[CitizensTruth] Hidden agendas and the new gas "shortage"

[Geri Perry]

Read carefully and note the connection between food prices and 
availability: *http://tinyurl.com/2ot5ap*

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"They see speculation in the market, I see decline in global 
inventories. I don't think this is a big surprise, that we've had a jump 
in price when there has been a decrease in crude inventories."—/ Energy 
Secretary Sam Bodman, Bloomberg News, Mar. 5, 2008

/"It should be obvious to you all that the [gasoline] demand is 
outstripping supply, which causes prices to go up." /— President George 
W. Bush, Associated Press, Mar. 5, 2008/

One wonders if verifiable facts ever get in the way of this 
administration's statements on issues that are critical to the average 
American's wellbeing.

. . .So what is going on here? Why would our Energy Secretary say 
there's a supply and demand problem when none exists? Why would he say 
that speculators have little or nothing to do with the incredibly high 
price of oil and gasoline, when it's clear they do? President Bush—a 
former oilman—gives the ever-growing demand for gasoline as the primary 
reason prices are so high, yet that notion can be dispelled with one 
minute of research. That's the problem with rhetoric; it rarely matches 
the facts.

. . . Possibly just to ensure oil prices don't respond to real-world 
market conditions, Goldman Sachs forecast on Mar. 7 that turbulence in 
the oil market could cause oil to spike as high as $200 a barrel. This 
flies in the face of all known information—but then again, Goldman Sachs 
is the world's biggest trader of energy derivatives, and its Goldman 
Sachs Commodities Index is a widely watched barometer of energy and 
commodities prices.

. . . Protectionism? As famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith correctly 
said, "In America, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism 
for the rich."

. . .Which takes us back to the original question: Why is Washington 
doing everything it can to convince us there is a shortage when there 
isn't one? After all, the only people they're protecting are those 
heavily invested in oil futures—and that's to the detriment of all other 
Americans.

. . .the Bush administration is protecting those responsible for 
creating yet another speculative bubble in oil futures, and is 
protecting investors in the ethanol industry—much to the detriment of 
food-processing companies such as Pilgrim's Pride. And the net result of 
all this is that the prices of crude and gasoline rise ever higher 
thanks to a "shortage" that does not exist, while food costs are soaring 
thanks in part to the ethanol mandate.
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gerip