Clinton, not winning the DNC nomination

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
$10 in 2000 = 6.25 gallons of gasoline
$10 in 2008 = 2.25 gallons of gasoline

Are you better of than you were 8 years ago? 10 years ago? 15?

Mickey D's value meal in 2000 = about $3.00
Mickey D's value meal in 2008 = about $5.00


Wow, fast food holds it's value better than a Bush economic plan......
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
Hmm...here is an interesting take on it.

Congress in 2000 (republican)

Congress in 2008 (democratic)

You really think that a single man (ie a president) has the power in our government to make any decision by himself? I remember my government classes and the three branches of government and the system of checks and balances.

Therefore, if you want to claim that a republican is at fault (Bush) then how did he blind a Democratic Congress (and Senate) into passing a bill through the legislature?

Gas prices are largely determined by the price of oil (over 70% of the cost of gas is directly related to the cost of oil). Not sure if you (or anyone) is actually aware that 18% of gas prices go to taxes (in some States it is higher...because of higher state and local taxes). The gas company makes extreemly little profit on a single gallon of gas. What they make profit on is volume. How many gallons of gasoline are pumped in America every day? Even if I were to only make $0.01 on every gallon, I would be a millionare in just a few hours (maybe even minutes). Obviously with the reported earnings of the oil companies, thier profit is less than that. They also paid more in taxes last year than they made in profit by a considerable margin. I bet that McDonalds makes more profit on a single value meal than an oil company makes on a gallon of gas.

Just figured I would throw that in here too.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
And I read yesterday that the "experts" are kinda baffled why the prices for oil barrels (about $140?) are so high as there's not that much disruption right now nor should there be that much demand. They think it's some speculative bubble and should "correct" at some point (which probably means it drops down to $120 or something :) )
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
DarthFerret said:
Congress in 2000 (republican)

Congress in 2008 (democratic)
Congress in 2001 - 2007 (Republican)

Congress in 2007 - 2008 (Democrat)

Which one had more influence on the last 8 years?

And to answer your questions, yes, one man does have a lot of power in our government, despite our system of checks and balances. It's actually quite easy for an administration to mislead Congress, since they control a lot of information that is dependent on decisions being made (see Iraq war).

However, that is hardly what's happened the past 8 years. Most of the Bush administration was run with a blank check. Since there's only two parties in our current political system, there are only checks and balances when the parties split control of the executive and legislative branches. Since Bush was in office mostly with a Republican congress, he could basically do whatever he wanted for 6 years.

But even that has nothing to do with gas prices. The high gas prices are almost completely the fault of China. As a developing nation with a very high population, gasoline is in very high demand in China and the world can't produce enough to keep up. It has little to do with the oil companies and even less to do with the government. It's basic supply and demand.
 

Killer Joe

New member
Mooseman said:
Hilary is done, stick a fork in her..... and I win $10... woo hoo

John McCain is our next president..... hopefully he will sweep clean the entire administration and install people with real standards and convictions...... Clean up the quagmires the shrub duped the US into and set the tone for open and honest government......
Agreed. McCain is "automatically" the next President. There are too many folks scared of what Obama might do in office (I'm one of them). He's not a seasoned politician like Clinton or McCain nor is he tough enough to get things done.

The Regan Democrats are going to decide how this race turns out and I'm very sure most of them (us) will vote for McCain.

Will she run in 2012?
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
I think that a more valid question is, will Obama have her as a running mate? If he offers and she accepts, and if they win the election (I know, that is a very unlikely string of events), then what happens in 2012?
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
DarthFerret said:
I think that a more valid question is, will Obama have her as a running mate? If he offers and she accepts, and if they win the election (I know, that is a very unlikely string of events), then what happens in 2012?
If Obama wins in Nov, then he will run again in 2012, Clinton most likely will not at age 65....

BTW - Who was responsible for the "prosperity" of the 80's? Reagan or the Congress?
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think neither (and same with the economic situation today/in the 00's). The economy is largely independent of the executive and legislative branches.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Spiderman said:
I think neither (and same with the economic situation today/in the 00's). The economy is largely independent of the executive and legislative branches.
Really? Then what does affect the economy? Business and banking regulation or de-regulation, interest rates, tax policy, governmental spending.... these things are a drop in the ocean to the economy?
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
Not sure what exactly affects the entire economy, if it can even be pinned down to 1 or 2 things, but I do know that the oil prices are generally set by "speculators" or they have a lot to do with it. I wonder just who these "speculators" are and what causes them to so speculate?
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Read up on selling long or selling short.....

I have a question about the price of oil and gas.....
If 1 barrel of crude oil is $126, then it would be $3.00 per gallon of crude oil ($126/42 gallons in a barrel)

Then refining, shipping and profit are less than $1.00 per gallon of crude?

What is the ratio of crude oil to refined gasoline?
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
Not sure of actuall ratios, however, I do know that a barrel of oil makes more than a barrel of fuel. And you have to split this because the Diesel fuel is actually a by-product of the refining process. There are a ton of chemical and refining plants in my territory now, and although I have not been able to get in front of many of them yet, I am hoping to learn more about the process.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Mooseman said:
Really? Then what does affect the economy? Business and banking regulation or de-regulation, interest rates, tax policy, governmental spending.... these things are a drop in the ocean to the economy?
The first three are not part of the executive/legislative branches - and the interest rates now are largely what they were a couple of years ago (hovering around 6%), yet the economy is worse now than back then.

What "tax policy" are you referring to? Though set by the two, it too has largely remained the same between good times and bad.

Same with government spending... it has remained high due to the wars and that was during good times and bad.

All has affected the economy maybe in little ways, but the point is that the economy remains independent of any executive/legislative decisions.

If you believe otherwise, it would help for some specific example to point to so I know what you're talking about.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Spiderman said:
The first three are not part of the executive/legislative branches -
Really? Then the appointed heads of these departments (Finance, Interior, Education, Homeland Security, .. etc) have no effect on how policy is set and implemented? Greenspan was appointed and kept his position by the administrations, not Congress.....
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
You're right, sorry... would you feel better if I said president as that is who was originally discussed as a "policy setter"? :)
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
But the president is supposed to "lead" these departments by setting policy direction and implementation. But, I group the president with the administration, since that is really who we are voting for, not just 2 people. We don't get to vote for those appointments.... well not directly....

BTW - Federal government spending is between 18% and 24% of GDP, historically..... That is a big chunk of the US economy.....
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
He may have a broad overview but I think each director has their plan for whatever policy goes into effect. I mean, how does the Education guy affect the economy?

But where does all of the federal spending go? For having that much of a chunk, I don't think it props up the economy too much just by looking at the past of couple years. Likewise, I don't think it does anything even in the good times (affecting the economy as in directing how it goes)
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
DarthFerret said:
But Economic Stimulus Packs work! :rolleyes:
Yes they do.... my check will go to paying my gas bill...... :eek:

Actually, think of government spending this way.....

If the Department of Education decides to require all schools getting federal money to install surge protectors on all computers.... then sales of surge protectors go through the roof...

Now, what would happen if all Administration new vehicles can only be electric.... what does that do to that part of the economy, electric cars become the hot seller and gasoline cars go down, since the US government is the single biggest buyer/leaser of vehicles in the US......

What did the US government do to bring us out of the great depression...... spent tons of money on creating jobs by investing in huge capital projects..... highways, dams, bridges, ect.....
 
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