We've all heard about what Barry calls his "all of the above approach" to energy policy, but we just haven't seen much in the way of positive results from it. And as much as I hate to sound like a broken record, since Barry first entered the Oval Office the price of gas has done nothing but go up. The average price of a gallon of gas has increased 96 percent since Barry "Almighty" first took office in 2009, and that's would be according to figures from the Energy Information Agency (EIA). According to EIA data, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was $1.838 on Jan. 19, 2009--the day before Barry took office. As of Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, the per-gallon price had risen to an average of $3.611--an increase of 96 percent. The $3.677 is not the highest gas prices have been under President Obama. That record was reached the week of May 9, 2011 when they averaged $3.965 per gallon.
Now gas prices did decline a bit during the recession but they have steadily climbed back to near their pre-recession peak under Barry, despite his push for greater fuel-efficient cars and trucks and near relentless pursuit of expanded clean energy, wasting literally Billions of dollars along the way. Gas prices have never been this high in early February at any time in American history, also according to EIA. Even in 2008 when gas prices reached all-time highs. Consumers can therefore plan on taking another huge hit in the wallet this year, being force to pay out even more to fill up. Because with the two percent Social Security tax hike which began the new year, gas prices are now soaring ever closer to $4 a gallon and have jumped 51 cents a gallon just since Dec. 20. And when you add both of these to rising food prices we can expect so see not money left over to spend on buying those things that might actually stimulate the economy.
According to the Oil Price Information Service, the national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.21.9 on Dec. 20, 2012. Today, less to two months later, that price in $3.73. While there has been a steady increase, prices shot up almost 9 cents just over this past weekend. This President's Day also marked something that we've never witnessed before that being a full month of rising gas prices every single business day, following a very small early year drop in price. February 2013 saw record high gas prices for the time of year according to news reports. CNBC noted the national average was the highest ever for this time of year on Feb. 1. As of Feb. 11,
The Los Angeles Times reported that the national average that day ($3.587) was also a record, "7.8 cents higher than the record for Feb. 11, set last year." Today's price is now 17.6 cents higher than it was in 2012.
As is usually the case, it took the state-controlled media some time to take notice of the fact that gas prices are going up. One of "Good Morning America's" resident morons, Josh Elliot, recently observed that "we have just learned that gas prices have skyrocketed." Just learned? Does this moron not put gas in his car? And those higher pump prices hurt consumers, who are already paying more for gas than they have in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently that the average household spent more on gas last year, as a percentage of income, than it had in 30 years. The Hill's Ben Geman wrote on Feb. 4, "the average household spent $2,912 for gasoline in 2012, which makes up almost 4 percent of pre-tax income, tying 2008 for the highest percentage in roughly 30 years." The media actually forecast falling prices in 2012, during the heated presidential election. Many of those predictions failed.
Look, the bottom line here is I think we all know what's behind the fact that we have high gas prices. It's because Barry wants us to have high gas prices. I mean, it's just that simple. He's made that quite plain on any number of occasions. There's really no other way to explain it. It's all part of Barry's continuing war on fossil fuels and forcing us to accept his cockamamie 'green-energy' nonsense. Gas prices have been at sustained highs throughout most of Barry's time in office. And yet, we hear very little complaining coming from those who made themselves quite busy in blaming the high prices at the time, on George "Big Oil" Bush. And the prices then were nowhere near what we have today. One could arguably say that the silence coming from Democrats is deafening. And what is it, exactly, that Barry can point to his having done to keep gas prices from going through the roof. Nothing, he's pretty much taken a hands-off approach.
Ok, I know, there are any number of various factors that essentially determine the price we pay for a gallon of gas, and I'll be the first one to admit that. But I also think that Barry has done none of those things that he could have done in an effort to make sure that they remain as low as possible. Especially if his claims about trying to stimulate our sluggish economy are to be, in any way, believed. But he has shown absolutely no interest, whatsoever, in doing anything of the kind, in fact, everything that he has chosen to do has resulted in just the opposite taking place. The Heritage Foundation noted just last August that "after three years of adding regulatory hurdles and blocking exploratory access and development, President Obama's policies are helping keep prices higher than necessary." Hence, my saying that when it comes to higher gas prices, everything seems to going according to Barry's little plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment