Oil Rises $39 just since January 1st – That’s OVER $100 HIGHER than before the war.
June 7, 2008
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The week before the invasion of Iraq, crude oil peaked at $37.83 – (March 12, 2003).
Signs that war with Iraq might be avoided brought it back down to $31.67 on the eve of the invasion. The price of oil just five months ago on January 2nd of this year was $99.62. Friday, it jumped more than $10 a barrel… a one day record… to close at $138.54.
Two Conservative pundits in a March 2003 column noted:
“…a sharp decline in oil prices from their current $36 a barrel–close to a 12-year high–could help reignite the economy and spur war-wary consumers to start buying again. For example, if oil prices return to the low 20s after the war, that could inject $150 billion into the economy, far more than the rebates from President Bush’s 2001 tax cut.”
“$150 billion” is just slightly less than the latest $165 billion dollar supplemental to fund the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan for just the next eight months.
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Cost of the War in Iraq
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Five years later, the line immediately preceding that quote is even more interesting:
“Each $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil is like a $100 billion tax hike, slowing U.S. economic growth by more than half a percent over the course of a year. The $12 or so increase per barrel since November–insiders call it the “war premium”–threatens to tip the U.S. into recession. Conversely,…”
Keep in mind that the price of oil just jumped $11 *IN ONE DAY*.
In 1973, oil was $3.59 a barrel. By September of 1999, crude oil was trading at just under $25/barrel. It took 26 years for the price of oil to rise just $21. Under George W. Bush, oil prices rose nearly double that just since January.
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly on “Mugsy’s Rap Sheet”, before the invasion of Iraq, the very idea of $75/barrel oil was almost unthinkable. The consequences would be disastrous. And talk of $100/barrel oil was easily dismissed as “hyperbole”, “science fiction”, “irrational exaggeration with no basis in reality”. No one would of taken you seriously if you predicted $100/barrel oil back in 2003. Even I, in my Predictions for 2008, didn’t expect oil to surpass $120 before the end of the year, though I did predict that once it broke the $100 mark, there would be little resistance to it rising quickly. Now they are predicting $150 oil by July 4th. You may have just done the math in your head: $75×2 = $150. Yes, by July fourth, the per barrel price of crude oil may be TWICE as high as that once unthinkable $75/barrel level.
Does Barack Obama EVEN NEED to campaign over the next five months? Simply paraphrase Ronald Reagan at every opportunity: “Are you better off today than you were eight years ago? $5/gallon gas and $150/barrel oil, a doubling of the National Debt to $10 Trillion in just eight years, unemployment over 5.5%, thousands dead and billions wasted in an unnecessary war of choice in Iraq launched on false pretenses, the man behind the attacks of 9/11 still free and recruiting more terrorists bent on attacking the U.S.. George Bush believes his record couldn’t be THAT bad if you’re willing to elect someone promising to continue his policies. Will you?”
The very thought that someone THIS incompetent is in our White House setting policy is frightening. The idea that this country could conceivably elect someone that would not only continue these policies but EXPAND upon them is too horrifying to even imagine.
June 7, 2008
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Admin Mugsy · 
One Comment - Add
Posted in: Economy, Energy Independence, Money, Politics
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One Response
Here, here, you left a few things out…
Such as, in the last 3 months The Fed has printed up over $500 billion buck to fend of the sub-prime mortgage crisis from further melting down world financial markets.
$500 billion dollars in a scant 3 months.
By way of comparison, $500 billion bucks is the same amount of money that we’ve spent over the course of the last 5 years on our occupation of Iraq.
It’s called ‘debasing the currencv.’
That’s one.
The other is that in terms of percentage, due to the US Dollar’s 30+% drop against the Euro since 2001, $11 dollars in 2008 money is not the same as $11 in 2000 money, and that a one day gain of $11 when the base price is $125+ a barrel is not the same as when it’s an $11 jump when the base price is $25 a barrel.
Other than that, your basic points remain.
We’re fucked.
Thank you.
~Nyc
http://BarackLikeMe.blogspot.com
PS: Iran refusing to accept US dollars for its oil since this past December certainly is helping, is it?
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