WASHINGTON (CNN- July 14, 2008) -- President Bush lifted an executive order banning offshore oil drilling on Monday and urged Congress to follow suit.
Citing the high prices Americans are paying at the pump, Bush said from the White House Rose Garden that allowing offshore oil drilling is "one of the most important steps we can take" to reduce that burden. However, the move is largely symbolic as there is also a federal law banning offshore drilling. "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress," Bush said.
Bush has been pushing Congress to repeal the law passed in 1981.
"It's time for rage—good, old American rage aimed at those elitist Democrats who prefer to see the folks beggared by soaring fuel prices rather than take the action this very real economic crisis demands. Drill... A partial answer to our immediate problem is at hand. The steady increase in pump prices can be halted and prices somewhat rolled back to a more acceptable level. Yet those Democrats who the people elected to Congress are turning their backs on the voters who sent them to Washington and coldly refusing to lift a finger to help the American people, preferring instead to lay the blame for the problem on big oil, speculators and every place but where it belongs. On themselves. If that doesn't enrage you, nothing will. Payback time comes in November. Drive them out of office and elect people who will do what needs to be done. Drill, Drill, Drill! Are you listening, John McCain?" —Michael Reagan
Y'all DO realize Georges daddy is the one who banned it in the first place don't you? Last I heard he was a republican..........
Pam, George H.W. did sign the ban which was also approved by both Houses, and at the time it was done oil was 10-12 dollars a barrel and the world was awash with oil, and China wasn't building 10million cars a year and India was not a factor in the world oil markets. At the time I think it was a good move and so did most of the rest of the people. In fact it was to George's credit that he did it.
Frank
But won't any new oil just follow the money too.? It sounds like emerging countries will stay ahead of the oil available, just like now.
I know Frank, I was just takin a stab at the lets blame the democrats strain in warphs post. Think he's made that his pet project, baitin democrats that is lol. Gotta bite once in a while to keep him throwin those worms!
Pam, George H. W. was an oilman in Midland Texas, we lived there for 27 years and when I left Phillips to work with an independent company the owner of the company was good friends with Bush "SR" and Bush Sr was a well respected man in the oil patch, he went on to be a big partner with the Liedtke Brothers, and their venture ultimately ended up as Pennzoil which is now part of Chevron. My point is that Bush Sr. was very knowledgable in off shore drilling and production and I always felt like he done what he thought was best for his country and the future of America. I had the opportunity to meet and and have a few words with him and I felt I was in the presence of greatness of someone that I could really respect. I met George Jr. when I moved to Midland, he was in the oil business as well and I was somewhat involved in a deal between him and Phillips, young George and Laura always gave our kids donation for school projects and programs, Laura Bush is one of the finest ladies I know and her mother is well respected in Midland, enough said. Below is some information on George H.W. I thought you might find of interest.
In 1953, Bush got money from Brown Brothers Harriman and, with partners Hugh and Bill Liedtke, formed Zapata Petroleum. By the late 1950s they were millionaires. Bush bought subsidiary Zapata Off-Shore from his partners and went into business on his own in 1954. By 1958, the new company was drilling on the Cay Sal Bank in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. These islands had been leased to Nixon supporter and CIA contractor Howard Hughes the previous year and were later used as a base for CIA raids on Cuba. The CIA was using companies like Zapata to stage and supply secret missions attacking Fidel Castro's Cuban government in advance of the Bay of Pigs invasion. The CIA's codename for that invasion was "Operation Zapata." In 1981, all Securities and Exchange Commission filings for Zapata Off-Shore between 1960 and 1966 were destroyed. In other words, the year Bush became vice president, important records detailing his years at his drilling company disappeared. In 1969, Zapata bought the United Fruit Company of Boston, another company with strong CIA connections.
I always liked Barbara Bush, she came across as smart with a lot of common sense and down to earth. I'll be totally honest with you tho I think George is an arrogant little banty rooster who manipulates the facts to suit his purpose. But that's just what I think(shrugging) and it's not like they ALL don't do that lol
Diane, hopefully the new oil will be American oil and will help us replace or remove some dependence on foreign oil, I am not sure if it is still in place but during the embargo of 1973 US OIl could not be shipped to a foreign country, even when it was better if we did. That is another story, but I feel sure that US Produced oil will stay in the US.
I happened on a TV show that was talking about the oil that is pruduced from the sand in Canada...up to now, we've been the only purchaser of that oil...now, they're discussing building a pipeline to the west coast in order to export it. Any opinions on how this will impact the price of oil here, Frank?
Catwoman, Canada has become our number one supplier and is considered the safest source. One problem that exists the infrastrutue to get all Canadian crude avaiable down to the US. I would rather see our oil comapnies build a pipeline to bring all of the Canadian crude avaiable down to the US and get into the lines that can take it to Refineries in several areas. We should never let that crude leave the North American Continent. Catwoman that is one of those projects that our Oil and Gas industry could do that would take Billions and no return for years but they can and might well do it. That is one of the things we could have them do when we take their money for the windfall profits tax.
Frank
Do you really foresee a windfall tax being passed? Aren't the lobbyists too powerful?
Quote from: Catwoman on July 15, 2008, 12:42:54 PM
Do you really foresee a windfall tax being passed? Aren't the lobbyists too powerful?
It happened once before when a much weaker individual was President, I think it can very well happen again. When we passed it before it actually reduced some drilling and exploration, and allowed lots of non-oil industry people to make Millions, Billions of Dollars trading tiers of crude. It was the dumbest administered program I have ever witnessed, it would have worked the way it was intended but it was designed by Washington and they had no idea how crude oil trading and transportation worked. Typical Washington designed mess, administered by people with absolutely no knowledge of the industry it was designed to tax.
CATWOMAN, consider the make up of our present Congress, if OBAMA is elected and the present attitude of the people, they are hurting and want something done.
Actually, the make-up of the current Congress and the possible election of Obama are of great concern to me. I don't foresee anything good coming of either one...the one is too entrenched to change and the other is too green to be able to make any difference. They say that the only time that a President is able to make REAL change is within the first 100 days of their Presidency, due to the 'honeymoon' effect. Wonder what either candidate, within the first 100 days, would do?
No matter who is elected they will have a tough time improving on the current problems. A priority Domestically has to be the Energy Crisis, the Economy and the Housing Crisis, all of which are tied together. I hope we will see some changes in the importing of manufaturing and the subsequent exporting of jobs, let's bring some of that work back to America and also move out the illegals and get Citizens in some of the 14-18 million jobs taken by illegals. More jobs here, less imports of goods and services would have an immediate effect on the Dollar, the Price of oil, the housing crisis and the attitude of the American people. If foreign manufacturers want to build automobiles make them build them here in the US. There is no question that Honda, Toyota and Nissan build a better automobile, that is great let them build them with American workers, that helps the trade imbalance and the dollar. The big three, Honda, Toyota and Nissan bulid the bulk of their vehicles her now.
Frank, were you privileged enough to know Marvin also.
I thought this was a good read and goes along with what many feel is a HUGE problem in our country.
Steve Forbes: The Fed Just Doesn't Get It
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:22 AM
The Fed must act immediately to strengthen the dollar, says Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine.
"You cannot have a strong economy with a weak dollar," Forbes observes. "That's what the Fed doesn't get."
"Instead, the Fed and Treasury are saying, 'We've got to fight malaria, and then we'll deal with the mosquitoes.'"
Forbes blames a weak dollar for 80 percent of gasoline price increases, which he says may very well drive some auto companies and airlines out of business.
"Thank you very much, Federal Reserve," Forbes says. "When the cost of gasoline doubles, there's no way they can survive. As long as the dollar is weak, the oil bubble will persist."
If a weak currency were the way to wealth, Zimbabwe would own the world today, Forbes notes. "That's why the Fed is so wrong to think there's a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. You can have low inflation and low unemployment, but Bernanke doesn't understand that."
The amazing thing, Forbes says, is that once again, the Fed makes a muck of it, and now it's going to get more regulatory powers.
"Like accountants after Sarbanes-Oxley, you goof up on Enron, and your reward is tripling your business," Forbes says.
Rather than focus on inflation, Forbes wants the Fed to raise interest rates — and announce it is doing so as part of a policy aimed at strengthening the dollar and removing excess liquidity from the economy.
"Equity markets would respond positively, businesses would resume reinvesting and foreign investors would build plants and equipment instead of shopping for bargains as they are doing now," Forbes says.
The G8, Forbes believes, would "cooperate in a nanosecond" to make open market operations, sell bonds, and remove some of the excess liquidity to strengthen the dollar.
"I would float the interest rate," Forbes says. "Banks don't lend to each other anymore anyway."
"But if people think the dollar is still going down the toilet, that this administration doesn't care about the value of the dollar, things freeze up," Forbes says.
"This is what happened in the 1970s. We saw (then) that if you just raise interest rates and continue to print too much money, you're going to have inflation. Why are we having to go back to that kind of future?"
Forbes says there's plenty of liquidity to go around — but not nearly enough investor confidence. The problem is that investors are clutching their cash because of uncertainty about what's going to happen to the dollar, which is why Treasury rates are so low.
"We should have learned from the early 1980s when you get a stable currency, the economy starts to recover and people start to invest again," Forbes says.
As far as international investing is concerned, Forbes urges investors to concentrate on picking equities and investment sectors instead of buying "a basket of investments in a specific country."
"Sometimes countries are doing well, but their stock markets stink," Forbes says. "Don't just buy a region and think, 'Voila, we're going to get rich.' The broker will get rich, not you.'"
Great article Dan, I am not a big Steve Forbes fan but he has lots of connections and also his staff does lots of research. I agree that the low dollar value is a big part of the high energy price but I think we have to improve the absolutely huge/gigantic trade deficit/imbalance to improve the dollar very much and as a result lower the price of everything we buy including crude oil. The article makes interesting reading and food for thought. I would like to hear from the MAN, Alan Greenspan and his take on what we need to do.