote.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ipsr/t21.xls
2005 Supply 84.63 Demand 83.65 Average
2006 Supply 84.60 Demand 84.62 Average
2007 Supply 84.52 Demand 85.37 Average

[Manny]

Let's face it -the Democrat led Congress dosen't have a clue and dosen't give a damn about the people

Pelosi and Reid are useless