George W. Bush was elected twice with the key help of the major oil companies' contributions to his campaign. In other words he owed them big time. Early on in the planning concerning the war on Iraq, the original concept was simply to topple Saddam and put someone else in charge who would be friendlier towards the U.S. in the region. That would mean someone strong enough to keep the opposing factions in line, but more importantly someone who'd allow a few little (hardly even noticed, or worth mentioning) U.S. strategic military bases on Iraqi soil.
These bases would be close enough to major targets in the area without endangering Israel becoming an object of retaliation, because the attacks were launched from Iraq. The U.S. would become a major influence in the Middle East, we'd become a major factor in the control of Iraq's huge oil reserves and of setting their oil prices, and maybe finally forcing a peace that GW could take credit for. A good enough plan, even an admirable plan from the Bush White House.
But remember a big favor hangs over Bush's head for financing him into the Oval Office!
Many outraged editorials were written after the beginning of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq about Bush just wanting the oil reserves for his buddies in Texas, but we've all been misled. The major powers that be in Houston not only didn't want possession of the oil reserves in Iraq, they didn't want anyone else to have them either.
Yes you read that right!
The Bush plan was to invade Iraq and release its huge oil reserves to the world market, plummeting oil prices, and then breaking the back and sabotaging the stranglehold that OPEC has on the world market. Bush would be a hero after gasoline prices dipped back to or even below a dollar a gallon, the economy would explode when Americans suddenly had more buying power, and GW would probably have a giant "Saddamesque" statue erected of himself in national mall that would rival the Washington Monument.
Why was the plan sidelined in 2003?
Bush needed, wanted, craved, coveted reelection in 2004, and, without big oil's financial backing, that was simply not going to happen. Can you imagine the outrage in Houston when they caught wind of the White Houses' plan? They weren't about to let "good ole' boy" Bush interfere with their own plans to completely suppress Iraq's oil reserves, because if they were released, those record-breaking, obscene, and unimaginable oil company profits that everyone's so outraged about lately (except rich Republican stock holders that is) would evaporate in mid air; that's why!
Forget the Space Center-High oil prices are what Houston's all about!
Can you imagine an oil company executive sitting on the stand in a courtroom, sworn under oath, and trying to convince a judge or jury that he thought that low oil prices were good for America? Our beloved George W. Bush had a perfect opportunity to make himself a hero in the eyes of all Americans (even me) by getting oil flowing and into production fast) bringing down the price of oil, but he didn't, obviously because his "owners" had other ideas.
Now there's the argument (read convenient excuse) that gas prices are so high, because we don't have the refinery capacity to convert the abundance of crude that's available.
I agree, they're right, we don't.
But it's not because...
A-The "leftist tree-hugging environmentalists" are screaming their heads off about local land and water pollution that would result from a major refinery being built anywhere.
B-Because we can't drill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or set up additional refineries there because the Governor of Florida (some guy named Bush) doesn't want to risk messing up the gulf coast's beaches for tourists.
C-We can't drill in the Alaska pristine wilderness even if the real reason they want to is because it'd all be sold to China and India anyway and NOT the U.S.
D-It's not even the fault of rich Republican billionaires sitting in their mansions yelling "Not in my back yard you don't! You'll lower my property values!"
It is because it's in the oil companies' best interest to their huge bottom lines and rich stockholders not to increase refinery capacity. Every time an existing refinery goes down, it becomes another excuse to raise already obscene gas prices and, by coincidence, their profits.
Now the argument has also been put forward that gas pump prices are much higher in other countries, and that the United States is unfairly paying less, thus we should pay more In actual fact, worldwide, we pay about the same as everyone else before taxes per gallon
For instance the tax on a gallon of gas in the United Kingdom is currently $3.40, bringing it to $5.89 a gallon! In the U.S. in cents we pay total per gallon at the pump by state...
Alabama 39.4 - Alaska 26.4 - Arizona 37.4 - Arkansas 40.1 - California 50.4 - Colorado 40.4 - Connecticut 48.1 - Delaware 41.4 - Dist. of Columbia 38.4 - Florida 48 - Hawaii 53.5 - Idaho 43.4 - Illinois 48.4 - Indiana 36.5 - Iowa 39.5 - Kansas 42.4 - Kentucky 39.8 - Louisiana 38.4 - Maine 41.9 - Maryland 41.9 - Massachusetts 39.9 - Michigan 44.6 - Minnesota 38.4 - Mississippi 37.2 - Missouri 35.4 - Montana 46.2 - Nebraska .48 - Nevada 51.7 -
New Hampshire 39.0 - New Jersey 32.9 - New Mexico 36.4 - New York 48.7 - North Carolina 40.8 - North Dakota 39.4 - Ohio 40.4 - Oklahoma 35.4 - Oregon 42.4 - Pennsylvania 45.1 - Rhode Island 49.4 - South Carolina 35.2 - South Dakota 42.4 - Tennessee 39.8 - Texas 38.4 - Utah 42.9 - Vermont 38.4 - Virginia 37.3 - Washington 41.4 - West Virginia 43.8 - Wisconsin 49.5 - Wyoming 32.4 - U.S. Average 42.
As you can see, it's not our fault that in other countries, they pay waaaaaay more than us!
The oil companies have one idol that they worship above all others-the botom line. They figure we'll get used to paying $4 a gallon, and they'll look like heroes when they lower prices back down to $2.99.9 a gallon, and we'll be dumb enough to praise them!
Meanwhile we've gotten used to planning our family budgets around the price of gas. The best way to describe the pain at the pump would be if you went to the grocery store one day, and suddenly the price of milk, eggs, beef, and beer suddenly doubled from what it was just two years ago, and what if a week later it doubled again?
The American people plan their lives around travel, and we've become comfortable with the fact that we can come and go at will, to see relatives, go to and from work and church, and have the freedom of independent movement.
Now, suddenly we're having 100-150 dollars a month taken out of an already tight budget. This is going to affect our spending power, and this is going to impact our economy. To compensate, shipping companies are going to have to violate contracts and raise shipping charges. Everything in the American economy is delivered in big trucks that use lots of fuel. Stores will have to raise prices to offset the fuel charges.
So you see we're not only being hit in the gas tank, but again in the wallet for daily purchases as well. We can't afford other things, so we buy less, they can afford to ship less, wage demands go up, and profits go down.
Meanwhile the fat cats in Houston just sit back, puff on their cigars, straighten their Stetsons and smile in the comfort that they've got a president in their pocket and the world by the balls.
Know why?
I'll tell you, it's because everyone's blaming the A-rabs for gas going up, and not including Texas oil men in that blame. Every time the cartel raises prices Houston smiles, and so do their banks.
Think of it, an entity in the United States of America, dominant enough to slap down a driven, self-serving, self righteous President like George W. Bush, and powerful enough to keep him from much sought after love and regard from the American People, such as no leader has, or maybe never will see.
Now that's something!
Is Bush to blame, you're damn right he is for bowing to the oil industry's bottom line
...Of course that's only my opinion!
These bases would be close enough to major targets in the area without endangering Israel becoming an object of retaliation, because the attacks were launched from Iraq. The U.S. would become a major influence in the Middle East, we'd become a major factor in the control of Iraq's huge oil reserves and of setting their oil prices, and maybe finally forcing a peace that GW could take credit for. A good enough plan, even an admirable plan from the Bush White House.
But remember a big favor hangs over Bush's head for financing him into the Oval Office!
Many outraged editorials were written after the beginning of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq about Bush just wanting the oil reserves for his buddies in Texas, but we've all been misled. The major powers that be in Houston not only didn't want possession of the oil reserves in Iraq, they didn't want anyone else to have them either.
Yes you read that right!
The Bush plan was to invade Iraq and release its huge oil reserves to the world market, plummeting oil prices, and then breaking the back and sabotaging the stranglehold that OPEC has on the world market. Bush would be a hero after gasoline prices dipped back to or even below a dollar a gallon, the economy would explode when Americans suddenly had more buying power, and GW would probably have a giant "Saddamesque" statue erected of himself in national mall that would rival the Washington Monument.
Why was the plan sidelined in 2003?
Bush needed, wanted, craved, coveted reelection in 2004, and, without big oil's financial backing, that was simply not going to happen. Can you imagine the outrage in Houston when they caught wind of the White Houses' plan? They weren't about to let "good ole' boy" Bush interfere with their own plans to completely suppress Iraq's oil reserves, because if they were released, those record-breaking, obscene, and unimaginable oil company profits that everyone's so outraged about lately (except rich Republican stock holders that is) would evaporate in mid air; that's why!
Forget the Space Center-High oil prices are what Houston's all about!
Can you imagine an oil company executive sitting on the stand in a courtroom, sworn under oath, and trying to convince a judge or jury that he thought that low oil prices were good for America? Our beloved George W. Bush had a perfect opportunity to make himself a hero in the eyes of all Americans (even me) by getting oil flowing and into production fast) bringing down the price of oil, but he didn't, obviously because his "owners" had other ideas.
Now there's the argument (read convenient excuse) that gas prices are so high, because we don't have the refinery capacity to convert the abundance of crude that's available.
I agree, they're right, we don't.
But it's not because...
A-The "leftist tree-hugging environmentalists" are screaming their heads off about local land and water pollution that would result from a major refinery being built anywhere.
B-Because we can't drill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or set up additional refineries there because the Governor of Florida (some guy named Bush) doesn't want to risk messing up the gulf coast's beaches for tourists.
C-We can't drill in the Alaska pristine wilderness even if the real reason they want to is because it'd all be sold to China and India anyway and NOT the U.S.
D-It's not even the fault of rich Republican billionaires sitting in their mansions yelling "Not in my back yard you don't! You'll lower my property values!"
It is because it's in the oil companies' best interest to their huge bottom lines and rich stockholders not to increase refinery capacity. Every time an existing refinery goes down, it becomes another excuse to raise already obscene gas prices and, by coincidence, their profits.
Now the argument has also been put forward that gas pump prices are much higher in other countries, and that the United States is unfairly paying less, thus we should pay more In actual fact, worldwide, we pay about the same as everyone else before taxes per gallon
For instance the tax on a gallon of gas in the United Kingdom is currently $3.40, bringing it to $5.89 a gallon! In the U.S. in cents we pay total per gallon at the pump by state...
Alabama 39.4 - Alaska 26.4 - Arizona 37.4 - Arkansas 40.1 - California 50.4 - Colorado 40.4 - Connecticut 48.1 - Delaware 41.4 - Dist. of Columbia 38.4 - Florida 48 - Hawaii 53.5 - Idaho 43.4 - Illinois 48.4 - Indiana 36.5 - Iowa 39.5 - Kansas 42.4 - Kentucky 39.8 - Louisiana 38.4 - Maine 41.9 - Maryland 41.9 - Massachusetts 39.9 - Michigan 44.6 - Minnesota 38.4 - Mississippi 37.2 - Missouri 35.4 - Montana 46.2 - Nebraska .48 - Nevada 51.7 -
New Hampshire 39.0 - New Jersey 32.9 - New Mexico 36.4 - New York 48.7 - North Carolina 40.8 - North Dakota 39.4 - Ohio 40.4 - Oklahoma 35.4 - Oregon 42.4 - Pennsylvania 45.1 - Rhode Island 49.4 - South Carolina 35.2 - South Dakota 42.4 - Tennessee 39.8 - Texas 38.4 - Utah 42.9 - Vermont 38.4 - Virginia 37.3 - Washington 41.4 - West Virginia 43.8 - Wisconsin 49.5 - Wyoming 32.4 - U.S. Average 42.
As you can see, it's not our fault that in other countries, they pay waaaaaay more than us!
The oil companies have one idol that they worship above all others-the botom line. They figure we'll get used to paying $4 a gallon, and they'll look like heroes when they lower prices back down to $2.99.9 a gallon, and we'll be dumb enough to praise them!
Meanwhile we've gotten used to planning our family budgets around the price of gas. The best way to describe the pain at the pump would be if you went to the grocery store one day, and suddenly the price of milk, eggs, beef, and beer suddenly doubled from what it was just two years ago, and what if a week later it doubled again?
The American people plan their lives around travel, and we've become comfortable with the fact that we can come and go at will, to see relatives, go to and from work and church, and have the freedom of independent movement.
Now, suddenly we're having 100-150 dollars a month taken out of an already tight budget. This is going to affect our spending power, and this is going to impact our economy. To compensate, shipping companies are going to have to violate contracts and raise shipping charges. Everything in the American economy is delivered in big trucks that use lots of fuel. Stores will have to raise prices to offset the fuel charges.
So you see we're not only being hit in the gas tank, but again in the wallet for daily purchases as well. We can't afford other things, so we buy less, they can afford to ship less, wage demands go up, and profits go down.
Meanwhile the fat cats in Houston just sit back, puff on their cigars, straighten their Stetsons and smile in the comfort that they've got a president in their pocket and the world by the balls.
Know why?
I'll tell you, it's because everyone's blaming the A-rabs for gas going up, and not including Texas oil men in that blame. Every time the cartel raises prices Houston smiles, and so do their banks.
Think of it, an entity in the United States of America, dominant enough to slap down a driven, self-serving, self righteous President like George W. Bush, and powerful enough to keep him from much sought after love and regard from the American People, such as no leader has, or maybe never will see.
Now that's something!
Is Bush to blame, you're damn right he is for bowing to the oil industry's bottom line
...Of course that's only my opinion!
© 2006 by Jet in Columbus
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