This page was last updated on March 24, 2012.
Election is culprit; Todd Davis; Beaver County Times; March 22, 2012.
Mr. Davis previously wrote equally insightful letters entitled “Paying the price for bad theology,” “U.S. sees through Israel’s eyes,” and “Don’t be fooled by low gasoline prices.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“As gas prices go up, our mantra is to blame China, unrest in the Middle East or the mysterious global market. The real culprit is the presidential election.”
[RWC] Mr. Davis is into oil-industry conspiracies. You may recall Mr. Davis believed “low” gasoline prices were the result of a conspiracy. You’ll also find Mr. Davis has a logic problem.
“Recall the summer of 2010, and you will know that prices are set according to the need of the industry. While the world watched the Louisiana Gulf hemorrhage oil, executives appeased a wary public with low prices. Prices then never budged, not even during the predictable season of summer spikes.”
[RWC] Mr. Davis seems to forget the problem in the Gulf affected drilling of new wells, not the production of existing wells.
“Industry needs are different today. Republicans champion big oil. Industry executives will do what they can to deliver a Republican to the White House.”
[RWC] If Mr. Davis’ conspiracy theory were true, how were high gasoline prices during 2008 supposed to help “deliver a Republican to the White House?”
“By manipulating prices upward, they can hope to stall the economy and thus unseat President Obama. Farfetched? Considering the animus toward President Obama and the Republican failure in finding a happy candidate, it’s fair to say that we are in for some really high prices at the gas pump.”
[RWC] If the first sentence were true, perhaps Mr. Davis can explain the high gasoline prices in 2008. Was the oil industry trying “to deliver a Republican Democrat to the White House?”
As I wrote in a critique of a previous Davis letter, “Here’s yet another person who believes ‘[i]ndustry executives’ gather in smoke-filled rooms and set prices. In case Mr. Davis has been asleep for the last 35 to 40 years, oil companies don’t set the price for foreign oil. A combination of the marketplace and the governments of oil exporting countries do that.”
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