President Bush: “Big Oil!”

Let’s face it … it’s very hard to find a politician who understands anything today.  They’re driven by campaign fund raising, sound bytes, and vote pandering.  Some days … I think they’ll just say anything … but then on other days … I realize they just plain don’t know/understand what they’re talking about.

Well, I found a politician who does understand, at least some things.  His name is President George W. Bush.

The following is from the Q&A session that followed the President’s Press Conference on July 15, 2008 with a few of my own comments thrown in.  Any text highlighted was done by me.

Q Gas prices are now approaching $5 a gallon in some parts of the country. Offshore oil exploration is obviously a long-term approach. What is the short-term advice for Americans? What can you do now to help them?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, there is a psychology in the oil market that basically says, supplies are going to stay stagnant while demand rises. And that’s reflected somewhat in the price of crude oil. Gasoline prices are reflected — the amount of a gasoline price at the pump is reflected in the price of crude oil. And therefore, it seems like it makes sense to me to say to the world that we’re going to use new technologies to explore for oil and gas in the United States — offshore oil, ANWR, oil shale projects — to help change the psychology, to send a clear message that the supplies of oil will increase.

Secondly, obviously good conservation measures matter. I’ve been reading a lot about how the automobile companies are beginning to adjust — people — consumers are beginning to say, wait a minute, I don’t want a gas guzzler anymore, I want a smaller car. So the two need to go hand in hand. There is no immediate fix. This took us a while to get in this problem; there is no short-term solution. I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand — but the President doesn’t have a magic wand. You just can’t say, low gas. It took us a while to get here and we need to have a good strategy to get out of it.

theClassicLib: There has been a lot of hyperbole about “speculators” lately (see here), however, the President clearly understands the law of supply and demand.  He understands that even the idea of increased world oil supplies will reduce the price of futures contracts currently being bought.  This is no different than when shares of company XYZ decline on a rumored earnings warning some time off in the future.

Bush also points out that consumers, not government drive markets (aka supply and demand), and that nobody in government has a magic wand to make economic changes on demand.

Q But you do have the Strategic Oil Petroleum Reserve. What about opening that?

THE PRESIDENT: The Strategic Oil Petroleum Reserve is for, you know, emergencies. But that doesn’t address the fundamental issue. And we need to address the fundamental issue, which I, frankly, have been talking about since I first became President — which is a combination of using technology to have alternative sources of energy, but at the same time finding oil and gas here at home. And now is the time to get it done. I heard somebody say, well, it’s going to take seven years. Well, if we’d have done it seven years ago we’d be having a different conversation today. I’m not suggesting it would have completely created — you know, changed the dynamics in the world, but it certainly would have been — we’d have been using more of our own oil and sending less money overseas.

theClassicLib: Right!  Everyone today is so focused on the immediate (which requires the use of that magic wand), that they can’t see the forest through the trees.  Now is the time to start drilling, so we don’t have the same (or worse) conditions a mere 7 years from now.

Q Mr. President, understanding what you say about energy supplies being tight and the debate over energy … one thing nobody debates is that if Americans use less energy the current supply/demand equation would improve. Why have you not sort of called on Americans to drive less and to turn down the thermostat?

THE PRESIDENT: They’re smart enough to figure out whether they’re going to drive less or not. I mean, you know, it’s interesting what the price of gasoline has done, is it caused people to drive less. That’s why they want smaller cars, they want to conserve. But the consumer is plenty bright, Mark. The marketplace works.

So no question about what you just said is right. One way to correct the imbalance is to save, is to conserve. And as you notice my statement yesterday, I talked about good conservation. And people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks.

theClassicLib: This Q&A addresses a fundamental difference between today’s Left and Right.  On the Left, they simply don’t believe people can and/or will make good choices in their lives without the explicit direction (and regulatory authority) of the Federal Government.  On the Right, there is trust in individuals to make wise choices for themselves and their families.

This is further illustrated in the following Q&A …

Q But you don’t see the need to ask — you don’t see the value of your calling for a campaign —

THE PRESIDENT: I think people ought to conserve and be wise about how they use gasoline and energy. Absolutely. And there’s some easy steps people can take. You know, if they’re not in their home, they don’t keep their air-conditioning running. There’s a lot of things people can do.

But my point to you, Mark, is that, you know, it’s a little presumptuous on my part to dictate to consumers how they live their lives. The American people are plenty capable and plenty smart people and they’ll make adjustments to their own pocketbooks. That’s why I was so much in favor of letting them keep more of their own money. It’s a philosophical difference: Should the government spend their money, or should they spend their own money? And I’ve got faith in the American people.

And as much as I regret that the gasoline prices are high — and they are — I also understand that people are going to make adjustments to meet their own needs. And I suspect you’ll see, in the whole, Americans using less gasoline. I bet that’s going to happen … And as you notice, the automobile industry is beginning to adjust here at home as consumer demand changes. And the great thing about our system, it is the consumer that drives our system; it’s the individual American and their collection that end up driving the economy.

theClassicLib: Yes, it’s a philosophical difference.  No additional comment needed.

Q `You never mention oil companies. Are you confident that American oil producers are tapping all of the sources they have out there, including offshore?

THE PRESIDENT: What about them — do I think they’re investing capital to find more reserves with the price at $140 a barrel? Absolutely. Take an offshore exploration company. First of all, it costs a lot of money to buy the lease, so they tie up capital. Secondly, it takes a lot of money to do the geophysics, to determine what the structure may or may not look like. That ties up capital. Then they put the rig out there. Now, first of all, in a federal offshore lease, if you’re not exploring within a set period of time, you lose your bonus; you lose the amount of money that you paid to get the lease in the first place.

And once you explore, your first exploratory, if you happen to find oil or gas, it is — you’ll find yourself in a position where a lot of capital is tied up. And it becomes in your interest, your economic interest, to continue to explore so as to reduce the capital costs of the project on a per-barrel basis. And so I — I think — I think they’re exploring. And hopefully a lot of people continue to explore so that the supply of oil worldwide increases relative to demand.

theClassicLib: Are oil companies investing in oil exploration?  LOL!  That’s what they do! That’s their business!  I’m sorry, but whoever the journalist is that asked this question, isn’t even bright enough to ask questions of the local class C softball team, let alone the President of the United States of America.

Yet … The Mainstream Media can’t figure out why their losing money and market share … um, uh … well … maybe it has a lot to do with insulting your customers intelligence with such ridiculous questions.