Monday
Jun232008
The blame game: What’s causing high gas prices?
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 3:40PM
The role of market speculation and its effect on the dramatic increases in the price of oil was discussed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and and Investigations Subcommittee. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) stated that the American economy will not be sustainable if high prices at the pump continue to climb.
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) said a solution to inappropriate speculation would help to lower prices in the short term, contrasting this idea with calls to increase supply by drilling in the ANWR. Inslee said that these measures would affect future generations but have no immediate result now. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) stated that speculation of future demand for oil has played a large role in oil’s price increase and that one can solve the issue of high prices by traveling to New York or Chicago.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said the cost of oil can be attributed to low supply, not market speculation. Barton suggested opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and selling two million barrels each day. Barton said this would return oil prices to under $100 per barrel. He noted that the Bush administration opposes this strategy and that its success would rely on an act of Congress. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said supply and demand principles, as well as deflation and market forces cannot be ignored.
Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that investment firms are good at making profits but ignore the long-term consequences of their decisions, naming the subprime mortgage crisis as an example. Inslee recalled being told by Vice President Dick Cheney that he did not understand economics when he presented Cheney with information concerning Enron, comparing that experience with what he views as the Bush administration’s refusal to acknowledge the effect of futures markets on oil.
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) said a solution to inappropriate speculation would help to lower prices in the short term, contrasting this idea with calls to increase supply by drilling in the ANWR. Inslee said that these measures would affect future generations but have no immediate result now. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) stated that speculation of future demand for oil has played a large role in oil’s price increase and that one can solve the issue of high prices by traveling to New York or Chicago.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said the cost of oil can be attributed to low supply, not market speculation. Barton suggested opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and selling two million barrels each day. Barton said this would return oil prices to under $100 per barrel. He noted that the Bush administration opposes this strategy and that its success would rely on an act of Congress. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said supply and demand principles, as well as deflation and market forces cannot be ignored.
Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that investment firms are good at making profits but ignore the long-term consequences of their decisions, naming the subprime mortgage crisis as an example. Inslee recalled being told by Vice President Dick Cheney that he did not understand economics when he presented Cheney with information concerning Enron, comparing that experience with what he views as the Bush administration’s refusal to acknowledge the effect of futures markets on oil.
No Taxpayer Funding For Abortions, Says Bipartisan Group
America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200) must not include provisions for taxpayer-funded abortions, a bipartisan group of Congressmen led by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) said Wednesday morning.
Right now, it's unclear whether or not such provisions are included in the proposed health care plan. “Failure to explicitly exclude abortions under this health plan will mean that they will be included. That, of course, is a de facto mandate to have them,” said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.).
Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) said she asked President Obama to clarify his position on whether taxpayer money would be used to provide abortion care, but said she has yet to hear from him. On Wednesday, she called upon him once more at the news conference to come forward and specify his intentions.
Fleming stated that 51 percent of Americans are against abortions, and 69 percent are against taxpayer-funded abortions. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) complained that the proposed health care plan would do more to facilitate abortion than any government action since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case, despite the fact that the majority of Americans are against it.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said that he expects at least 39 House Democrats to vote against the bill if it does not explicitly exclude abortion from being funded by taxpayer dollars.“We cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government defined or subsidized health care plan,” said Stupak.