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Title: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 09:43:48 AM
Obama flip flops on Strategic Petroleum Reserve

posted at 2:50 pm on August 4, 2008

by Ed Morrissey Via Jim Geraghty, who caught this even while on vacation. 


In August 2005, Obama agreed with George Bush’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to buffer the economy from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.  However, Obama warned that such actions should only take place in times of real emergency (emphases mine):

I agree with the President’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help replenish supply shortages resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Nearly all oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down, and releasing this oil will help increase production and stabilize prices. However, I do believe that this tragedy makes it very clear that that the reserve should only be used in the event of an emergency, and that we shouldn’t be tapping the reserve to provide a small, short-term decrease in gas prices.

And again last month, in St. Louis on July 7th:

I do not believe that we should use the strategic oil reserves at this point. I have said and, in fact, supported a congressional resolution that said that we should suspend putting more oil into the strategic oil reserve, but the strategic oil reserve, I think, has to be reserved for a genuine emergency. You have a situation, let’s say, where there was a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia that was destroyed as a consequence of terrorist acts, and you suddenly had huge amounts of oil taken out of the world market, we wouldn’t just be seeing $4-a-gallon oil. We could see a situation where entire sectors of the country had no oil to function at all. And that’s what the strategic oil reserve has to be for.

Today, we discovered what Barack Obama considers a genuine emergency — a drop in the polls:
Democrat Barack Obama called today for tapping the nation’s strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices, a shift from his previous position on the issue.

The reversal is the second refinement in Obama’s energy policy. Last week, he said that he would reluctantly consider accepting some offshore oil drilling. Obama had previously said he opposed such drilling, which is strongly backed by rival John McCain, who has urged that states be allowed to decide whether to drill.

Obama changed his position to protect Nancy Pelosi, who demanded a release from the SPR rather than allowing a debate and a vote on the House floor on increased domestic drilling.  However, a release from the SPR would only provide momentary relief and do nothing to resolve the underlying issue of higher gas prices — a supply shortage on the world markets.  Eventually, the US would have to refill the SPR, increasing demand which, without any increase in supply, would drive prices up even farther than they are now.


Obama used to have the intelligence to understand this.  Now he’s too desperate to care.






http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/04/obama-flip-flops-on-strategic-petroleum-reserve


Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 09:48:36 AM
I do not believe that we should use the strategic oil reserves at this point. I have said and, in fact, supported a congressional resolution that said that we should suspend putting more oil into the strategic oil reserve, but the strategic oil reserve, I think, has to be reserved for a genuine emergency. You have a situation, let’s say, where there was a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia that was destroyed as a consequence of terrorist acts, and you suddenly had huge amounts of oil taken out of the world market, we wouldn’t just be seeing $4-a-gallon oil. We could see a situation where entire sectors of the country had no oil to function at all. And that’s what the strategic oil reserve has to be for.




Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 10:45:55 AM
Obama to David Cameron: Let’s tap our strategic oil reserves together
Hotair ^ | 03/15/2012 | Ed Morrissey




Remember that Barack Obama insists that there are "no silver bullets" to fix the issue of high gas prices. So when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Washington for high-level talks and the discussion turned to gas prices, what did Obama propose? According to Reuters, holy water and a garland of garlic:

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the possibility of releasing emergency oil reserves during a meeting on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the talks said, the first sign that Obama is starting to test global support for an effort to knock back near-record fuel prices. Obama raised the issue during a broad bilateral meeting at the White House, according to a UK official with knowledge of the discussion.

Asked about the talks, a senior Obama administration official said: “No agreement was reached. We will continue to work together to address energy security and oil price issues.” While U.S. officials have said for weeks that they will consider all possible measures – including a release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) – to prevent prices from derailing a nascent economic recovery, Wednesday’s meeting was the clearest indication that diplomatic talks were moving ahead. Discussions could last as long as several months before any decision is made, one of the sources said.

We’ve discussed the demand from Democrats on the strategic petroleum reserve on a number of occasions. The problem with the gasoline and oil markets isn’t a temporary disruption in a healthy supply, however, which is what the SPR is designed to buffer. The problem is a chronically and artificially suppressed supply, thanks to Democratic insistence on blocking domestic energy production and oil extraction over the last three decades or more.

This is what Obama refers to as the “silver bullet,” claiming that expanding drilling and extraction is a short-term policy that won’t enhance American energy independence. That’s utter nonsense; drilling is a long-term solution that actually addresses the chronic supply issue and — not coincidentally — the trade imbalance, the weak dollar, jobs, economic growth, and a number of other issues in the American economy. If drilling is short-term thinking, then what can a one-time release from the SPR be called — the ADD solution?

Jim Geraghty gives a chronicle of SPR releases:

The “emergency” would seem to be Obama’s poll numbers. Then again, this seems to be a Democratic candidate tradition; Al Gore called for the same move while running for president in 2000.

Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been sold five times in its history: Most recently in 2011 during the conflict in Libya; in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina; a sale of $227 million worth of oil during fiscal year 1996 to reduce the federal budget deficit; in 1990-1991 during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and a small “test sale” in 1985.

And how well have those releases worked as long-term solutions? Tina Korbe noted that gas prices actually went higher within weeks of the release last summer. The only reason for an SPR release now would be for the “emergency” Jim identifies — the electoral emergency Obama will face if gas prices continue to rapidly increase.

The RNC has a new video out today showing just how often Obama has reminded us that there are “no silver bullets” on gas prices — and how little he has done to implement a long-term policy that will lower them:



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Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 11:04:50 AM
Dudes getting desperate, its almost election time and the chickes are coming home to roost from his energy policies, suddenly his whole admin from Chu to BO himself are singing a different tune.
Anyone who buys this shit for an instant should be fucking shot.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:21:12 AM
domestic oil production during Obama administration has risen after having declined starting all the way back to the Reagan Administration and thru both Bush 1, Clinton and Bush the Lesser

http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx?country=us&product=oil&graph=production



Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 11:23:17 AM
domestic oil production during Obama administration has risen after having declined starting all the way back to the Reagan Administration and thru both Bush 1, Clinton and Bush the Lesser

http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx?country=us&product=oil&graph=production






So why release oil from the stategic reserve if there is no supply problem?    hhhhmmmmmm??????


And your chart is useless as most of the increases are on private land, nothing to do with anything Solyndrabama has done. 
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 11:25:48 AM
domestic oil production during Obama administration has risen after having declined starting all the way back to the Reagan Administration and thru both Bush 1, Clinton and Bush the Lesser

http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx?country=us&product=oil&graph=production




Jesus fucking christ, again with cooked numbers, FEDERAL DRILLING IS WAY DOWN, private is way up (Obama has no control of this).
Obama cannot take credit for high production when he's done his fucking best to lower it, he cant have it both ways, he cant claim to lower federal drilling to appease green guys and then point to higher total drilling due to private business to appease the general public upset with gas prices, doesnt work that way.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:26:21 AM

So why release oil from the stategic reserve if there is no supply problem?    hhhhmmmmmm??????


And your chart is useless as most of the increases are on private land, nothing to do with anything Solyndrabama has done. 

the only reason to release it is if you think we can actually control and worldwide commodity market

can we do that?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 11:27:59 AM
the only reason to release it is if you think we can actually control and worldwide commodity market

can we do that?

 ???   ???  ???
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:30:14 AM
Jesus fucking christ, again with cooked numbers, FEDERAL DRILLING IS WAY DOWN, private is way up (Obama has no control of this).
Obama cannot take credit for high production when he's done his fucking best to lower it, he cant have it both ways, he cant claim to lower federal drilling to appease green #### and then point to higher total drilling due to private business to appease the general public upset with gas prices, doesnt work that way.

LOL @ cooked

Obama has no control over private energy exploration ?

Can you explain why production declined under the entire Bush Administration and only started going up after Obama got in office?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:30:48 AM
???   ???  ???

is that you saying YES you believe we can control a world wide commodity market?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 11:32:07 AM
is that you saying YES you believe we can control a world wide commodity market?

We can have a lot of influence over it and what we pay at the pump through many measures, not one o which Obamalynsky will do.     
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 11:33:48 AM
LOL @ cooked

Obama has no control over private energy exploration ?

Can you explain why production declined under the entire Bush Administration and only started going up after Obama got in office?
A. I dont give a fuck about Bush. He sucked ass too.
B. Everything Obama has done with regards to oil has been to REDUCE domestic drilling, only reason were up is due to PRIVATE DRILLING, and no matter of semantics can spin that.

Heres just 2 examples off teh top of my head
Keystone XL
Refusal to issue permits

Numbers are cooked because it is TOTAL oil production, if you saw a graph of Federal drilling its down something like 40%.
Private land drilling is up.
Federal land drilling is waaaayyyyy down.

Obama doesnt control drilling on private land.
He does on public land.

Obama has done everything in his power to slow down public land drilling. End. Of. Story.


Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:34:55 AM
A. I dont give a fuck about Bush. He sucked ass too.
B. Everything Obama has done with regards to oil has been to REDUCE domestic drilling, only reason were up is due to PRIVATE DRILLING, and no matter of semantics can spin that.

Heres just 2 examples off teh top of my head
Keystone XL
Refusal to issue permits

so can you explain why production was declining under all previous POTUS's?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 11:37:18 AM
so can you explain why production was declining under all previous POTUS's?

Cheney, Bush, Halliburton, Scotter Libby, Enron, Rumsfeld, et al.     
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 11:41:10 AM
so can you explain why production was declining under all previous POTUS's?
Who cares why is was declining under other POTUS's? I dont know, I havent read into it, heres what I do know.

Obama has done everything in his power to decrease drilling in areas he has control over. (Read: Federal Lands)
Obama was refusing to issue permits, continually slow walks the permits he does issue, and has reduced drilling he has control over some 40%, so your point is invalid. Obama is doing everything he can to stop drilling, suddenly that now he has to deal with the reality of high prices at an election, hes trying to turn it around.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:42:04 AM
Cheney, Bush, Halliburton, Scotter Libby, Enron, Rumsfeld, et al.     

they were responsible for restricting domestic oil production?

how and why?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 15, 2012, 11:44:26 AM
they were responsible for restricting domestic oil production?

how and why?

Of course - that is what obama reid / pelosi / boxer told me from 2006-2008 
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 11:45:17 AM
they were responsible for restricting domestic oil production?

how and why?
::)
There is 2 parts to this equation -
Federal Drilling
Private Drilling

And youre trying to shift the focus of this argument by bringing in irrelevants -
Obama's record has done nothing but fuck federal drilling, but since total oil production is up, somehow he gets the credit? Dont think so.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:50:23 AM
Who cares why is was declining under other POTUS's? I dont know, I havent read into it, heres what I do know.

Obama has done everything in his power to decrease drilling in areas he has control over. (Read: Federal Lands)
Obama was refusing to issue permits, continually slow walks the permits he does issue, and has reduced drilling he has control over some 40%, so your point is invalid. Obama is doing everything he can to stop drilling, suddenly that now he has to deal with the reality of high prices at an election, hes trying to turn it around.

yes, I know the talking points

the fact remains that domestic production went up as soon as Obama got in office and that was after years of declining

Wouldn't it be good if we required companies who got leases to drill on public land to only sell that oil in the US and only for a specific profit % just like we do with other governemtn contractors?

Why do we let private companies take our natural resources and sell them on the open market to the highest bidder?

Like any other governemtn contractor we should bid this out to the provider who will give the best deal to us rather than letting sell it outside the US

do you agree ?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 11:51:28 AM
::)
There is 2 parts to this equation -
Federal Drilling
Private Drilling

And youre trying to shift the focus of this argument by bringing in irrelevants -
Obama's record has done nothing but fuck federal drilling, but since total oil production is up, somehow he gets the credit? Dont think so.

and yet you have no explanation why total domestic oil production declined under POTUS's that were supposed to be friendly to the oil industry
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 12:13:56 PM
and yet you have no explanation why total domestic oil production declined under POTUS's that were supposed to be friendly to the oil industry
Lets see, maybe cause reduced supply = increased demand = increased MONEY!?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 12:15:57 PM
yes, I know the talking points

the fact remains that domestic production went up as soon as Obama got in office and that was after years of declining

Wouldn't it be good if we required companies who got leases to drill on public land to only sell that oil in the US and only for a specific profit % just like we do with other governemtn contractors?

Why do we let private companies take our natural resources and sell them on the open market to the highest bidder?

Like any other governemtn contractor we should bid this out to the provider who will give the best deal to us rather than letting sell it outside the US

do you agree ?

Of course I agree, thats not the point, the point people are arguing is that Obama is taking credit for high production when his policies have done nothing but hurt them, and now he's trying to take credit for shit he has nothing to do with!
None of what youre talking about has anything to do with the point at hand!
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: howardroark on March 15, 2012, 12:19:09 PM
Private profit seeking speculators will do a better job than the SPR. It's time for the SPR to be permanently disbanded. This along with a move to open up domestic energy production would do much to ease the problems we have with oil prices.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: howardroark on March 15, 2012, 12:21:20 PM
yes, I know the talking points

the fact remains that domestic production went up as soon as Obama got in office and that was after years of declining

Wouldn't it be good if we required companies who got leases to drill on public land to only sell that oil in the US and only for a specific profit % just like we do with other governemtn contractors?

Why do we let private companies take our natural resources and sell them on the open market to the highest bidder?

Like any other governemtn contractor we should bid this out to the provider who will give the best deal to us rather than letting sell it outside the US

do you agree ?


Domestic production went up under Obama's Presidency because of private drilling in the Bakken. The POTUS has almost no power to affect how much drilling occurs on private lands. But Obama has been restricting how much oil drilling occurs on public lands - and that just restricts supply, thereby driving prices up.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 12:23:03 PM
Domestic production went up under Obama's Presidency because of private drilling in the Bakken. The POTUS has almost no power to affect how much drilling occurs on private lands. But Obama has been restricting how much oil drilling occurs on public lands - and that just restricts supply, thereby driving prices up.
Hes gonna just keep asking the same question.
But why has total production gone up since other presidents?  ::)
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 02:23:53 PM
Domestic production went up under Obama's Presidency because of private drilling in the Bakken. The POTUS has almost no power to affect how much drilling occurs on private lands. But Obama has been restricting how much oil drilling occurs on public lands - and that just restricts supply, thereby driving prices up.

any idea why Federal production went down under Bush from 2002 to 2004 and then again in 2007

Do you believe the  POTUS has any significant ability to control the price of this commodity?
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Shockwave on March 15, 2012, 03:24:49 PM
any idea why Federal production went down under Bush from 2002 to 2004 and then again in 2007

Do you believe the  POTUS has any significant ability to control the price of this commodity?
Price through Supply? Yes. Through Federal drilling and permits.
Price directly? No.
Maybe Federal production went down under Bush because it made more money for his private sector friends when Supply is down and Demand is up?
Or it could be that he got fillibustered to hell also.

Just thoughts.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: howardroark on March 15, 2012, 06:15:21 PM
any idea why Federal production went down under Bush from 2002 to 2004 and then again in 2007

Nope.

Quote
Do you believe the  POTUS has any significant ability to control the price of this commodity?

The way things are now, yes.

There are three things that fall under the Executive Branch and thus the power of the POTUS:
1. Oil drilling and exploration on federal lands. Obama has been making this more difficult, thereby restricting supply and driving up prices.
2. Amount of oil in the SPR. By selling off the SPR's oil, the POTUS could reduce the price of oil.
3. The regulations concerning oil drilling, refining, etc. Most federal regulations in this country are issued by the regulatory agencies which are part of the Executive Branch. The POTUS can affect what direction these agencies take via appointments and direction. By removing the unnecessary regulations, the POTUS can make it easier for entrepreneurs to produce energy.
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: Straw Man on March 15, 2012, 06:31:11 PM
Nope.

The way things are now, yes.

There are three things that fall under the Executive Branch and thus the power of the POTUS:
1. Oil drilling and exploration on federal lands. Obama has been making this more difficult, thereby restricting supply and driving up prices.
2. Amount of oil in the SPR. By selling off the SPR's oil, the POTUS could reduce the price of oil.
3. The regulations concerning oil drilling, refining, etc. Most federal regulations in this country are issued by the regulatory agencies which are part of the Executive Branch. The POTUS can affect what direction these agencies take via appointments and direction. By removing the unnecessary regulations, the POTUS can make it easier for entrepreneurs to produce energy.

you think the things you listed above would have give Obama the abilty to SIGNIFICANTLY control the price of this commodity?

btw - when Bush was in office I have to assume he had a pretty different approach to regulating oil companies yet we saw the same ebb and flow of Federal drilling and bush famously said he didn't have a magic wand (or magic pen I assume) to bring down oil prices

most people on the right and left agree and understand this

Also, the disasterous BP oil spill is still be cleaned up and still a public relations mess and that has got to be influecing the public sentiment as well as the administration

I personally just don't see much of anything that any POTUS can do to try to control a worldwide commodity market and let's also not forget the influence of OPEC.   
Title: Re: Obama flip flops on releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
Post by: howardroark on March 15, 2012, 11:38:05 PM
you think the things you listed above would have give Obama the abilty to SIGNIFICANTLY control the price of this commodity?

Not quite sure what you mean by "significantly," but the effect of Obama taking the free market pro-energy initiative I outlined above would be increased oil supply and thus lower prices. And given the fact that demand is very inelastic in the oil market, price falls would be significant relative to the supply increase.

Quote
btw - when Bush was in office I have to assume he had a pretty different approach to regulating oil companies yet we saw the same ebb and flow of Federal drilling and bush famously said he didn't have a magic wand (or magic pen I assume) to bring down oil prices

Why would you assume that? Federal government spending and regulations exploded under Bush. If anything, I'd assume that Bush was slightly less shitty than Obama - and I think the data bares that out. Oil production on federal lands has fallen since Obama has become POTUS.

Quote
Also, the disasterous BP oil spill is still be cleaned up and still a public relations mess and that has got to be influecing the public sentiment as well as the administration

True, but instead of dealing with the problem directly, the federal government has decided to take drastic actions which do not deal with the problem - e.g. restricting oil exploration/drilling.

Quote
I personally just don't see much of anything that any POTUS can do to try to control a worldwide commodity market and let's also not forget the influence of OPEC.   

Many economists agree that OPEC no longer has any power. Like most cartels, it has already fallen apart. And yes, it is a worldwide commodity. But the fact of the matter is that reduced supply = increased prices. And Obama's policies (and the policies of his predecessors) have restricted oil supply.