This morning while driving to work down SR 60 in Vero Beach, Florida I was pleasantly surprised to see two gas stations selling fuel for $2.98 a gallon! I swung into one of them and filled my tank while wondering: "I wonder what those same Republican toads who blamed President Obama for spiking gas prices are saying now that prices are way down?"
When I got to the office, one of the first things I did was check Congressman Allen Webb's web site. When gas price were going through the roof, he had a ticker on his homepage tracking how high prices were getting and used that chart as a means of attacking the President's "failed" economic policies.
Well, not suprisingly, "poof!" that ticker has disappeared from West's web site. Not sure when it got yanked, but it's gone today. Interestingly enough, there's nothing there replacing it that highlights falling gas prices or how that relates to President Obama's masterful economic skills.
After all, according to an article posted to the Voice of America's web site on April 17, 2012 President Barack Obama called for a government “crackdown” on manipulation of oil markets. He asked Congress Tuesday to approve a $52-million plan to expand the government's regulation of oil trading and stiffen penalties against market manipulation.
“We can't afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage, and driving prices higher, only to flip the oil for a quick profit. We can't afford the situation where some speculators can reap millions (of dollars in profits), while millions of American families get the short end of the stick. That's not the way the market should work.”
Gotta love his intellect and effort, but who knows if the President's action had a true impact? I'd like to think maybe it did, but who really knows?
Of course, most economists and reasonable people don't believe the President's actions have that much of an impact on gas prices. There are just too many volatile, unrelated factors that he has no control over. However, if the Republicans want to put all of the blame on him when prices go up, they should give him all of the credit when prices go down. Then again, I really don't know of any reasonable Republicans anywhere these days?