Obama leads poll on who is to blame for high gas prices

[NewJeffCT]

help me unfreep it. It has a "captcha" on the poll.

I voted for speculators/hedge funds.

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/todaysbuzz/hc-why-so-much-pain-at-the-pump-20130218,0,5454220.story

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

1. Not surprising. He gets the blame for everything.

[progressoid]

2. Happens all the time.

To be fair, we blamed bush too.

[msongs]

3. please don't rain on the parade lol nt

[leftyohiolib]

14. i blamed bush b/c when running for potus he said AND IF GAS PRICES GET HIGH I'LL JAWBONE

the saudis to lower the price of it. it was a campaign promise he made it and probably tried it but the saudis said no

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. Bush started two wars.

[Auggie]

4. Done

[Motown_Johnny]

5. Only 26% say Pres. Obama.. not as bad as I expected

I voted the way you did just to help the count but I would have gone with big oil.

[earthside]

6. The real reason.

Ultimately the real reason for high oil/gasoline prices was not listed as an option in the poll.

The fact is that we are indeed at the end of cheap, easy to find and produce oil.

'Tight' oil (fracking), tar sands, deep water drilling ... all these are expensive ways to produce petroleum and in most cases it is also lower grade oil that is more costly to refine.

Sure, the speculators and the big oil companies are going to manipulate for maximum profit, but in the end it is the cost of production.

Keystone XL is proof positive that Peak Oil is here ... why would anyone want to mine tar sands for bitumen to process into sludge to put in a pipeline and transport thousands of miles to a refinery if there were easier and better grades of oil to produce instead?

Pres. Obama needs to explain this to Americans when he turns down the Keystone XL pipeline in April (he better say no).

[Angry Dragon]

7. This is what the President should do .........

President Obama should get on the TV and state:

It seems that many Americans feel that I am to blame for the high cost of gasoline in this country.
To fix this problem I am going to direct Congress to pass a bill today to cap the cost of a gallon of gasoline at $2. This should help EVERY American. If you feel this is too high, call your Congressperson and let them know.

I will sign any bill that is for gas at $2/gallon or less.

[Scuba]

11. Better: Announce he's nationalizing the oil and other extraction industries. Gas prices will be ..

.. the same as in Venezuela.

[lpbk2713]

8. 170 votes at this time.

That's one grain of sand on a beach of American voters.
Give it a bit more time to get a more reliable consensus.

[ben_thayer]

9. Dun... nt

[dmosh42]

10. My guess would be the invisible step between the crude oil and the refineries....

We're told there's plenty of a supply of oil, but then the few companies left(BP, EXXON, Shell,etc) control the refineries, and naturally the supply of refined gasoline and diesel. If any one state built a refinery and bought their own crude to be refined and marketed, I believe the price of oil would go down very quickly. Obama does have a part in this, because he has threatened, but never released a glut of fuel to be sold on the open market, like Clinton did. It works because those who pay to store the fuel for the 'right' price get caught with the high priced fuel and need to dump it fast.

[Hard Assets]

12. It's not Obama's fault.

I blame the speculators and the greedy oil & gas industry.

US needs to permanently revoke all subsidies and order Justice to investigate the speculators and thieves.

My gas price jumped 80 cents from last week's low of 2.65, and I want to know why. Why does gas price go down slowly and then when it jumps it jumps very fast. That's unfair and illegal.

[Sheepshank]

13. But never, ever any credit to Obama when the prices are down....

their manufactured outrage seems transparent and petty.

[Politicalboi]

15. I voted for speculators

But we should move on to Hemp oil. Fuck big oil. Leave them holding the barrels. Let them drink it.

[leftyohiolib]

16. 30% of those being poled are dopes as of this writting, and are blaming potus

haters just wanna hate

[nobodyspecial]

17. Just more disconnect. They want unbridled capitalism

but at the same time want the president to dictate gas prices.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Done. Wonder where all that surplus gasoline we had in December (60 days ago) went?

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/18/news/economy/gas-prices/index.html

Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said that he thinks the chances are good that prices will reach that nearly two-year low, based on what he's seeing in the wholesale price market. OPIS compiles prices data from 120,000 stations nationwide for AAA. He said the national average is partly being driven down by better fuel economy, continued high unemployment and an increase in telecommuting, which together have cut consumption about 2% to 3% in the last year. Increased supplies from booming U.S. and Canadian production is also driving down prices.

"There's not a lot of money going into crude futures right now because they have worries about cuts in spending that could occur," he said about the fiscal cliff recession fears.

[Dpm12]

20. I fucking hate

it when people blame the president for high gas prices. The president doesn't control prices.

[NewJeffCT]

21. if you watch Fox News

everything bad happens due to Obama.

[Jamaal510]

22. I voted for the "supply and demand" option, although it's only at 16%.

The "blame Obama" one is at 30%.