Rush Limbaugh’s big problem (and why I feel like a prophet)
(c) Ian Marsden | Wikimedia Commons | New text by Dan
Forgive me if I brag a bit, but I’m beginning to feel a bit like a prophet on the subject of Rush Limbaugh’s decline.
In a post Saturday, I asked, When will Rush Limbaugh announce his upcoming sojourn? And I speculated that he would have to, just to take some heat off his fleeing advertisers. Well, Rush took a day off Monday with no advance notice, the very next day he was slated to be on the air. Supposedly he’ll be back on the air Tuesday.
Much more troubling for Limbaugh, however, was the announcement from Premiere Radio Networks that it was immediately suspending national “barter ads” advertising for the next two weeks.
Here’s why: The syndicator provides the show to local radio stations for free, but in return, they must run “barter ads” that Premiere sells. They won’t be selling any for the next two weeks. In other words, they’re pissing away about 4 percent of their barter ad revenue for the year. The story was broken Monday night by Radio-Info.com. The radio stations are supposed to fill the dead air with local spots or ads for gold-seller Lear Capital or identity-protector LifeLock, which is trying to rehabilitate its image after paying $12 million in fines for deceptive advertising.
This is a highly unusual move, and it cannot be an insignificant amount of money, although the suspension does not apply to in-program commercials. Appearing on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC last night (the clip is below), Tom Taylor, editor of Radio-Info.com, said the last time this happened was 5 years ago, after Don Imus called the Rutger’s women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hoes.”
And you know what happened after that: CBS fired Imus.
Rush reportedly played a round of golf Monday, and Taylor ended his segment on the show last by noting his headline tomorrow is “A Rush to Chill.”
“Rush Limbaugh and Premier want to cool things down for awhile and and let things quiet down,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rush Limbaugh gets in some more golf.”
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
(h/t to Cold n P)
March 13, 2012 - 12:44 AM
Tried to post the sme link on the timeline thread but the link didn’t work. Also worth noting is the speculation that the new Huckabee Show premiering on April 2nd will be replacing Rush on several of Rush’s big flagship stations which have taken huge advertising hits in the last week. The show is already scheduled to open on over 100 stations nationwide at the exact same time as te Limbaugh sewer hour.
I’m betting Republicans are secretly loving this debacle. With his ratings already in the tank El Flushbo has become a major liability to the party with this latest tirade against women. A few dittohead voters aren’t worth the risk, look for mass defections soon.
On sexist double standards.
“In a spirited essay on The Daily Beast this past weekend, the novelist Paul Theroux joined many commentators in alleging liberal hypocrisy, of which there has indeed been some.”
“And he said that provocative language is an essential part of public dialogue, arguing that you can’t recoil from its deployment against Fluke unless you want to forfeit its use elsewhere.”
“You have to give Limbaugh a pass,” he maintained, in order to preserve the right to call Newt Gingrich and Eric Cantor “pimps for Israel, and Rick Santorum a mental midget.”
“It’s an interesting point, but it ignores the precise type of language Limbaugh turned to and assumes an even playing field where one doesn’t exist.”
“While both men and women are called idiots and puppets and frauds, only women are attacked in terms of suspected (or flat-out hallucinated) licentiousness. And only for women is there such a brimming, insidious thesaurus of accordant pejoratives.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/opinion/bruni-limbaugh-and-one-way-wantonness.html
Forgive me if I brag a bit, but I’m beginning to feel a bit like a prophet on the subject of Rush Limbaugh’s decline.. Well, Rush took a day off Monday with no advance notice.
Big whoop. Rush takes days off all the time. It’s what you’re able to do when you’re the greatest broadcaster in any medium of all time. I don’t know if he announced it ahead of time or not this time, but he doesn’t always.
Keep wishing and hoping, clowns. Rush ain’t going nowhere.
But I understand. Anything to divert from Idiot Boy’s pathetic record of failure and his plunging approval rating of 41%
Also worth noting is the speculation that the new Huckabee Show premiering on April 2nd will be replacing Rush on several of Rush’s big flagship stations which have taken huge advertising hits in the last week.
Leftwing “speculation” on Rush isn’t worth a bowl of cat pee, ace.
… and the market has spoken.
Rush is on his heels….the jig might be up.
Dan, please find something relevant to the Roanoke Valley to write about. Your a local guy keep your stories local.
I have to say, it was a great idea. Turn the woefully unpopular ObamaCare into a “women’s right’s” issue. Great idea. Except it FAILED.
“Obama’s War on Women Backfires”
“These polls show that the administration’s weeks-long assault with a trumped-up narrative has failed. The administration’s “hurt and rescue” (cause a problem while simultaneously pretending to be the savior from the problem while acting as though your actions are mutually exclusive) tactic has failed in that the predictability and sheer silliness gave it away.
For the Democrat party to reach into its bag all the way back to the 1960s for a strategy that can save this President from the misfortunate of his own executive choices reeks of desperation.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/03/13/Obamas%20War%20On%20Women%20Backfires
Breitbart.com to the reeling RWers rescue!
What a shock.
Who’s reeling?
Obama’s the one with the 41% approval (still sinking).
The Left can attack Rush and Palin all it wants.
LOL.
Obama can’t lie as effectively this time around, Dan.
His stats are on the back of the card. His rookie year SUCKED!
He is a Sidd Finch, at best.
#9 Purely a Breitbart opinion column, which is proof of nothing whatsoever. As for Obama doing something about gas prices, does the author have a magic wand for him? She mentions the pipeline, but we already know that won’t lower prices and might even push them up (not that doltish right-wing voters who still think Obama is a Muslim will realize that). She also talks about the drumbeat of war but it’s the Rethug candidates (and Israel) who are pounding the hardest. That one’s not on the president.
Try again, LC.
Breitbart is a poorly written site staffed by a bunch of non-writing RWnuts. Who cares what Breitbart says…the important thing is that women are now onto the GOP’s cavalier attitude towards them and their rights.
And….I’m getting a BobH “THIS ISN’T METRO” vibe….
Great link Debbie! Thanks for that. I agree with it. There is a difference that people are willfully not seeing, for a reason. I also agree with Scott #8. We are “jumping the shark” when all we discuss is a hate monger and his reign. Kinda like every thread being about Suzie.
When you have to lie and make things up, you are “reeling”. By definition, being right means not having to lie, insult or distort. Get back to us when you don’t.
@11 – Hey the Mets could use Sidd Finch this year. Anyone actually, even if they were to wear tight jeans on the mound. We need anything and everything. Great reference.
gdad,
My intent is not to “prove” anything. Never has been. We don’t need to “prove” something for it to be meaningful and powerful to someone.
This blog is a vehicle, that’s it. Most of my posts aren’t meant for anything other than to get another view out there. To people who READ, but may not participate in posting.
You think they stink. Fine. We can let other folks read and decide on their own.
Obama has done everything to STIFLE domestic energy and NOTHING to expand it, at every turn. Obama is fine with HIGH gas prices, as is his Energy Sec. Chu. They believe they can ween us off of oil. They think high gas prices will hurt us (Americans) enough to where we stop driving so much, thus lower the demand.
They believe in the $50 light bulb.
Most Americans think Obama has failed miserably when it comes to our energy problems and high gas prices.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-25/obama-claiming-credit-for-energy-gains-angers-industry.html
Love the Sidd Finch reference. He and 0bama have a lot in common. Their abilities were both hoaxes, except Sidd didn’t do any damage.
Gee, if Obama has, as LC says, does everything in his power to stifle energy production, you might imagine that this country would be producing less gas and oil than under Presidents Bush and Clinton.
But it’s not so. Actually we’re producing more.
True, he declared a drilling moratorium (after he opened up offshore drilling that even Bush hadn’t allowed). But can’t you understand why? There was a big disaster in the gulf, and that certainly wasn’t the president’s fault.
As Ron and perhaps some others have already proved, the pipeline from Canada to the Gulf is going to do little if anything to increase US production. It is not US oil, and though it will be refined in the US, the product is going to be shipped to China . . . unless, Lake, you have it in your mind that we will somehow “nationalize” the oil that runs through it. Is that what you’re thinking?
Now, if you are hellbent on putting as much carbon into the world’s air as possible, then you would definitely want that pipeline. Because the tar sands that oil will come from will be a major CO2 producer.. But I guess I haven’t heard the songs from “we need more CO2″ crowd yet.
@18 With all due respect LC, if your goal here is honestly not to engage in actual discourse but to post your opinions for the “reader only” crowd, wouldn’t it make more sense to simply start your own blog? That way you can get your “view out there” without being harrassed and challenged.
Your post here has changed my understanding of your involvement here and you will get added to my “scroll past” list since, by your own admission, your posts are meant to be read but not responded to.
#19 How appropriate for suzie to be referring to Sidd Finch, since most of what she posts is made up anyway.
Dan…this isn’t about Bush. This isn’t ONLY Obama’s fault, obviously, but years of liberal energy policy (on both sides) are making things worse.
We are currently producing LESS barrels of oil than we did in 1951.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2716886/posts
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Miriam, with all due respect…
I never said my goal was NOT to engage. I said…”My intent is not to “prove” anything. Never has been. We don’t need to “prove” something for it to be meaningful and powerful to someone.
This blog is a vehicle, that’s it. Most of my posts aren’t meant for anything other than to get another view out there.”
Who here actually thinks they are going to change the mind of any of the regulars?
Ain’t gonna happen, at least they’d never admit to it.
“Engaging” with most of the people here consists mainly of name-calling, lies, deflection, projection, etc etc etc.
You, Miriam, are actually one of the “thoughtful”, that I appreciate. There are a few folks.
To answer your other question…”why not start your own?”
Why start my own when there is a vehicle already here?
Do whatever you want with my posts. Respond, don’t respond…it’s your prerogative.
Lake, I’m glad you concede it’s not only Obama. But it’s also not only “liberal energy policy,” whatever that is. It is also a function of this nation getting tapped out the “low hanging fruit” oil, and the relatively high market price of oil right now. The reason we now are so (seemingly) flush with oil reserves is directly related to the price and technology that’s been developed to recover the more expensive stuff.
The issue is vastly more complicated than you want to make it. (But that’s the only way you think you can score a cheap point, I guess).
@23 “Who here actually thinks they are going to change the mind of any of the regulars?”
Me. I think opinions can be either mellowed, adjusted, changed or solidified by MEANINGFUL discourse. When I say “meaningful”, I mean factually or logically based arguments. Therefore, proof is required, at least in my opinion.
“Ain’t gonna happen, at least they’d never admit to it.”
This is not true. I have admitted it. Dan has also admitted it. (Perhaps others have as well) The fundamental reason why this doesn’t happen more often is that people are talking AT each other instead of TO each other much of the time. The other reason it doesn’t happen is because people do not feel they need to offer proof of their opinions (like you, no offense intended there) or state their opinions in an orderly, thoughtful and respectful manner (Suzie, for example most of the time).
So, to sum up, I think you post here that I’ve responded to is a very strong case in point to why this problem exists since you have sort of decided to be a part of the problem rather than the solution, if that makes sense. And this vehicle exists for the entire community…not as a pulpit or soapbox for any single person. Therefore, I have to disagree with most of what you said @23.
#23 “We are currently producing LESS barrels of oil than we did in 1951.”
Back then you could stomp your foot hard in places like Texas and Louisiana and hit a gusher.
Republicans don’t like to talk about this dilemma: They want to blame Obama for oil prices in order to score political points, and they claim we can solve the high prices by drilling more (doubtful). But if the prices were to fall very far, much of the drilling would stop because it wouldn’t be profitable pr profitable enough. Then the price, under this right-wing theory, would go back up, which would result in more drilling, which would then result in the price falling, which would mean…
24
“Liberal energy policy” is admittedly a broad generalization that refers primarily to the bogus “green” energy mythology and racket. Wind farms won’t replace coal or oil. Ethanol is a failure. $50 light bulbs are a joke. The next brilliant idea from the Left is Pond Scum? Can’t wait to see what happens there.
—–
Miriam,
We are here for different reasons. My concern for the “community” dictates what I post and how I use this forum.
Ignore me if you wish.
25 Miriam, well said! If someone does not want to be part of the conversation, just leave or stay out of it. This constant wrecking of discussions, inserting “pronouncements” and “challenges” not even on topic, is self serving and does nothing for the climate of the blog or the flow of information, conversation or enlightenment. We ARE trying to be about a community of people who communicate, discuss and have genuine conversations and some people apparently cannot stand that and will disrupt, insult, lie and misrepresent for the pure self satisfying bully fun of it. I am sooooo looking forward to the ignore button!
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/importance-free-press
If our energy needs can be solved by “pond scum” we’d all be voting for Republicans en masse.
Gas was $1.80 per gallon when Obama became President.
Gas is now to $3.80.
Reality.
http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/01/average-gas-pricesjanuary-26-2009.html
Rush Lobotomybaugh has many BIG problems. Of these the two biggest are his mouth and his butt.
30. You just proved the president has nothing to do with the price of gas. What was the price range during the 8 years of Bush 2?
http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/miscellaneous/president-bush-and-gasoline-prices/
If the president was responsible for high gas prices then I would say Bush manipulated low prices at the end of his trem to help out McCain.
However, the reality that I know is that we had a fricking global meltdown which shut down gas consumption and therefore lowered the price consumers paid at the pump.
The GOP will say all manners of lies to get this president out of office. This one is sooooo weak. We are just not all that stupid.
If we want to talk about gas prices,can anyone answer what a barrel of oil cost when gas was $4/gal during the Summer of 2008 and what a barrel of oil costs now when gas is very close to the same price per gallon?
Why is it gas is the same price when oil was north of $140/barrel as it is when oil is around $100/barrel now? Some may be due to the expiring ethanol subsidies, but we haven’t even experienced the increase for the wonderful summer formulation yet.
“We are just not all that stupid.”
I wouldn’t bet the farm.
Lake Claytor – Gas price when GWB took office $1.50 Gas price just before his economy crashed $4.12. Of course, GWB managed to get the price to drop by setting off the great recession.
Amen Cold n P, amen.
BM, this may answer your questions.
Maybe this will help explain it for you BM.
“The bottom line is this: historically high exports aren’t allowing U.S. domestic supply to grow and are certainly a part of the culprit behind high gasoline and diesel prices. So for those motorists out there rounding up reasons why prices are high can certainly add products being exported to their laundry list of reasons why motor fuel prices remain seasonally high. Keep in mind refinery maintenance season is right around the corner, and if these export rates remain high, we could see even more pressure on gasoline prices, perhaps pushing the fragile U.S. economy closer to the brink of another downturn.”
Historically High Oil Exports Helping Keep Gas Prices High
By Patrick DeHaan
September 8, 2011 U.S. News & World Report
Summer of 2008 as of July 14th was 4.11 according to consumer reports. I paid 3.63 today, so BM you are misleading that the price today when the cost of a barrel is around $107 is the same as it was in the summer of 2008.
http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2008/07/gas-prices-1.html
Face it folks, the traders are driving the market costs. A REAL good reason for regulation which the GOP does not want. Allow the market to drive prices? Elect a GOPPER if you want to pay $10 per gallon in a couple of years.
So Forbes marginalizes speculation, expects us to believe Iran has the means to close the Strait of Hormuz, sees the Keystone pipeline as the savior of gulf refineries and thinks those same refiners will pass cost savings on to the consumers. Yeah, and if my Aunt had balls she’d be my Uncle.
#38 So if the right wingers who are claiming Obama is to blame for high prices REALLY want him to do something, thy would support the government stepping in and regulating oil companies heavily. You conservatives would be in favor of that, wouldn’t you? If not, then stop whining about oil prices.
I guess while nobody was paying attention it was announced that Rush wasn’t sojourning “just to take some heat off his fleeing advertisers”
But Dan, as a prophet wouldn’t you have known that already?
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/13/a_great_day_at_els_for_autism_event
I’m very pleased Obama is rightly getting blamed for high oil prices. Opening up the Keystone pipeline would have immediately dropped the price of gasoline. Idiot Boy is a leftwing extremist, so he didn’t do that.
Elliot,
I guess you didn’t notice, but Rush took Monday off, while his network announced it was pulling all the national ads from the show for 2 weeks.
Do you have any idea what that’s going to cost Clear Channel/Premiere?
#43 Note how suzie feels she has to step in with something ridiculous that’s already pretty much been disproven every time one of us posts a complete refutation of some right-wing talking point? Next up? The Obamas are causing millions in damages to the White House using painters tape.
Sad, sad, sad.
For some reason RWers are forgetting to be happy about high oil prices because they’re making SO MUCH MONEY off of their “investments”. Which is what I heard a lot when prices soared under Bush.
Obama has made the only cogent statement about his power over gas prices…no incumbent president heading into an election season wants prices high. Duh.
I wonder how “President Santorum” would handle oil prices….bwahahahaha.
Suzie, the pipeline’s going to take a couple of years to build and probably longer to be fully functioning–how is construction going to “immediately” drop the price of gasoline? Everything I’ve read says that when it’s up and running the most we could expect would be a couple of cents/gallon drop. The articles also indicate that the price of gasoline in the midwest will go UP by 10-20 cents per gallon once the pipeline is built.
Dan,
I get that he took Monday off, but the link was the explanation…it was not an unexpected day off or any kind of reaction to the national heat, as you claimed, it was a planned charity golf outing.
I get the money issue but Rush’s day off was not him reacting to pressure.
“In a post Saturday, I asked, When will Rush Limbaugh announce his upcoming sojourn? And I speculated that he would have to, just to take some heat off his fleeing advertisers. Well, Rush took a day off Monday with no advance notice, the very next day he was slated to be on the air. Supposedly he’ll be back on the air Tuesday.”
@30 Cold,
Your example is just as or more misleading as you claim mine to be.
You paid $3.63 yesterday and compare that to a national average during 2008? The national average lately has been in the $3.70s. If you want to pick specific areas, there are areas where gas is already over $4.00/gal.
Also Cold, do you not realize we are only in March and the prices per gallon that we have experienced recently have been the highest ever for this time of year?
Do you honestly not believe gas will not continue to increase as we approach and enter the summer months, if for no other reason than the “summer blend”?
So it is fair you would like to criticize my example, just don’t throw out the fact that you paid $3.63 yesterday in southwest va as a valid comparison to a national average during the middle of the 2008 Summer.
Thanks Ron and Dan for the links.
Rick Santorum could probably ease the oil crisis just by reducing the amount he uses on his hair and wringing out what is already on there.
BM, I simply did the same thing you did. Distort the facts to frame my argument.
My main point stands. The president has nothing to do with the price of gas.
To beat this president over the head about gas prices is simply pandering to the politics of fear, which is the GOP game. It’s totally obvious the GOP puts defeating this president over country.
Hey BM!
If it makes you feel any better, I will cop to the fact that I was wrong in 2008 when I wrote that Bush was to blame for high gas prices.
(I mean, I wasn’t writing a column or blog back then, but if it makes you feel better . . .)
“If it makes you feel any better, I will cop to the fact that I was wrong in 2008 when I wrote that Bush was to blame for high gas prices.”
What makes us feel good is back in 2008, when the unknowing and ill-informed were spewing that nonsense, we knew what was what….and furthermore, we knew ya’ll didn’t.
Phil Chitwood,
Relax, man. It was a joke. I never blamed Bush for high gas prices. I was merely offering, tongue-in-cheek, to accept blame on behalf of anyone who might have done that, to help BM make the point he/she seemed to be trying to make.
Phil, don’t you think that knowledge makes it all the more egregious to blame Obama now? The same conservatives who assured us even “oil men” could do nothing, now want to blame the “community organizer” for also not being able to do it. Does this merry-go-round ever stop?
You did it so I can do it. Mine’s bigger than yours. No its not. Yes it is. Prove it. Nyah! Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!. I think I heard this conversation from a couple of five year old boys the other day.
Mine’s bigger than yours
NOT a direction liberal men want to go in.
Suzie, the pipeline’s going to take a couple of years to build and probably longer to be fully functioning–how is construction going to “immediately” drop the price of gasoline?
The market reacts upon expectation, not actuality. Just as speculator push prices up, just knowing the pipeline’s going to happen would immediately lower prices.
Do you think gasoline’s price drop from $4/gallon to $1.25 during 2008 was the result of a physical situation with oil?
Another free lesson on economics from a girl who has more knowledge of it in her little finger than a roomful of Nobel-winning leftwing ‘economists’ have.
Sorry, Dan, I thought you were serious.
#59 Wow, $1.25 in 2008. Show me where!
BTW, just knowing the pipeline was going to happen MIGHT lower p[rices for a short time, suzie. Actuality eventually catches with expectation, and given today’s situation with increased demand from all over the world, near record exportation from America and scary right-wing talk about bombing Iran, prices would rise again.
Another free lesson in economics from somebody who delights in showing where troll suzie is either wrong, lying, or telling only part of the story.
BM, I simply did the same thing you did. Distort the facts to frame my argument.
My main point stands. The president has nothing to do with the price of gas.
To beat this president over the head about gas prices is simply pandering to the politics of fear, which is the GOP game. It’s totally obvious the GOP puts defeating this president over country.
Comment by Cold n P — March 14, 2012 @ 11:14 pm
Hey BM!
If it makes you feel any better, I will cop to the fact that I was wrong in 2008 when I wrote that Bush was to blame for high gas prices.
(I mean, I wasn’t writing a column or blog back then, but if it makes you feel better . . .)
Comment by Dan Casey — March 14, 2012 @ 11:17 pm
So at no point in my posts did I mention politics or blame any political party or figure. Yet you guys take the opportunity to try to make my original question political.
Cold, can you tell me what is the most you have ever paid for a gallon of gas in southwest, va during march?
Dan, no that doesn’t exactly make me feel better about paying above $3.60/gal and watching the impact roll into the prices I pay elsewhere.
I don’t really don’t care who you want to blame or defend, if gas prices do not retreat and they most likely will not during the summer months, the impact on the economy is going to be significant. And that will definitely become a political issue during the election.
As incompetent as Obama has been with his economic strategy, even he must realize that fact and will make some attempt through some action to lower gas prices.
“As incompetent as Obama has been with his economic strategy. . .”
Ah, the old “downturn was Obama’s fault” More unbelievable blather…..
#61 So satisfying to watch suzie disappear after pointing out the obvious huge gaping flaw in her “free lesson in economics.”
Wow…market finally back up after Bush crushed it, unemployment numbers falling…we’re finally feeling some of the impact of Obama’s wise stewardship.
America’s too smart to hand the reins back over to the people who put us in the hole in the first place. It’s no wonder none of the GOP candidates has put it away yet. Don’t look for any of them to do well in the fall either.
Biden meanwhile has given up on waiting for the Republicans to pick their second-place finisher and is just campaigning against all of them. So funny.
According to Gasbuddy.com the national average gasoline price ranged between $2.12 to $4.12 per gallon in 2008.
BigMomma…you should let Obama know this because he’s apparently keeping the price of gas artifically inflated to further his “green energy” goals.
“As incompetent as Obama has been with his economic strategy. . .”
Ah, the old “downturn was Obama’s fault” More unbelievable blather…..
Comment by Dan Casey — March 15, 2012 @ 11:50 pm
Ah the inability for Dan to comprehend the written word.
Dan, I never blamed Obama for the downturn. You notice how I said “with his economic strategy.” He has almost 4 years of his policies and strategy to call his own and it has been a failure that has continued to balloon the debt and failed to sustain adequate growth. His policies have continued to produce growth far below his own team’s projections and the costs of Obamacare, debt and unemployment have continued to exceed projections.
No Dan, I did not associated or blame Obama for the downturn, I was speaking purely of the incompetence in his almost 4 years of economic policies.
@67 Kristen,
I think Obama is starting to take notice for himself. Even he knows the impact that rising gas prices will have on any economic growth that has taken place.
If the rumors are true as reported by Reuters and others, he may state there is no “silver bullet” to lower gas prices, but I think he is looking for a “lead bullet” or “band-aid” to patch things over until the election in the form of reserve releases.
“Dan, I never blamed Obama for the downturn. You notice how I said “with his economic strategy.” He has almost 4 years of his policies and strategy to call his own and it has been a failure that has continued to balloon the debt and failed to sustain adequate growth. His policies have continued to produce growth far below his own team’s projections and the costs of Obamacare, debt and unemployment have continued to exceed projections.
No Dan, I did not associated or blame Obama for the downturn, I was speaking purely of the incompetence in his almost 4 years of economic policies.”
OK. Good. We got that one cleared up. Big Momma does not blame Obama for the recession. She is blaming him for the recovery.
Please, BM, tell us what the president SHOULD HAVE done, that he has not, in order to make the recovery better.
@70 Dan,
I not so sure it is what he should have done, rather what he should not have done. Many of his efforts to help have provided little if any relief and have mostly resulted in delaying any true recovery.
“I not so sure it is what he should have done, rather what he should not have done. Many of his efforts to help have provided little if any relief and have mostly resulted in delaying any true recovery.”
BM what evidence do you have that the president’s efforts have “mostly resulted in delaying any true recovery.”?
BM – I can’t help but step in the muck here. Gas prices are high now for a couple reasons, the first is the price of crude oil because of Iran and the speculators that are banking on a war. But that is only part as you point out because the price of crude does not explain it all. The second part is the price of gasoline itself. Gasoline prices are directly affected by the refineries and the supply of gasoline coming out of the refineries. The oil companies recently shut down a refinery on the east coast, recently had a fire that shut down another refinery, and also began their annual retooling of refineries that take place each late winter spring. Two more east coast refineries are being sold or shut down soon. Also, the oil companies are exporting gasoline at the highest rate in decades which along with the refinery problem is creating higher prices at the pump. In other words, if Europe and CHina are willing to pay more for the gas, the oil companies will ship it there unless we are willing to match the price. Accordingly, we are paying higher prices.
Dan, I would not be so forgiving of GWB gas prices. Gas prices in 2008 were the direct result of speculators (hedge funds). If you trace the money in 2007 and 2008 you will find that as hedge funds moved out of CDOs and the housing market, they moved into speculation of oil. Vast sums of money moved into pushing the oil market higher and higher. Then when the recession hit, they bailed. In fact, Citigroup got caught with several ship loads of oil they had speculated on and could not get rid of it as the recession spread. But the biggest problem was that there were no controls on the speculation and the Energy Secretary kept telling us that we were at peak oil as the explanation for the high prices. It was not true.
Now don’t get me wrong, China and India are two major reasons oil prices are increasing in the long run. They were growing in 2008 and they are growing now, but the major reason for the increase in 2008 was the money coming out of housing and going into oil speculation.
Suz- I have to ask you, why do you think the Keystone pipeline wants to bypass numerous refineries and go all the way to the deep ports of the Gulf of Mexico? These refineries are currently processing the oil from Canada. What could possibly be the reason they need to go to the Gulf? Do you think it might be so they can ship their gasoline to China, India, and Europe where the prices are higher? Check it out or connect to that genius brain of yours and tell me how the US will benefit from shipping oil we now use in the Midwest to Europe, China, and India.
@73 Ha haha ha haha ha haha. Are you serious. Oh wait, it is you.
Sorry let me gather myself. Open your eyes Dan. Is that not evidence enough? Look at the jobs numbers, sure 200k is an improvement, but remember the number that is never mentioned that 300k is needed to just cover the population growth? What about those dropping out of the unemployment figures? How is the unemployment rate? What about the efforts to prop up the housing markets and rework loans? How has that worked?
@73 Richard,
Thanks for yet another explanation of gas prices. Seems no one can agree on the reason.
“Open your eyes Dan. Is that not evidence enough? Look at the jobs numbers, sure 200k is an improvement, but remember the number that is never mentioned that 300k is needed to just cover the population growth? What about those dropping out of the unemployment figures? How is the unemployment rate? What about the efforts to prop up the housing markets and rework loans? How has that worked?”
BM, that is a half-decent answer to the question, “what evidence do you have that the recovery is weak?” But that was not the question.
The question was, “what evidence do you have that the president’s efforts have ‘mostly resulted in delaying any true recovery.’?”
In other words, your statement asserted not only that the recovery was weak, but ALSO that the president’s actions made it that way. I’ll grant you that the recovery is weak. But that doesn’t mean the president made it that way. Where’s the evidence he made it that way?
dan dan dan, the evidence is in your pocket dearie, gas prices, food prices…get a grip dan wake up wont you? Bush didnt do it, this is ALLLLLL on bammys watch and it is ALLLLLLL his fault. anybody with any sense at all knows and understands this..lol
#78 As usual, pammala, you still didn’t answer the question Dan posed. Of course, you’d need to understand the question first, which I doubt you’re capable of.
And please explain how higher gas prices would be evidence of a weak recovery.
I predict more crickets on this.