President Bush has
announced that he will be teaching international economics to the Saudi sheik who is coming to visit next week. Apparently part of Bush's brain trust has informed him that high energy costs might damage the economy; of course the rest of us had this figured out years ago.
"I fully understand high gas prices is [sic] beginning to really pinch a lot of our fellow citizens, and that's troubling," Bush said in the CNBC interview.
Bush also had stern words for Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest oil producer and a major supplier to the U.S. market.
"I'm going to explain to him that, you know, high-price crude oil will hurt the international economy," Bush said, referring to his scheduled Monday meeting with the Saudi crown prince.
"I don't think they're pumping flat out," he told CNBC. "I think they're near capacity, and so we've just got, got to get a straight answer from the government as to what they think their excess capacity is."
I am sure that the Saudis will be thankful for the president's erudite surmise about the intricacies of supply and demand. I am sure it never has occurred to them that the short supply of their commodity has led to higher prices. Also, I am sure that the president will be able to convince them that lower prices are in their best interests.
"Stern words", yeah right. Has he made any attempt to address demand? What a fucking tool.