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Those High Gas Prices: 'Poppycock'
From Issue: Volume XX - Number 21
10/19/2012
By Les Robbins
It’s time for my annual rant on the ridiculous price of gasoline here in California. I think that a fellow from The Automobile Club had it right on the news today when he explained the current high gasoline prices. When asked by the Channel 5 reporter why gasoline prices were so high when the price of oil is not up and demand is down as it usually is this time of year, he simply said that the oil companies were charging these ridiculous amounts for gasoline because they can.
What do you want to bet that they show record profits when they report out next quarter? I also always love it when they can raise prices literally over night when something bad happens but when Governor Brown allowed the release (early) of the winter formulas the oil companies responded by saying that it would take weeks for them to bring down the price of gas. Poppycock!
Can’t tell you how disappointed I was with President Obama’s performance in the first presidential debate. Can’t tell you how happy I was, however, when Joe Biden wiped the floor with the cocky little hypocritical Congressman from Wisconsin. I also find it just mind boggling that he had the audacity to tell the commentator to address him as Mr. Ryan and not Congressman Ryan. For twelve years he has been a member of the United States Congress, probably the only job that he has ever really had. But call me Mr. instead of Congressman.
What the hell was that all about? I also just loved the ‘gotcha moment’ with Congressman Ryan where he actually went into a soup kitchen in Washington D.C., after hours, and had his people film him washing pots and pans. Problem was that the pots and pans were already clean and that he really didn’t do any appreciable work since the place was closed and the employees had gone home for the night. Hand in the cookie jar, anyone?
We are three weeks out from the election and there is still so much to sit back and watch with respect to how things will play out. No one really knows what the final impact will be from the Super PACs that were created by the Citizens United Supreme Court case a year and a half ago. These are really uncharted waters for political scientists as it is difficult to gauge, in advance, what the impacts of mass amounts of money being dumped into campaigns throughout the country. We are not seeing much impact from this here in California but I have friends in other parts of the country who tell me that the media barrage on behalf of mostly republican candidates is just plain unreal.
Not being a battle ground state here in California we are pretty insulated from much of this, thank God, but other parts of the country are seeing their airwaves and media being inundated with political ads. I am sure that once this election is over the political scientists will have a lot to examine with respect to the fact that a billionaire can now spend unimaginable amounts of money in their attempt to buy just about any election that they want. In my opinion these are very sad times in American political history.
Tuesday’s presidential debate appears to be a clear winner for the President. The polls will show a clear bump for President Obama when they come out later this week. So far we have one vice presidential debate that was clearly won by the incumbent, and we have a tie between the presidential candidates. I think that this election is very close and would not be surprised if the third and final debate is the decider. Given the topic of this debate and the fact that Elder Romney has virtually no experience whatsoever in foreign policy, I think that this one will be President Obama’s to lose.
les@longbeachcomber.com
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