It’s the Gas Prices, Stupid
Jarrett said that he checks the Department of Energy’s average fuel price, published every Monday, to determine the fuel surcharge for his customers. He explained that consumers don’t always realize the hidden fuel costs in the prices of items in stores.
We pass that fuel surcharge on to our customer, so then it does make its way to the consumer. And again, that fluctuation and that cost has to be built into the cost of the product. Let’s say it’s a consumer goods item that goes to the shelf of the store. When a customer goes to buy it off the shelf of the store, it doesn’t say the cost of the loaf of bread is “this much plus fuel.” It just has the cost of the loaf of bread.
Jarret also owns PackShip USA, a company that specializes in packing and shipping of fragile and high-value merchandise. He said that fuel prices have a more widespread effect on the economy.
If their disposable income is less because they had to spend more to fill up their tank of gas, then they’re probably not going to buy as many products — in our case, furniture. That’s how economies stay stagnant. People are spending more on items they have to have. If you’re someone who has to drive your vehicle back and forth to work, you have to buy gas. And if you have to buy gas and it costs you more to do that, you’re going to have less disposable income to buy other things.
So the high gas prices are not only hurting American families at the gas pump and in the increased prices of nearly everything they purchase, but also in the weakening of the economy because a higher percentage of the family income must be spent on gas. The “war on coal” is too small a target. This is a “war on families” and a “war on the poor.”
24/7 Wall St. has a list of states where people can’t afford gas, and perhaps not surprisingly, five of the top ten are swing states in the upcoming election: North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, and Florida.
Gas prices cause people to postpone vacations and defer daily expenses. Construction companies will suspend some of their activities. Businesses that deliver goods to homes or other businesses will try to raise their prices to offset their costs of transportation. Some of the states on this list barely made it out of the recession, if they did at all. Some still have double digit unemployment and high poverty levels. The sharp rise in gas prices becomes more severe each day. This is something that a portion of the population simply cannot afford.
This issue should be a slam-dunk for Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republican team. While the high price of gas cannot be blamed entirely on President Obama, he clearly hasn’t made it a priority of his administration. President Clinton infamously said, “I feel your pain.” President Obama has insulated himself from the lives of ordinary Americans and is ignoring the elephant-in-the-room issue that is breaking family budgets across the country. Pain at the pump cuts across racial and demographic lines and even traverses party lines. In fact, this is an issue that has the ability to “Slap the Honey Boo Boos with Truthaganda,” as PJ Media’s Zombie so eloquently suggested here recently. Republicans should be shouting from the rooftops about the gas pump misery index.
Most of all, this issue could sway the all-important undecided voters. Every price sign at every gas station across the country could be viewed as a “Vote Romney” sign if Mitt would focus on this issue and convince voters that he does “feel their pain” and he intends to do something about it on the first day of his presidency.
This could be the issue that puts Romney and his fellow Republicans over the top in important battleground states like Ohio. But it’s imperative that they keep the message simple and focused.
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See more of Paula Bolyard’s reports from Ohio this election season:
Dear Ms Bolyard:
Lets not nit pick too much. There is a war on coal and it is a travesty since we have a huge amount of it and it really is possible to reduce the harmful effects of buring coal for fuel with some new technology. However your comment below in quotes is naieve since coal today actually powers about 45% of the grid. So YES electricity is actually produced by coal fired power plants. Duh!
“In addition, only 18% of Ohioans heat their homes with electricity, minimizing the perception that closing coal plants will cause them a financial hardship.”
People in Ohio West Virginia Illinois Penn Wyoming Colorado and other states have alot of coal and it is really a national tragedy to give up on this fuel source. Southern Company favors the “all of the above” approach which includes coal in the mix along with natural gas, nuclear, and some renewables where the economics is sensible (which is rare). Coal may not be real to you but it is real to people in these states and could be the source of many jobs too. So lighten up on the criticism. Yes gas prices are up and we know it.
I’m certainly not suggesting we give up on coal! I live in the woods in N.E. Ohio, so my prospects for heating my home with windmills and solar panels are slim. But although electric prices have crept up and will likely continue to rise, it’s been a slow creep and hasn’t caused people to change their lifestyles the way gas prices have. I would guess nearly everyone you talk to would say they’ve made some changes in their lifestyle over the last few years due to the rising gas prices. Or at least they’ve thought about it. That’s the kind of populist issue every candidate should dream about.
This is a pretty big deal that’s being lost in the shuffle. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/27/drop-in-ohio-voter-registration-especially-in-dem-strongholds-mirrors/?intcmp=trending I’m sure it’s being replicationed nationwide. Given this, a good debate performance should give Romney the election.
I think a better approach is to couple the coal and gasoline issues. From what I’ve seen the Romney campaign has done a poor job of relating the “what will happen with electricity prices” to the “what has happened with gasoline prices”. He talks about future events without really tying them to what people have already experienced. I’m sure his campaign is thinking “well, everybody knows about the gas prices” and he’s both right and wrong. The high gasoline prices are now the new normal. People adjust and they’ve already adapted to them. He needs to remind them of the changes that they had to make, what that cost them, and then hit them with the consequences of rising electricity prices. He needs to talk about “What could you do with the extra $2000 that’s going into your gas tank?” and then ask “What are you going to have to cut to find the extra $2000 for your power bill?”. His talking points are too esoteric, he needs to hit people where they live, in their wallets.
I could not agree with you more ChrisS. Romney speaks in such general platitudes that his adds could actually be approved by Obama. I doubt this will happen, but Romney’s campaign needs to get more specific about how much more Americans are currently paying and how much more they are going to pay under four more years of Obama.
Also, it is not just a war on coal, it is a war on affordable energy. There is so much low hanging fruit out there that Romney’s campaign refuses to pick. But what do you expect from a Massachusetts moderate.
Some of Romney’s advisers have actually told the press that they don’t want Romney to give specifics because they’re afraid that would give Obama more targets to shoot at.
That’s not only bad strategy, but to an Independent voter it looks pathetic.
Hope ‘n Change… for more “European” gas prices.
The problem with trying to pin the economic situation on Obama is that most people, who think about it at all, know it isn’t the president’s, any presidents, fault. Yes The Won certainly has not helped the situation, but the reason we’re going broke in this country is we aren ‘t making money any more. We push paper and sell over supplied services. You gotta make things, grow things, mine things, and invent things to make money.
If you want to cure this situation you need to get rid of the enviroweenies. And how you gonna do that? They can shut you down with any fed judge in the land at a moments notice and have YOU pay their lawyers to do it. We’re dead. We just don’t know it yet.
Unless of course we secede and return to the true constitution and honest law and order. Like that’s gonna happen.
Why isn’t that the Government’s fault?
Our tax policies reward consumption by going into debt, and punish investment. Buy a second home with a big mortgage and you get all these tax deductions. Invest the money instead, and you have to pay capital gains taxes on whatever profits you make. While the company you invests in gets to pay the highest corporate income taxes in the developed world–unless they can send lobbyists to Washington to get special treatment.
Romney could have proposed a dramatic reform of the tax code to change those priorities to reward those who build factories in America rather than those who buy luxuries on credit.
Buying a second home in order to rent it out is an investment. (Duh.)
Oh, wanna claim you were talking about buying a second home as a second personal residence, eh? Wasn’t the home mortgage deduction taken away for second residences?
Try again.
“…most people, who think about it at all, know it isn’t the president’s, any presidents, fault.”
Oh really? Did you tell that to Obama and his democrat co-conspirators? They have blamed and will continue to blame all of our problems on Bush. “Most people?” Ha.
With the lapdog media repeating and believing everything Obama says, and never contradicting his “facts,” a great many people to this day believe “it’s Bush’s fault!”
So which is it? Can a president be held responsible for the economic condition of a nation? YES.
The Executive Branch of the federal government is responsible for writing and enforcing the regulations that are strangling us. It is the President who is attacking the coal and oil industry and showing favoritism to the green boondoggles. The President — both personally and via his myriad administrative agencies like the EPA, FCC, IRS, AEC, FBI and a host of other faceless alphabetic bureaucracies — promotes his agenda and spends the money, not Congress. He’s the Administrator In Chief. He is the one who has spent us into bankruptcy.
And if you say, “Well, Bush did the same thing!” it just proves the point that the President is the one doing the spending.
A President Romney could instantly cut spending simply by cutting back the massive bureaucratic machine he will inherit.
A good CEO would look at his failing operation and lay off about 50% of every department — or eliminate whole organizations and their expensive management chain — and cut their budgets across the board.
Whether Romney does this or not remains to be seen. You saw what happened to Kennedy….
And if Obama is reelected, he will spend even more. As Dinesh d’Souza said at the end of his movie 2016, “Obama is using debt as a weapon of mass destruction” against a nation he does not even like, much less love.
I’m still waiting for all of Obama’s “Green Jobs” to start taking off. Remember those back in 2008? Obama said that millions of new jobs were going to be created by government “investments” in “Green Energy.” Sure, and how has that worked out of us? True, we did have real “winners” like Solyndra, a national disgrace and yet nobody has even gone to jail for that. But where did all that “Green energy money” go and how did that investment turn out?
Terrible, just terrible. And Romney should hit Obama over the head with this over and over again. When big government tries to pick winners and losers, it generally picks the losers, and nothing proves this more than Obama’s pushing “Green energy.” What a joke. And now the American taxpayer is stuck with a huge bill and nothing to show for it. We really need to explain to people how many billions have been lost in these stupid quest for “Green energy” and who is responsible for it. That will go a long way in showing how Obama’s energy policies have failed us and will continue to fail us if he is (God forbid) re-elected.
totally great comment
. Boylard makes what seems to be a cogent point about the coal ads, but what would a gas price ad say? It would need to be instantly digestible (30 seconds is all they get) and would need to convincingly attribute the problem to Obama. Perhaps I suffer from a failure of imagination, but I don’t see how it could work… and I’m an advertising copywriter who is horrified at the possibility of Obama being reelected.
This isn’t difficult. Sad dad with the family in the mini-van slapping $10 on the counter to buy two gallons of gas. A grandmother counting out quarters to afford a gallon of gas to get to church. A family of 7 trading in the mini-van for a more fuel efficient 5-passenger car. A boy who can’t join the baseball team because his single mother can’t afford the gas to drive him to the games. The possibilities are endless.
Here’s your ad – It’s the weekend. Mom and Dad load their grade school aged kids up in the car – not a new car, but a regular family car that real families drive – not a Prius but something that a real family drives – like a crossover. They tell the kids they’re going out somplace kids really like to go – like out to lunch or for a treat at one of the places that have the play areas for kids. They tell the kids that they just have to stop and fill up the gas tank before they go to the “cool kid place.” Dad checks his wallet as he’s saying this – and makes offhand comment about “should be able to afford it.”
The family drives to the gas station – and Dad sees the sign with the gas prices. He looks a bit stunned and turns to his wife and says something to the effect that the prices have gone up so much since he filled the tank earlier this week and he just doesn’t think they can afford the family treat – because its all they can do to keep gas in the car, especially since there’s no reason to believe that the prices won’t continue to rise – fast. Kids are upset – the whole family is upset. Life is a bummer if you’re a family in Obama’s America.
Will that sort of scenario work? Plenty of people are living it and will immediately relate.
Exactly. This message cuts through to the people who hate or ignore politics. The key is to avoid explaining the complicated issues behind it. The Dems don’t bother to do that. They throw it out there and most of it sticks.
Another example: When we were first starting a family the price of ground chuck was around $0.89/lb.(yes, really!). All the women’s magazines were packed with budget recipes using ground chuck and if you were on a tight budget, you had Hamburger Helper one night, tacos the next night, chili another night, etc. Now, with gr. chuck pushing $4.00/lb, Hamburger Helper is no longer much of a budget helper. Now, of course, the price of meat is complicated. Government supply meddling is one factor, ethanol production is another, and the high price of fuel is yet another. But the campaign doesn’t need to get into all the complicated details. Just say that your food prices are through the roof because gas prices are high. It’s true. It’s simple. Blame Obama. Every day.
What’s missing in your commercials, though, is the the clear, irrefutable link to Obama as the source of the problem. Yes, gas is expensive. I (who am obsessively informed) know that his energy policies have not helped matters, but your average voter does not know this. Furthermore, I think that people have been so downtrodden by their circumstances that they no longer believe anyone has the power to repair the situation. Therein lies Romney’s conundrum — if he focuses on our problems he’ll be seen as a Debby Downer. (Romney – yeah, he’s the guy who reminded me I couldn’t afford to go out once I paid for my gas.) I think he needs to talk about the power of we the people, to make us believe in ourselves again. We CAN do it – without the ubiquitous, insidious help of government – is a message both more appealing and more true.
“to stay focused on the issue that [is] foremost on voters’ minds and to keep … from wandering off into the weeds of complicated side issues” is good advice, but as “Tommy Gunn” and “ChrisS” pointed out, the use of coal in primary and secondary energy production is a huge part of the total and can/must be related in a concrete way to every economic issue.
This must be done in simple terms every “man in the street” can understand, and it could be if Mitt weren’t such a nice, honest, and decent guy. There’s “the rub”! Bringing this message requires more than the statement of facts, true as they are. It requires stating them in sharp and PASSIONATE contrast with BO’s lies and wishful thinking.
It requires the passionate belief, transmitted passionately, that the environment will easily survive another four years of coal fired power plants, with or without the most modern filters, but that our economy will NOT survive another four years of the Enviroweenie-in-Chief and his disfunctional and dystopian minions raising the costs on everyone with nothing to show for it but an even more inflated ego of Da Won (if that’s even possible)!
Mitt’s campaign doesn’t lack mind, and it doesn’t lack cleverness, and it doesn’t lack adequate planning. I seem to be missing the passionate delivery that really gets everybody fired up to conclude that the Great-Big-O has been a great big zero these last four years and we don’t need another four like ‘em!
That’s the REAL “message” Mitt’s gotta bring, regardless with which examples. Go Mitt! Go for it! Yes you can!
The vast majority of America is not partisan, and is not engaged.
We have about 42-43% partisan R, about 42-43% partisan D. These two sides will never agree on anything unless we get a leader of incredible skill.
The remaining 15-16% or of American looks at it all with a shrug. Many of them don’t vote. At the end of the day, those of these guys who do vote will look at both guys and
(1) decide which one looks more like a president (which do you think)
(2) look at their immediate economic situation
(3) have one issue that really jazzes them and vote on that
We have a long way to go before this is over.
I’ll say this: It will NOT be decided on Mitt Romney’s tax returns or other personal attacks. That’s just to drive Dem turnout, which is still going to fail expectations despite recent polling.
This is going to be razor close, and likely decided by a few hundred thousand votes is a few key states.
The only “incredible skill” necessary to defund the Left and quash corporate welfare is the strong stomach needed to tough out all the political squealing that will come from Democrat and Republican interest groups.
I remember how fast Ronald Reagan caved in after he took office and began cutting the federal budget. And I remember how fast all those “Defund the Left” bumper stickers disappeared from cars. Anyone who doubts my recollection can go read the tell-all book his budget director, David Stockman, wrote.
Hey you can always buy a coal-powered EV.
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And yet, when gas prices spiked this high for 3 months during GWB’s term, the press was all over it. It’s almost as if there’s a double standard or something.
Yeah – and the democrats hauled in the heads of the oil companies so they could get a photo op of them raking them over the coals and badgering them about the high prices. I think one guy dared to tell the truth. The oil prices were high because congress was taxing them like a mob extorting protection money out of a business so the business wouldn’t burn down.
Romney and Ryan need to get out of the weeds, period. The price of gas and its direct effect on every item produced, shipped, bought or sold is a very good place to start.
The entire Romney-Ryan campaign needs to discover and unleash the power of KISS. Keep it simple.
Obama character assassinates Romney who smiles back goofislhly. Nobody wants a leader who lets himself be bullied. Better a smooth talking con man than a whimp.
Energy is similar to air; you can not live without it but it is invisible. The US has not had a sane energy policy since President Nixon created the EPA. Since that time, much of our heavy industry, and its good jobs have been off shored. Why? The cost of energy and government regulations.
Climate change vs. a healthy national economy is an issue which can, and to a degree, has already destroyed America. A $42,000 Chevy which can go only a few miles, which no one will buy unless they have ties to the government, or is rich enough to park the green trophy in their driveway, is proof. No bricklayer, farmer, rancher, or contractor will buy one.
The issue is not coal; the issue is a very real, and present danger that our economy will fall into a permanent depression, due to lethal governmental policies.
Obama tried, and quit, to prohibit lead bullets; the green vs green law suits are filed. Americans can expect to be unarmed, due to ammo law suits, in Obama is reelected. Should this, and coal, be raised in the campaign? Who cares if another industry goes out of business?
This nation has fundamental problems which result in chronic unemployment, and a melt down of the wealth of the middle class. Obama should be losing by 40 percent. But he, the firm believer in big government, is not.
The Repubs are lost; their campaigning is pathetic. The issue is simple: America will either make energy from uranium and carbon, with cost effective standards, or cease to exist. Choose who will manage this, and live with the consequences.
This all started a generation ago with the Spotted Owl. First they came for the loggers, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a logger.
I think we all know that story ends.
Coincidentally, I was at the Washington coast a few days ago, and to get there, you have to drive through the old logging towns of Aberdeen and Hoquiam. They never recovered. They’re as bad as anything you’ll ever see in W. Va. Once you kill a regional industry, the entire region becomes a rural ghetto. Forever.
If anybody wants to see what America will look like after a second Obama term, just visit Aberdeen, Wa. The hotels there are really cheap.
It makes no difference if only 18% use electricity to heat their homes. They use it for appliances, lights and A/C. Electicity prices are not a niche issue. A very simple ad: use the clip of Obama saying “under my plan electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket”. It’s old, yes, but many people may not be aware of it. Then put the clip of Steven Chu, Energy Secretary, saying “we need to find a way to raise gasoline prices to European levels”. Then mention the EPA rules that will close 200+ coal-fired generators over CO2, resulting in a loss of up to 36,000 megawatts of electricity generation, enough to power 20 MILLION homes for a year. Then, at the end, pose a simple question: “Why would you vote for people who have said they WANT electricity and gasoline prices to rise dramatically.”
It’s not gas prices. To be more precise, it’s not just gas prices. What else is up? How about food? How about everything that is imported, because of a softening dollar, driven by deficits? How about the impact of Obamacare if it’s not repealed? College tuitions…
What’s down? Employment, jobs, Solyndra, your “investment” in GM… Then we can dive into this week’s economic news, and the “unexpected” revision downward of last quarter’s GDP. (If revisions are always downward, you’re doing it wrong.)
It’s a travesty that this is even close, or appears to be close. Anyone up for four more years like the last four?
Here is a suggestion for Romney : Run spots reminding the people that is was Obams energy man, Dr. David Chu who said he would happy to see Americans pay $7.00 or more for a gallon of gasoline!
Focusing on the price of gas would be disastrous for Romney.
See that precipitous drop in the fall of 2008 in the chart that was handily included. Do you think that was random chance? If so, I have some bridges for sale at steep discounts. Remember McCain’s biggest issue…you know, the one he picked Palin because of. Yeh, that one. Drill baby drill. By the time Soros, Putin and the goat-herders finished casting their votes for obama between August and the end of October, the price of gas was below $2 a gallon. Gas prices were the absolute last thing on anybody’s mind. And that was before the Liar in Chief was appointed to the most powerful office in the world and could put any oil company out of business with a snap of his fingers, not that a nice guy like him would ever contemplate that.
It can happen again. NOBODY loves obama more than Putin and the Saudis. In fact, you will almost certainly see an easing of gasoline prices before the election anyway, just as marxism insurance.
You miss the forest for the trees.
All prices are rising because the Fed is creating dollars from thin air…actually random electrons.
The Fed is stealing the wealth of the savers/workers to finance the multi-thousands of billions of dollars that the Federal government spends beyond it income. To keep interest rates at below real market rates, the Fed is buying US debt with created money. The government is buying the government debt.
This will end suddenly and catastrophically.
The only group thriving on this policy is the NWO banksters.
To regain control of the government, REPEAL the 16th Ammendment.
This has been happening since the beginning of the Fed/end of the gold standard.
When I was a kid, gas was 25 cents/gallon…now $4.00. Bread was 25c/loaf, now $2.00.
It’s all a fiction…fiat money is the bane of a stable economy.
Great economics lesson, ebola, but try to explain that in a 30-second commercial to a low-information voter who doesn’t give a rip about any of that. What they do care about is that they took a “staycation” this year because they couldn’t afford to drive to Disneyland because gas is $4.00/gallon. We can attack the root of the problem after the election. First, we need to get enough of the electorate to vote against Obama and the other Democrats in November.
Ebola has a point……. If we don’t fix the root of the problem, none of this will matter. Also, the energy angle is counter-intuitive. The top segment of U.S. GDP on the global market is already energy production. For purposes of jump-starting the economy and reducing the deficit, the solution would be to produce and export more of it over trying to reduce fuel prices at home. Hey….. we’re in a global economy, and Americans are paying comparable to what everyone else on the planet is paying……..
Subsidise gas prices to buy votes?….. hmn….. sounds like something a Democrat would do……..
And Paula has a better point: it takes time to educate people to the issues, and we are out of time. We need short, sweet, comprehensible punches to the gut. We have to get our guy elected. Everything else can be fixed after.
Nope….. not if it’s the wrong thing entirely. Sheep get sheared, suckers get screwed. If expediency is the only coherent message of this campaign, these dopes can’t get punched hard enough in the head to suit me for all I care………
You don’t understand why gas has always been more expensive in Europe than in the US. There aren’t any oil subsidies, and there never were any. That’s all 100% BS. REPEAT: THERE AREN’T ANY OIL SUBSIDIES, AND THERE NEVER WERE ANY. The Euros always had extremely high taxes. That’s why they’ve always had higher prices. The US has been the exception, because we’ve generally had much lower taxes. The higher prices reflect higher world crude prices.
and….. you miss the point. I despise this ploy considered by many to be some brilliant idea, a bone thrown to a sub-normal plebiscite to incur their vote. Well, it’s a promise that will be expected to be kept though it flies in the face of what the facts are and obstructs solutions that are relevant to the actual crisis. Prices on commodities are higher across the board because of inflation brought on by collusion between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to keep stock prices high and to ‘kickstart’ the economy……
This is crap. It’s similar to promises made by the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egyptian government to keep pita prices down to a penny a day so the rabble doesn’t go on a rampage. State and Federal excise taxes and such do for about 12% of the fuel price in the U.S. across the board. Do we cut them to zero? Maybe a subsidy looks good at this point…..’>……..
The 16th and 17th amendments were a couple of progressive era bookends. Repeal them both. Make the feds assess the states, and let the senators represent the states being assessed. Oh, and add in a balanced budget amendment.
Make those three related changes, and the problems will get fixed.
It may be that only 18% of Ohioans heat their homes with electricity, but there are tens of thousands of people who make their living being employed by the coal business and still 48% of America use coal to generate electricity. This is a big deal! Why they are not using the old videos of Obama saying he wants to put coal out of business, is a mystery to me. Why Romney is not talking about Obama’s entire administrations endorsement and inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization, in White House affairs. They have completely infiltrated our government, serving on committee’s and as consultants, while their leaders talk about the destruction of America from within. Why is it that Eric Holder refuses to release the Holy Land Foundation Files to Congress, that will prove White House complicity in their relationship with the Brotherhood. Files that he has already turned over to the Terrorist defendants in the trial. A disgrace.
Editorial: Operation Screw Wednesday, September 26, 2012 – by Peter Schiff
http://www.thedailybell.com/4351/Peter-Schiff-Operation-Screw
Funny how Mr. Obama blamed the price of gas on Mr. Bush when it spiked up because of the surge in Iraq but now that it has been high under his guidance for years it is no longer the Presidents fault.
“ If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you weren’t a racist, you have to vote for somebody else in 2012 to prove you aren’t an Idiot” .
Romney, you are not resonating enough. You got my vote but you have to do more than your performance now. Here’s my suggestions,
Keep it simple, your language is very bureaucratic.. not layman’s language.
Reach out to the church
Reach out to the common people, the gardener, the clerk, the security guard, etc
Expose Obama! His ideology, his failures, his gaffes, his flaws, and his intentions… No holds barred.
Remove the War image of the GOP but expose how weakness endangers the country.
Seems that no matter what Romney does he is going to get slammed by people who could obviously run this campaign so much better.
Personally, I think Obama’s war on coal is kind of a big deal. Maybe I’ve become a little too fond of electricity. Maybe I hate to see people losing their jobs. Maybe while watching how easily an industry can be destroyed by a President who did give us fair warning in ’08, I wonder which industry he will choose to destroy next.
Total energy use is roughly divided into thirds – one third heating, one third electricity and one third vehicle fuel. If coal goes away, or worse is replaced by wind / solar / biofuels, what do we get when it gets way cold? We get rolling blackouts just like Texas saw in the 2 week runup to Super Bowl XLV in Cowboys Stadium Jan 2011. And the more coal plants you shut down, the more blackouts you get.
Romney also needs to go after the new CAFE standards forcing cars and trucks to a 54 mpg standard. Expensive fuels. Expensive, small and unsafe clown cars that will not fit you or your families are the legacy of the Obama energy policy.
He can also talk about shutdown of Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas exploration; obstruction of the Keystone XL Pipeline; multiple East Coast refinery shutdowns due to EPA rules; refusal to open ANWR; serial obstruction of drilling in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Pacific Ocean, Bristol Bay, Atlantic Ocean. All while the ChiComs are drilling Cuban water less than 90 miles off of Key West. This is an energy policy?
Many Canadians were upset by the Keystone pipeline ruling; we would be happy to sell more oil.
Of course, we have our own enviros here, too, who were most happy about Obama’s decision.
FWIW, most of us down here would love to buy it from you. Whether or not it would significantly impact prices is beside the point; the point is I’d rather send my money to you good neighbors up there than enemies in the Middle East.
The Romney campaign has managed to miss most opportunities Obama has handed it. Romney will go down in presidential campaign history as having been handed one slam dunk after another, and bouncing it off the rim every time . He’s run a timid, overly cautious campaign, and looks like nervous used car salesman most of the time. As a businessman, he was probably great, and would likely be able to fix a faltering economy. As a candidate, he’s looking more like an inept boob every week, and will never get the chance.
It’s McCain rev 2- unwilling to be critical of his opponent, polite, and respectful; he is getting his ass kicked. I’m not sure what I will make angrier- Obama getting re-elected, or Mittens giving a concession speech, thanking his supporters for running a respectful, losing campaign. We needed a candidate who was initial to win, at all costs, and Romney was never that guy.
That’s absurd. If you had any clue about politics (or had common sense at all) you’d recognize how silly and craven your comment really is. Sorry to break it to you Mr. Concern Troll but Romney will win the general election. And it will be no thanks to chicken littles like yourself when he does.
If President Obama is re-elected you have not seen anything yet with gas prices.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/28/carbon-tax-wont-reduce-deficit-or-temperature/
It’s really amazing to see people run their mouths about Romney even though they probably pulled for somebody who couldn’t beat Romney in the primaries. Their time would be much better spent attacking Obama and his propagandists in the media rather than the GOP nominee. This Fifth Column crap is really getting old. Sorry (not really) to rain on this pathetic pity party.
High gas prices and death by little car are inextricably linked. Higher CAFE standards are the equivalent of putting thousands of drunk drivers on the road. Instead of a car salesman asking, “What’ll it take to get you into this car today?” you should have a fireman answering, “What’ll it take to get you out of this car someday?”.
Ain’t government Grand? Not only is our government screwed-up, but it is Super-sized. My vote will go to the candidate who realizes just how big, bloated, redundant, and wasteful every stinking level of government is. I can no longer afford my life while paying for theirs too. Something’s got to give.
Somehow, the fire that is government (fed) has gotten out of control and will burn anything in it’s path. Forget Al Kyda, these non-ragheads are the threat that keeps on keeping on. Freedom is being assaulted from within and without. We’re being tag-teamed and yet, 47% haven’t a clue. If someone got into your checking and savings accounts and depleted both, would that not be an act of ‘terrorism’ to you? Robbery to them, but to you?
If by now you’re feeling a little like Ambassador Stevens, you should. Your government could care less that you’re surrounded by ‘hostiles’ and everyday feels like 9/11 to you but happens to be 4/15 to them. Happy Tax Freedom Day.
My ideal candidate wouldn’t be a business ‘fixer’ who can streamline the government as it exists today, but a demolition expert who can flatten thirteen stories of wasted enterprise on a block without harming buildings nearby. Or, maybe a cancer surgeon who’ll say, “This is the biggest tumor I’ve ever seen, hand me a scalpel.”
If we can’t cut the size of government without harming retirees and sick people we aren’t really trying. As an American, I insist we at least try.
Romney will lose because he doesn’t have the balls to fight to win, it is as simple as thar.
Not that I agree, but if you believe that is true, all the more reason for the rest of us to fight even harder. This is about the future of our country. Romney can’t do it on his own any more than Obama can do it on his own. Obama has the advantage in the media. If we are not willing to fight with Romney then sit back and enjoy Obama2.0. This version will come with some new features made possible because he won’t have to worry about reelection.
I’m voting for Romney, but he needs to get tough or he is going the way of Dole and McCain. I certainly hope all the polls are wrong, and it comes down to turnout. But Romney has been swinging and missing a lot, and the media has made sure the misses are the big story. As the republican, he should have expected this treatment before getting into the race. I know what Romney stands for, but his campaign has done a lousy job of getting the message out. Relying on me and conservative voters to do that is a strategy I guess, but it shouldn’t count on it to carry him to victory. He needs to stop pulling punches. Americans like a good fight.
Patriots, I just paid $4.04 a gallon! Great column!
Why is this not in the forefront and part of every single stump speech? I posted this for my patriots’ group on FR http://fundamentalrefounding.ning.com/ and linked back here. It isn’t only gas/fuel, it is the price of everything that is transported! Virtually every single thing we buy at a grocery or department store got there via a truck!
We are retired dairy farmers, and still raise some dairy animals, but transitioning now to raising animals for beef and pork. If we sell our hogs for $2.25 a pound, we are making a profit of around $10 on each pig. Tell me this isn’t a problem! Even the hog growers of the midwest must sometimes decide whether to sell their corn crop, or use it to finish off their hogs for the meat market.
We have 16 laying hens, and to sell our eggs at $1.75 a dozen (with recycled and reused egg cartons) is not even breaking even. Is agriculture the next shoe to drop? And when? It really is only a matter of time. God bless
I managed to save hundreds on my fuel bill. My friend gave me some tips and pointed me to this website – http://green-energy-at-home.com/wp/save-1200-on-your-gasoline-bill and it gives all the help you need to save on gasoline prices.