All the Blame, None of the Credit
When gas prices were quite a bit north of $4, Democrats blamed Bush’s policies. Now that they’re down to $1.50, do they give him the credit?
Cue crickets.
Here’s another one; when the dollar was tanking against foreign currency, it was blamed on Bush. But in the past 6 months, as Don Surber notes, the dollar has rallied against many currencies. Credit where credit is due?
Keep the crickets handy.
In fact, neither of these events may be directly related to Bush policies, but if you’re going to blame him when things go bad, you should be at least intellectually honest when things go well.
Unless everything is partisan, no matter what it is.
Filed under: Doug • Economics & Taxes • Politics
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When gas prices were quite a bit north of $4, Democrats blamed Bush’s policies. Now that they’re down to $1.50, do they give him the credit?
For what it’s worth, me and my crew of environmentalists blamed our collective energy policies for prices going up – the energy policies of the past 30+ years – Dem and GOP. That, AND the simple reality that when you cast such a burden of usage upon a finite supply, those prices WILL increase. Supply and demand.
For that same reason – at least partially – prices have declined. We have been shocked into decreasing our usage.
MY sort of progressive/libertarian/conservatives believe our gas prices are UNDER-priced, that they do not reflect actual costs.
So, yes, Bush – AND Clinton and Bush/Reagan – all have contributed to our energy quagmire. Carter, to a degree, although he at least recognized the problem and pushed for a more responsible energy policy, and he was promptly and regularly trounced for doing so. All of us who help push for an economy that is wholly dependent upon cheap fossil fuels have contributed to the problem. And it has been the collective response of most of us to reduce our consumption that has contributed to the (temporary) decrease in gas prices.
Speaking for my type of policy wonk. You are correct that there are many (way too many) Dems and GOP folk who criticized Bush for high gas prices without taking into consideration all the ramifications of our irresponsible energy policies.
Bring back Carter as an energy adviser to Obama!
Actually, the two items I mention are rather inter-related. Oil is priced in dollars, everywhere. When the dollar was weak, people blasted Bush for the weak dollar and high gas prices. So the dollar got stronger, and no one noticed, while it also contributed to the low gas prices.
I don’t think worldwide consumption decrease has caused the tanking of the price of oil. It continues to rise, especially in China. There is just no way that a >50% decrease in the price of a barrel of oil is significantly due to consumption changes.
But yes, it would be nice if the price jump did jolt some people into more conservation.