Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 09, 2012
Transcript:
Roland: Weird being at 30,000 feet... flying over wildly different gasoline prices. Aide: Okay, I've got the summary here, people... Gov. Romney's positions on gas prices. The governor believes the low gas prices from 2009 to 2010 were a result of market forces. The White House played no role. However the appalling rise in prices in 2011 through last April was entirely the fault of the President. The subsequent drop in prices in late spring was flukish. Obama deserves no credit... although the shocking spike in the July prices was clearly due to the President's policies. Roland: What if prices drop this fall? Aide: That's called volatility. Again, Obama's fault!
BE THIS GUY over 11 years ago
At least we know who to blame.
The#1BoiseStateFan over 11 years ago
BO’s fault BIG TIME
pouncingtiger over 11 years ago
Political mumbo jumbo. If something bad happens, blame the President. If something good happens, say he had nothing to do with it. Typical political ad nausea.
pbarnrob over 11 years ago
Pay no attention to the speculators throwing dice behind the curtain.
mrbribery over 11 years ago
and if gas prices don’t go up or down, that’s inverse volatility.
Varnes over 11 years ago
Ashburn, I think Republicans take baths in oil…and drink it in their martoonies…
taratus over 11 years ago
The cure for climate change, the malaise of mass transit, obesity, pesticide and antibiotic overuse in food production, is $12/gallon gas. When it gets real hot, I sit in my car with the engine running to get cool. Gas is cheaper than water. Too cheap.
bluezcafe over 11 years ago
Dear Mr.Trudeau. Being Canadian, I pay taxes and way too much for gas but your strip is getting dull enough of the politics and reporters…can you get back to Alex taking over the strip. There was a time when i read your strip to keep up with US politics, the wars US life in general but the US is everywhere now and blah-blah-blah. Enough already – lets get back to escaping reality with your strip to Alex-land…please.
Blood-Poisoning Vermin over 11 years ago
Just for consistency within the strip, shouldn’t the drop in prices mentioned in the the last panel be the wisdom of the market, not my favorite Irishman, O’Bama’s fault?
puddleglum1066 over 11 years ago
S&L’s. Tech stocks. Subprime mortgages. Oil. Anybody see a pattern here?
kaffekup over 11 years ago
No, he bent over so a short man could put a neclace on him. Faux didn’t show that angle.
Linda1259 over 11 years ago
Here in Florida – prices rise when the snow birds come and go down (but not back to the pre-season prices) when the snow birds leave. Rather than blame political parties, the Texans, or oil tycoons, let us all blame the snow birds!
Geeboo over 11 years ago
I wonder if we were to allow drilling and become energy independent if prices would come down and stabilize . Now that’s a radical idea. You don’t think prices are being held high to pay obahmas Muslim buddies overseas for their oil. Another radical idea. I wonder why the administration won’t allow any new oil leases and has canceled more than any administration in the past, just a thought.
chazandru over 11 years ago
When gas and commodity prices are too high, there is less discretionary income for people in the middle and lower income brackets which make them less able to send those famous $10 grass root donations to Obama. One also wonders how much money might have been invested in small business, business infrastructure, and development were so much money being NOT being used to get these men elected. Money is being used as a weapon, just as water has been used as a weapon at times. Cut the flow of cash and the folks it trickles down to go thirsty, hungry, and desperate. This is not how a society becomes great, but history has shown us many societies that fell because of the selfishness and lack of involvement of the wealthy and those who are supposed to lead.C.
corzak over 11 years ago
“The large oil companies achieve economies of scale. Since they operate on such a large scale, the oil companies are able to keep their average costs low and are able to streamline production. These Supermajors are an oligopoly in the oil market. This is why they are able to consistently generate vast amounts of profit and cash flow.”ExxonMobil alone made 9.5 billion in profit in 1st quarter 2012, or 4.4 million per hour … 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
stellablu122 over 11 years ago
Now who is on first?
Linguist over 11 years ago
The irony of this today’s strip was not lost on me. Prior to reading it I was contemplating how much money I could afford to spend on gasoline today and whether it would be enough to get me to where I need to go.
RayThomas101 over 11 years ago
Funny; that’s the kind of crap I hear coming from the Obama side. Yes, the president DOES control the price of gasoline, by setting policies impossible to follow. Anybody with intelligence knows that.
cgrantt57 Premium Member over 11 years ago
Here’s the formula for gas prices:
On a random basis, raise the price an exorbitant amount.
Wait a week for everybody to pay more and for the bitching to reach a fever pitch.
Roll back the price by half. IE, if you raised it a quarter, lower it by 12 cents.
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, not realizing they’re still paying 13 cents more than they were two weeks ago.
Oil barons ain’t dumb.
They know what they’re doing.
Oh, yeah, and if you want to see the guy elected who you’re paying big money for, and whose policy’s will allow you to really make money, raise the price significantly right before the election.
You watch. It’s already started happening.
elizabetha83522 over 11 years ago
Will there ever be cooperation again in the Congress between the rival parties? As long as McConnell is in the Senate nothing constructive will get done as long as he and the Repubs say “if Obama wants it, we’re against it.” Obstructionism serves no one.
BE THIS GUY over 11 years ago
Fellow Doonesbury Readers,Bed-Stuy and Bay Ridge are neighborhoods in Brooklyn, NY. Rikers Island is the main jail in NYC. Sorry for the esoteric references.LWP
Justice22 over 11 years ago
OIL! The number one US export!
BE THIS GUY over 11 years ago
Better than kissing them on the lips.
BE THIS GUY over 11 years ago
Interesting, all the reporters are using electronic devices but Rick still has a steno pad. And what, no female reporters?
erinbliss over 11 years ago
Blaming the President for gas prices is like blaming my dog for a rain storm. When are people going to figure out that the president has no input or control over gas prices?
montessoriteacher over 11 years ago
People have every right to blame Bush for the COLOSSAL mistake he made in having us go to Iraq. We wasted a ton of $ and many American lives on that mess. The fallout from it will be felt for years to come. It would have been one thing if it had been warranted, but it simply wasn’t. Sorry GOP you can’t have your own facts.
jollyjack over 11 years ago
Did you ever wonder why, when every major user (Exxon, BP, etc.) have almost all their supplies provide under stable long term contract, that the “spot” market has this huge effect on the price of gasoline?
joe vignone over 11 years ago
Does Exxon really deserve billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to make $34 BILLION in ONE quarter? Couldn’t the US government do the same job for a lot less? Oil is a matter of national defense. Money is a matter of national defense! We have lost the economic war with China. It is just a matter of time before they start to evict us.
luckylouie over 11 years ago
G O P = Gas, Oil, and Petroleum
braindead Premium Member over 11 years ago
Gas prices go up like a rocket. They come down like a parachute.-When they rise and fall at the same velocity, that’s when you’ll know the market is not being manipulated.
PShaw0423 over 11 years ago
Of course oil companies charge whatever price the market will bear — what else? That’s how a market-based economy works. But lack of good substitutes for petroleum and what’s refined from it, and too few choices to buy from, give the advantage to the sellers. Not much real prospect for change to either condition.
steelersneo over 11 years ago
The Dems blamed GW for the price rise the Reps blame Obama. The entire thing is Cyclical. The price fix runs much higher than the White House. The Unseen Hand is behind it all. “cue sinister music” BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Rickapolis over 11 years ago
Keep blaming the black guy.
freeholder1 over 11 years ago
Anyone else here for banning the tenth of a cent pricing scam?
Spaghettus1 over 11 years ago
Presidents can’t do that much about gas prices, though higher efficiency standards do tend to push them down. Still, it takes several years to cause actual reductions in consumption leading to lower prices.
The Republicans would have us think Obama has scaled back production, causing prices to rise, but US oil production has risen steadily every year since 2008, after 20+ years of falling.
The primary long-term driver of the price of oil is the growth of the world economy. Growth means more consumption, which means more demand for oil, which means higher prices. The crash of 2008 and the subsequent fallout have kept prices much lower than they would have been. If/when Europe gets over its issues, prices will rise steadily again, barring any major disruptions in the Middle East.
Hectoruno over 11 years ago
@Guard SGT did you not read that oil production is up under Obama? Someone else posted it. In his speech Obama said he would open up more land for drilling.
Greg Johnston over 11 years ago
People blaming Obama for high gas prices perhaps missed the bulletin that US domestic oil production has risen consistently and significantly year-to year under Obama, reversing declines going back to 1970, with only a couple small interruptions in the pattern of decline. US domestic oil production is up a little over 10%, 2008-2011, with 2012 looking to continue that trend..Everyone can have their own opinion – but you don’t get to have your own facts. That’s just called being ill-informed – or outright dishonest. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbbl_a.htm
Uncle Joe Premium Member over 11 years ago
Gas is cheaper than water.Someone said this, and it’s true if you are buying bottled water. Think about this in the context of fracking and oil spills from pipelines over water reservoirs. Today we pay for gas, in another 20 years of unregulated exploitation of fossil fuels, we pay for water. In another 100 years we pay for clean air.