Obama hasn’t a leg to stand on. But that doesn’t stop him from claiming that government is the answer to this made up problem.
Bruce McQuain
Conservative Commune
4/18/2012
I could pretty much stop there and say the title tells you the story. Obama knows high gas prices are not good for his re-election campaign. He also knows his energy policies have actively worked against ameliorating or lowering the price of gas.
Therefore, it is necessary to find a scape-goat. Someone or something he can shift the blame too and demonize. In other words, the usual disingenuous attempt at distraction.
David Harsanyi explains what “speculators”, otherwise known as commodity traders, do:
Let’s start by being thankful for oil speculation — no matter what the motivation of those involved might be. To begin with, speculation allows companies with exposure to fluctuating commodity prices to hedge against rising costs by locking in. Sometimes the bet pays off; other times it doesn’t. But risk and profit are not yet crimes.
Oil speculation also offers consumers and investors information about the future that can help them make informed long-term decisions. Speculators trade commodities based on the information available in the marketplace. They reflect reality; they don’t create it.
But sometimes, unfortunate as it is, prices will rise. “Gouging,” the close scaremongering cousin of “speculation,” helps persuade consumers not to use what they don’t need. It incentivizes to modify behavior — our driving habits or the size of our cars. We conserve more when prices are higher, so we avoid shortages, and producers intensify their production. (Funny how Democrats get this concept when writing energy policy designed to artificially spike fossil fuel prices.)
In other words, this sort of trading helps moderate the market. And, being a zero sum game – i.e. if you make money someone else loses it – it is done carefully. As Harsanyi explains, they “reflect reality; they don’t create it”. In essence you’re seeing a relatively free market work as it should.
Of course, what Barack Obama wants to do is have government intrude on that market because politically he doesn’t like the reality it is reflecting because it is politically damaging to him. So…
The article continues at Conservative Commune.
CAJ note: When we first followed a link to the article we came up against that red Google warning page that the site was reported as offensive. We can assure readers that it’s safe to visit the site and only the most ardent Obama supporter will find offensive material there.
What we DO find offensive is that this President is going to squander another $52 million of your tax dollars on this asinine, manipulative maneuver. But, of course, to this spendthrift that $52 million is just pocket change on the way to collapsing our system.
Update: Speaking of waste, fraud, and abuse–More Layoffs At Obama-Funded Electric Carmaker Fisker Automotive, Delaware Plant Is “Absolutely Empty”…
Update 2: Millionaire Who Supports Higher Taxes Invested in Companies That Received Billions in Taxpayer Money
An ultra-wealthy hedge-fund manager who is supporting President Obama’s effort to raise taxes on 4,000 millionaires is heavily invested in companies that benefited from taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Whitney Tilson’s T2 Partners hedge fund, which oversees more than $262 million, holds sizeable positions in the big banks that were bailed out with taxpayer funds in 2008 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)…
