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txrattlesnake on 05 November 2009
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mrstickball said:
HappySqurriel said:

While I wouldn't call it "Bush's Fault" the core reason why energy prices have been on a steady increase has been an inflationary monetary policy of the federal reserve (along with an unwillingness of the state and federal government to run balanced budgets) which has resulted in many/most major currencies increasing in value by 25% to 50% against the US dollar over the past decade. To put it another way, most commodity prices (including food and energy) are increasing at such a rapid rate because inflation statistics are heavily manipulated and not representative of reality.

And I agree with you. The problem is that txrattlesnake (like many people) equate a problem with an acute failure of government by one man.

You are correct in that an inflationary monetary policy had something to do with it. However, oil didn't rise 25-50%, it rose 100-200%.

My thoughts on why oil increased so acutely under Bush comes down to the following:

  • Devaulation of US currency due to bad monetary policy
  • Increase in base oil prices well outside of US jurisdiction by a president
  • Low production by US facilities in regards to our consumption (making points 1 and 2 more valuable)

I think there are things that Bush could of absolutely done to reduce oil prices. However, some of these things were hindered by other areas of government at state and local levels. ANWAR is a great example of that - it has huge amounts of oil, but congress and the senate have voted against it. Because of this, I don't like it when people like TX attribute prices to one, and only one guy because that's simply not the case.

 

     The War on Terror waged by George Bush caused gas prices to increase, and it was also beneficial to Bush and some of his own friend's oil wealth that it did so.

      Okay, then why has the price of gas decreased $1.50 since Bush has been out of office?