President Obama Doesn't Just Say We Are Producing More Oil, We Are Producing More Oil

The NYT did some heavy-duty he said/she said reporting on the issue of gas prices and energy production. It devoted an article to President Obama's efforts to counter Republican complaints about high gas prices.

The article told readers:

"The president said that the United States is producing more oil now than at any time during the last eight years, with a record number of rigs pumping."

President Obama did not just say this, it also happens to be true. There are reasons that people may not be happy that the United States is producing more oil (anyone hear of global warming?), but it happens to be true.

The article then went on to tell readers that:

"But Mr. Obama warned that no amount of domestic production could offset the broader forces driving up gas prices, chief among them Middle East instability and the ravenous energy appetite of China, which he said added 10 million cars in 2010."

This is also a statement that can be verified. The United States currently produced around 6 million barrels a day. The world market for oil is a bit less than 90 million barrels a day.

It is the world market that determines prices, not domestic production. We're going to say that a few more times just in case any reporters are reading this.

It is the world market that determines prices, not domestic production. It is the world market that determines prices, not domestic production. It is the world market that determines prices, not domestic production.

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http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/president-obama-doesnt-just-say-we-are-producing-more-oil-we-are-producing-more-oil

The wrong way to argue about gas prices

By Steve Benen

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Regardless, Republicans aren't just demanding expansive drilling. They're also pushing a talking point that's quickly become ubiquitous on the right.


The second part of this is just silly; oil production has increased every year under Obama's presidency, and is now higher than it was at any point in Bush's second term. But it's the first part that's important.

At first blush, the GOP line may seem compelling. Indeed, at a certain level it's just a matter of arithmetic -- either the price has doubled or it hasn't.

But for those who care about context and a more thorough understanding of the situation, the relevant details make all the difference.

<...>

As Matt Yglesias explained yesterday, "It turns out that driving to work, ferrying stuff from the warehouse to the store, hauling containers across the Pacific Ocean, and flying around to meetings all takes oil. If you manage to orchestrate a situation in which millions of people lose their jobs, retail sales plummet, stores close, and economic activity generally grinds to a halt, this frees up a lot of extra oil. Cheap oil leads to cheap gasoline, so if you did have a job at the depths of the recession your commute got cheap. And good for you. But this should all serve as a reminder that there's little constructive action the American government can take to lower the price of gasoline."

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http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/24/10496075-the-wrong-way-to-argue-about-gas-prices