More On The GOP Lies About Gas Prices

I have posted before about how the Republicans are trying to gain an electoral advantage by blaming President Obama for the rising gas prices in the United States. Ignoring the greed of Wall Street speculators and Big Oil companies, the GOP claims the gas prices are rising because President Obama won't allow more drilling in America and forces this nation to rely on foreign oil sources.

But these charts, recently displayed on the excellent website Think Progress, so clearly expose the Republican charges as ridiculous lies that I thought the issue should be revisited. The top chart shows the rise and fall of gas prices in the United States compared to European prices (in Great Britain, Germany, and France). Note how the rise and fall of prices in all four countries neatly mirror each other. That's because the gas prices are not determined by the leaders of any of these countries. They are determined by the oil speculators driving up the price of crude oil and the Big Oil companies' greed for more profits.

The middle chart shows the Republican charges that President Obama has suppressed drilling for oil and forced the United States to rely on foreign oil is clearly untrue. It shows that oil production in the U.S. has risen since Obama took office (and is higher than at any time during the Bush administration). It also shows that America's reliance on foreign oil is has gone down since President Obama took office (and is currently lower than at any time during the Bush administration).

The bottom chart shows that the price of gas has little to do with the level of drilling (oil production). While oil production has remained very stable since 1990 (and is currently slightly up), the price of gasoline has been very volatile (rising and falling sharply during that same period). Clearly the price of gasoline is not due to changes in oil production, but to prices of crude oil set by oil speculators and price of the refined product set by the Big Oil companies.

Fortunately, most Americans are able to see through the Republican lies. They know the president is not responsible for the rising gas prices. But many right-wing voters in the Republican Party base are blaming the president -- and it is to these voters the Republican leaders are trying to appeal. Why does the Republican base believe these lies? One pretty good reason is probably because of where they get their "news".

As the chart below shows, the talking heads at Fox News have gone out of their way to spread the lie. In just the last couple of months, they have done at least 144 segments blaming the president for rising gas prices. As usual, this unfair and unbalanced cable channel is far more interested in broadcasting Republican propaganda than in telling the truth.