Wow, Bush is really on a roll in the Middle East....

[ShaneGR]

First he goes to Israel and attacks fellow Americans, then today he shows up in Saudi Arabia to beg for more oil. Of course his good friends the Saudis tell him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.



RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The White House said Friday that Saudi Arabia's leaders are making clear they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it.

President Bush was in the oil-rich country to appeal to King Abdullah for greater production to help halt rising gas prices in the United States.

But his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Saudi officials stuck to their position that they already are meeting demand.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24660754/







THANKS GEORGE

[liberal N proud]

1. Think about that pic next time you have to put gas in your tank

The smirk is what pisses me off the most.
He screws us and sit there and smiles about it while people are dying for his bullshit

[Virginia Dare]

8. I think about this one often..

[rurallib]

2. I doubt he begged too hard.

More supply = less money for the oil companies.
Limpyballs used this to harangue on ANWR. Right wing don't want more oil on the market.

[Virginia Dare]

3. From the look on his face, he already has!...n/t

[tridim]

4. I'm confused, shouldn't high supply and low demand mean low prices?

Maybe our brilliant oil-man president can explain how all this economic stuff works when he gets back.

[bdamomma]

7. oh does he have to come back? just leave him there.

[Andy823]

15. Yes it should

But as long as the fed keeps lowering interest rates, the dollar continues do drop. When the dollar drops, investors buy up commodities like oil, and food so they can stock pile it until prices go up, since it is not on the markets, and when the price gets high enough, they sell making huge, profits. When they sell prices drop and when it looks like it's a good time to get back in, they invest their profits once again in oil, and continue to stock pile it till the prices goes back up. Bush is allowing this to happen, and his whole ploy of begging for more oil is nothing but a joke! His buddies get richer, and the American people get screw by big corporations once again!

[bdamomma]

5. sure the Saudis are our ally ,Sure they are

:sarcasm:

now can we focus on other alternative fuel options, other countries are well ahead of us on this.

[Warpy]

6. Look at that smirk

He knows full damned well that his hedge fund buddies, not the Saudis, are responsible for goosing up oil futures. He helps them along by talking up another viciously stupid war against another oil power while signaling that they don't have to worry that the Strategic Oil Reserve will be used for its intended purpose--he's still filling it, not releasing any of it.

He looks like someone who intends to smirk his way all the way to heaven.

[ShaneGR]

9. Actually, breaking news says they're gonna open up the reserves....

Just popped on the top of CNN.

[Warpy]

13. I'll believe THAT when I see it.

This bunch has been great on making announcements and piss poor on follow through.

[frogcycle]

12. bingo

it is less supply-and-demand than speculation. In this instance the Saudis are probably right. And I don't know how far back up the supply chain the price fluctuations actually go - when the speculators dealing in futures are betting on what s/d WILL be and thus affecting current price, that doesn't do anything for the folks who pumped it months ago and put it in a tanker.

If the price/bbl is the price at the wellhead today, and that drives the delivered price of what is in the supply line, then those middlemen make out like bandits. And most of the middlement are the speculators. Many of them are oil companies, to be sure, but it is a separate business from the actual pumping and shipping. The big oil companies ALSO deal in oil as a commodity, with traders buying and selling, doing the futures thing, etc. They make big profits by doing that, as do the non-producing speculators like hedge funds. But bush does not want to cramp teh style of those middlemen, now does he?

What all this actually does for the guy with an oil well in his back yard, though, is not a straight linear relationship. The energy crisis in the 80's was brought on directly by short supply; this one is more complicated. Increasing output would no doubt have a psychological effect, and thus might eventually affect price at the gas pump.

[gatorboy]

10. Anyone that voted for this man should have their voting rights revoked.

[magellan]

11. What a sham

I believe this maladministration knows the Saudi spigots are wide open. There ain't nothing more to tap.

I believe they're also starting to feel for themselves what it is to be at the mercy of their beloved "free market". Saudi Arabia could send more oil our way if they weren't also selling to gasoline-hungry countries like China. Global demand is up while the resources remain finite.

Despite the personal fortunes being made, this hurts the GOP because they didn't have the foresight to introduce alternative energy sources before it got to be a problem for the American electorate. Bush** is merely attempting to look as if he's doing something to appease voters, but that train left the station long ago.

Look for the wreck in November.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. Shouldn't Bush be doing something to strengthen the U.S. dollar instead?

The dollar buys less than it used to, including oil. Why isn't Bush urging that interest rates be raised and why isn't he cutting spending and borrowing for unending wars of aggression?

[Wizard777]

16. On the bright side. King Abdullah didn't say, For YOU George we will decrease production immediately

Bush: No INCREASE INCREASE
King Abdullah: I heard you! DECREASE DECREASE