Gas Prices: Why aren’t people madder? - A look at the Republcan double standard.

[Mugsy]

Via "Mugsy's Rap Sheet"

Yesterday I received my "stimulus check" from the Federal Government. Having a low Social Security number and Direct Deposit, I was among the first to receive my check from the government. My first purchase: a full tank of gas.

<...>

Because of my meager income, I try to put off buying gas for as long as I possibly can, <...> While $2.69 seemed like highway robbery at the time, I was awfully glad I filled up at the time when the price of Regular Unleaded hit a national average of $3.51 a gallon 9 days ago:



...and another nine more cents just six days later:



I was driving around on fumes these past few days, trying to put off buying gas for as long as I possibly could. So when I received an email from my bank Tuesday morning informing me that the government had deposited my "stimulus check", I knew what my first purchase was going to be: a full tank of gas. Did you know the gas pump "dings" when you hit the $50 mark? I didn't until yesterday.

As I'm filling up at the pump, the same thought wouldn't leave my mind: "They might as well of just cut these checks straight to the oil companies because that's exactly where they are all going."

<...>

More and more often, I find myself thinking about the Summer of 2000, Clinton's final year in office. As Texas Governor George W. Bush and his VP-nominee were talking the economy into a recession at nearly every campaign stop ("The economy isn't as good as they say." he kept repeating over and over until it became a self-fulfilling prophecy), long-haul truckers across the country were threatening to go on strike when the price of diesel rose 20cents in just four months to the unbearable price of $1.49/gal. In June of 2000, the governor was telling everyone that if he were President, he'd tell OPEC to "open up the spigot" to increase the oil supply and bring gas prices down from the unbearable price of $1.46/gal, up $0.29 from $1.17/gal the year before.

<...>

In 1996, just prior to Bill Clinton's re-election, gas prices briefly fell to just $0.99/gal locally, down from the normal price of about $1.10. Think about that. From Carter to Clinton, 1979 to 1996, in 17 years, the price of gasoline had risen a mere $0.30 (with fluctuations in between, maybe as much as $0.50 at any one point.) When George Bush became President in 2001, the price of Regular Unleaded gasoline was $1.43/gal (up apx 30cents in four years). A mere three months later, with two Texas oilmen now in office, the "National Average" price of gasoline "soared" $0.19 cents to $1.62/gal. This was BEFORE 9/11, so you Bush apologists, don't waste my time with your stale "9/11 changed everything" defense, and AFTER Governor George Bush said "as President" he'd tell OPEC to "open the spigot" in order to to bring down gas prices from the lofty high of $1.49/gal.

In the 7 years since George Bush became President, the price of gasoline has risen 252% from a "National Average" of $1.43/gal in April of 2001 to $3.60 today. And only NOW as the price of diesel broke the $4/gal threshold, have truckers threatened to go on strike in protest of high fuel prices.

I have no answers, only questions. Why is it when a Democrat is in office, a 30cent rise in fuel prices is worth striking over; a stock market that grew from just under 340% (3,500 points to 11,723 at the start of the 2000 Presidential campaign) was derided with "the economy isn't as good as they say it is" and helps get a Republican elected President, but a 252% rise in fuel prices in seven years, a stock market that has risen barely 21% in seven years, despite not one but two recessions, and a home mortgage market in meltdown, a Republican candidate for President can describe the economy as "strong" and still be considered a serious candidate for President?

If you have the answer, you are wiser than I.

Read the full Op/Ed on "Mugsy's Rap Sheet"

[Warpy]

1. The guy is giving a lot more credit than is due to this economy

The stock market has actually experienced a crash along with the fall in the dollar. Most porfolios have lost at least half their true value because of the stupid economic policies that have cost the dollar 60% of its 2000 value.

That Stupid continues to bloat the Strategic Oil Reserve at these prices instead of using it for its stated purpose to flood the market and knock those prices down is just more proof of his attitude toward this country and all the people who live in it.

The answer to the existence of the GOP true believer is that some people will insist on living a fantasy life no matter how much reality contradicts it.

[Andy823]

2. Flooding the oil reserves

Puts money in the pockets of Cheney, and all those oil men that put Bush in office. It is one of the things that keep prices so high, and taxpayer dollars pay for all the oil! We all know that Bush has a "plan". To give this country to his rich buddies, and turn it into a third world country where the rich run things and the poor just barley survive!

[ramapo]

3. I don't think people really get mad

Yes, everybody bitches and moans. Some might rant a bit. A few write a letter or join an organization. Now and then there is a demonstration, few of which get much mention by the MSM. That's about the extent of protest.

Is it resignation? A feeling of powerlessness? Plain apathy? Self-absorption?

I think some of each. Most of us continue to get by. Gas is available. American Idol is on. We are entertained by the Rev. Wright spectacle which has all but eclipsed all other issues of the day. What? Deadliest month in many for Americans in Iraq. Ho-hum.

Sure our collective debt climbs each day but so what? That is how people live today and it seems to work just fine.

Those who don't get by get swept under the rug. These stories aren't so popular.

To get really mad would require acceptance of the facts that the problems in this country are deep, complicated, and not easily solved. This is directly counter to what a majority have grown up being told. We're just not ready for it.

[rudy23]

4. Answer: Repukes are bullheaded, we Dems are compromisers

A person who 100% believes that 1+1=3 will always get their way over a person who is pretty sure 1+1=2, but may allow for some weird possibility that 1+1 could equal 3.

Basically, the Republicans have no qualms about bullying the "liberal" media, and Democrats can't move fast enough to prove that they aren't a part of said "liberal" media.

[unblock]

5. absolutely correct. which, in turn, is because democrats don't RIDICULE republicans

democrats EXPLAIN why republicans are wrong. but republicans know that many can't follow, don't buy, or just won't accept EXPLANATIONS. appeals to reason requires processing. appeals to emotion bypass all that and have an immediate, instinctive impact.

they tease, taunt, and ridicule us all the time and create the impression that we are to be laughed at. looking presidential is not all about how you carry yourself, it's how others treat you. if everyone treats you as if you're a joke, it doesn't look good. this is why they so carefully orchestrated pr events for shrub, to make him seem admired.

until democrats learn to ATTACK and appeal to emotions, they will ALWAYS have a way to beat us no matter how transparently stupid and evil their agenda is.

[rudy23]

10. I think you're right, but for us, the trick is to appeal to civility and common sense.

I think repukes will always beat us at chest thumping, and when we do it we look silly.

I think Jon Stewart holds the key to Democrat psych politics (himself a Psych student). We use the civil side of the brain, and excel at reasoning that works towards a healthy society. We need to appeal to people's desire to have this, and to ridicule the really barbaric behavior and clumsy, self-serving logic coming from the right.

[unblock]

11. agreed.

i just don't think we do enough of the ridiculing part. i agree that we should keep it in perspective and never lose sight that we're fundamentally the rational ones.

ultimately, republicans appeal to things other than intellect because they know they're wrong on the issues.

[Missouri Blue]

6. Why aren't people angrier? Welcome to the age of video games and Prozac.

They must have an effect on the macro-behavior of people. If that's right, it's just a matter of Bush coming along at the right time.

However, there may be other reasons. The conservatives I've argued with tend to see people in three classes: awesome, good-but-error-prone, and just plain evil.

They see Bush in the "good-but-error-prone" category. His heart is in the right place; he has the right beliefs and ideology, but he still has failings: mental lapses, and a few errors in judgment (sins). They are willing to forgive things from Bush because he is the right sort of person.

Democrats and liberals are wicked, in conservative minds. They aren't just making errors like a good ol' Bush is, rather they are just plain evil. Errors are cited as signs of serious character flaws. What's more, liberals are deceptive, influenced by Hitler, and they're constantly lying to gain power.

[katty]

7. why? too busy w/American Idol,Dancing w/Stars+working

6 lousy jobs

[Hydra]

8. Because most people are morally bankrupt

Until they REALLY hurt, they don't scream.

We have no national soul anymore.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

[rdenney]

9. Just take another Prozac and let all your worries fade away. n/t

[tomreedtoon]

12. Because Americans have collapsed.

There's no hope for change from the Democrats (they believe) and the Republicans are just so unstoppable that nothing we do will help. We are defeated.

When I say "we" I mean the average person. People who are still involved are still fighting, but too often our energies are tied up in fighting each other, for pointless reasons.

[bklyncowgirl]

13. It's the boiling the frog thing.

If you throw the frog into boiling water he'll jump out.

If you slowly raise the temperature the frog will stay in the pot.

Gas prices have been going up for the past couple of years. They reach a point at which people really begin to complain and/or change their driving habits and then go down slightly. People can't believe their luck.

WOW! $3.50 A GALLON!

Of course just two month ago that $3.50 per gallon would have been an outrage but when the price was $3.60 a gallon last week, you do feel as if you hit the lottery.

[Papagoose]

14. BINGO

That's what I've been saying for some time now. They raise the price just to the point where we as consumers can't take it anymore, then back off slightly. The slight decline makes us all jump up and down, then the cycle starts over again.

I had an interesting conversation at a gas station last week - the man on the other side of the pump - filling a giant Ford Excursion - made a comment about the price of gas, then said something to the effect that he hates Arabs. I saw his Mike Huckabee for President bumper sticker and various assorted ribbons, flags, etc, then our eyes made contact. I guess he felt that I agreed with him and started some drivel about McCain becoming President and "putting those arabs in their place". I gave him my best one minute version of the price of oil under the last Democratic administration versus the price of oil under our current Republican Oil Barron President and why this will not stop until we change our oil use habits. He listened to me, told me to F*** off and drove off in his suburban combat vehicle.

Right now, I'm ashamed to say it, but I'm part of the problem. I drive a van that gets 20 mpg at best, my round-trip daily commute is 88 miles and I live 10 miles from the nearest grocery store (though I could go to Walmart 5 miles away). Since changing jobs is not an option, I am trying to get a smaller, more efficient car soon.

[stimbox]

15. Because television is the drug of the nation!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=126098&mesg_id=126098