Bush’s Hypocrisy, OPEC’s Arrogance, The Oil Mess We Are Living

Yesterday’s New York Times had a front page article “President Fails to Budge OPEC on Production.” In its inimical manner, the Times reported OPEC’s rebuff to the president’s pleas to OPEC to increase production in the straight-faced uncritical manner visiting on us with what could have been an OPEC flack handout. You see it isn’t OPEC’s fault, it’s the dollar, it’s the speculators, it’s the troubles along the Venezuelan/Columbian border, mismanagement of the U.S. economy and quoting that weighty disinterested observer of oil patch machinations, none other than Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, calmed us down by assuring us that the “The market continues to be well supplied. There has been no interruption in supplies.” Well, feel better now? Especially those having the good fortune to be pumping gas at the Americo gas station in the town of Gorda along coastal California where you can get uninterrupted supplies of gasoline at $5.19 a gallon regular and $5.39 for premium.

The New York Times article informs us that we, and our dollar and primarily to blame for the current vertiginous oil prices. Why, in the past year alone “the dollar has lost 17 percent of its value against the euro.” No mention, of course, that in January of 2007 the price of oil touched $50 a barrel, making the increase in price since some 110%, a long way from the 17% being trumpeted by the New York Times and OPEC flacks. By the way, if your doing your sums, a 17% increase compensating the fall of the dollars value on the January 2007 price would bring prices to $58 a barrel, not the $104/bbl we have today.

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