did the oil companies, with the help of the bu$h* administration, gouge the country for 8 years?

[spanone]

i don't find it too odd that fuel prices soared during the bu$h* administration and miraculously leveled out just as they left office.

from the secret cheney oil meetings to the war in iraq.....with record profits....and an administration that NEVER asked the public to conserve...

crazy?



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[madokie]

1. I seen the same thing

Not only the oil companies either, some of the food companies were about as bad. I know that it cost the two of us more to eat today than it did when we had two hungry boys and their friends over eating all the time.

[cutlassmama]

2. the food costs more because gas costs them more for transport

[madokie]

6. I'm sure that played in there somewhat

I'm sure that greed was hanging with 'em too

[DJ13]

7. Not just increased transport costs, theres also greed by the food companies

Their costs of raw materials is back to 2006 prices, but they are maintaining most of their price increases from the commodity price spike of last year.

[Warpy]

8. Don't forget how high fuel costs were last spring and summer

especially the diesel a lot of farmers use for their farm equipment.

It cost a lot more to grow the stuff that's on the shelves now.

If prices stay down, we might catch a break next year, especially on field to store produce like veggies and unprocessed foods.

[L. Coyote]

15. Fuel is a big overhead in food production, sometimes a large percent of cost

and seemingly incredulous situation where the environmental costs mean we are losing money making food.

[Warpy]

3. It was a combination

of oil companies, hedge funds, and an administration that believed business would police itself and instructed regulatory agencies to collect paperwork and not do anything else.

Ha ha ha.

[Octafish]

4. Helps explain lying America into a war.

War put a crimp in the supply line.
Prices soared. Prices crashed.
Pikers in the market lost.
Players in petroleum made a killing.

[notadmblnd]

5. yep

[Demobrat]

9. Yes they did.

The point of the Iraq war was to get control of the oil. Not to sell it to American SUV drivers cheap, like they were led to believe. But to eliminate the competition for the American oil companies, who could then charge whatever they wanted. It worked like a charm, you must admit.

[spanone]

10. i wonder if the cost of gasoline would naturally drop over 2 dollars...i don't see fewer cars

[Fountain79]

11. Yes you are....

The prices reached a point at which consumers began cutting back causing the demand for oil to drop. The economic slowdown and now recession has caused demand for oil to drop even more. Additionally the rebounding dollar caused prices to drop due to the fact that oil is traded in dollars.

[spanone]

12. then there should be a lot less traffic around me in the am...there's not

that doesn't explain the upspike in the graph

[Fountain79]

13. That's like saying...

It's cold right now where I am...so there must not be any global warming...

[spanone]

14. explain the spike

looks like a rather unnatural uptick in prices....

[DJ13]

18. No oversight of the NYMEX & ICE commodity exchanges

Which led to price manipulation on a large scale.

(The rapid collapse last year shows a bubble bursting.)

Obama has mentioned increased regulations of the commodity markets, including requirements that traders have to be capable of accepting the commodities should they be unable to sell their contracts before they expire (which is smart), but so far as I know there hasnt been any actual regulation changes made yet.

[spanone]

19. i.e. gouging

[DJ13]

22. Yep!

100% price gouging.

Just as you surmised, on a scale that large it had to be quietly authorized by the Bush/Cheney administration.

[jpak]

16. Yup and they stole your stimulus check last summer - every last bit of it

:mad:

[spanone]

17. i showed them, i didn't get one!!!!

:rofl:

[truedelphi]

26. LOL. Same here.

For one whole month, every other piece of mail told me that by June 17th '08 I would be getting my stimulus check.

June 18th I got a letter saying that miscalculations on the 1040 meant that I OWED what would once have been two weeks wages to our wonderful government (In this era it is like six months worth of rice and beans money.)

I think the tax collecters were wrong, and might actually be getting that money back!

[upi402]

20. Shell game.... n/t

[boomerbust]

21. 2005

Also the tax cuts for energy companies in 2005 snuck into the energy bill by Mr. Cheney. It's quite obvious what was going on.

[midnight]

23. When bush's mantra is: money trumps peace, what do you think?

[indepat]

24. Answer to captioned question answered with a question: does the sun rise in the

east? :P

[tabasco]

25. Did the bear shit in the woods?