Almost without exception, Republican claims are in no way related to facts, and that’s understandable, because the truth guarantees a job loss for them, but from time to time one makes a claim that is so totally preposterous that I wonder how anyone, except the most brainwashed Fox sheeple, could even consider believing it. Enter Michael Burgess (R-TX).
T
hursday, in a little-noticed move, the House of Representatives “passed legislation Thursday that would require the U.S. government to offer up offshore areas for oil and gas leasing,” with all but two Republicans and 33 Democrats voting for the bill.
During a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee hearing yesterday, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) claimed that the vote was responsible for Thursday’s sharp drop in oil prices. “What happened yesterday?” the congressman asked rhetorically. “Oh, the House passed a bill“…
…Watch it:
Burgess’s argument is based on a flawed premise. It assumes that increasing drilling would increase supply and thus lower oil prices. But supply is already high [Murdoch delinked]. It’s also worth debunking the myth that opening up more supply in the U.S. would cause any significant dip in oil prices over the short term. “In 2009, the U.S. produced about 7 percent of what was produced in the entire world, so increasing the oil production in the U.S. is not going to make much of a difference in world markets and world prices,” says the Energy Information Administration analyst Phyllis Martin.
What actually explains the drop in oil prices is a very different combination of factors. The drop, as Reuters notes, came largely from poor macroeconomic indicators — showing that demand is actually dropping, not that supply is increasing. Another factor was an exodus of speculators from the commodities market… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
The article fails to mention that the bill isn’t even a law yet. Of course Burgess is the same loon that declared the US was under martial law, because TARP passed. This one is nothing but Bagger bait.
4 Responses to “Teabagger Strikes BS, Not Oil!”
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Even if it was to have an effect on oil supplies, the effect would not be felt for years. It takes about 10 years, if not more, to bring a new lease area into production, including time for exploration, test drilling, drilling, and finally at the end, production.
To think that the passage of a bill has any effect, at all, is the height of stupidity — but then it was a republican from Texas saying it.
Jerry, that’s also an excellent point.
That may be the lowest life form there is.
Do you ever wonder what it’s like living in the Parallel Universe, where up is down and wrong is right, in which so many Teapublicans dwell?
I know I do.
It’s hard to imagine, Nameless. Rational thought is key to my self-identity. That is clearly not the case for those folks.