Once again Obama stands up to defend the Federal Reserves over worked printing press.
from Google News
ANNANDALE, Virginia — US President Barack Obama blamed oil "speculators" on Tuesday for soaring gasoline prices that risk weighing down the US recovery and could dampen his 2012 election hopes.
"It is true that a lot of what's driving oil prices up right now is not the lack of supply. There's enough supply. There's enough oil out there for world demand," Obama said at a campaign-style event not far from Washington.
"The problem is, is that oil is sold on these world markets, and speculators and people make various bets, and they say, 'you know what, we think that maybe there's a 20 percent chance that something might happen in the Middle East that might disrupt oil supply,'" he said.
"'So we're going to bet that oil is going to go up real high.' And that spikes up prices significantly," said the president, who recently launched his reelection campaign.
His comments came as oil prices rallied in New York, rebounding from the previous day's heavy losses as a weaker dollar boosted demand for dollar-priced commodities.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, surged $1.03 to finish at $108.15 a barrel, even as US gasoline prices hovered just below the $4-per-gallon mark after rising steadily since late 2008.
"We're now in a position where we can investigate if there's unfair speculation. We're going to be monitoring gas stations to make sure there isn't any price gouging that's taking advantage of consumers," promised Obama.
"But the truth is that it is a world commodity, and when prices spike up like this there aren't a lot of short-term solutions. What we have are medium- and long-term solutions," he said.
Obama's Republicans foes have pounded him over the rise in fuel prices, accusing him of putting on hold new oil drilling that could eventually lead to lower prices.
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What Obama should have been telling the American people is that the reason the price of oil is over $122 a barrel is due to the fact that oil is strictly traded in US dollars. Obama is doing his best to distract Americans (and the world) as to why they are being raped at the pump for gasoline.
Since 2008 the Fedearal Reserve has injected trillions of new dollars into the money supply in an effort to prop up our failing economy. By doing this they are weakening our dollar and in return creating inflation through loss of purchasing power of the dollar. Obama is trying to spin this mess to shift the blame to the "evil" speculators but in fact, they have very little to do with the problem. The problem is mainly due to the devaluation of the dollar as that is the currency in which oil is traded.
Anyone who has been to the grocery store lately has seen another effect of the falling dollar. Food prices are rising steadily as the dollar falls, but not nearly as fast as oil is. Once again this is due to the fact that oil is traded only in dollars and is immediately subjected to inflation with every downward tick in the value of the dollar. Other commodities such as gold, silver, corn, wheat, etc. are traded across the globe, in many different currencies, so it is easier to mask the inflation.
When Obama took office the Us Dollar index was 86.50 and gasoline was $1.82/gal.
At the time of writing this US Dollar Index is at 77.35 and gasoline is $3.83/gal.
So the next time you hear Obama blaming someone for the high price you are paying at the pump just take a dollar out of your wallet and think about it's really worth. Our oil suppliers in the middle east know what that dollar is really worth and that is why you are being raped at the pump.
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