Please explain: How exactly can Congress affect the price of Oil?

I keep reading in peoples answers that its the Democratic Congress' fault that gas prices are so high.


Maybe I'm missing something. While I'm not blaming Bush either, I am blaming the price gouging of Oil companies, and the limited amount of the resource they sell.


I will debunk any attempt by anyone to claim that drilling is going to alleviate prices here, because thats a fraudulent point put forth by people with no clue about world markets. I know it looks like it should be the case, but thats based on the assumption that we have an isolated closed market, which we do not.


So please someone break me down: How are oil prices the fault of Congress?Please explain: How exactly can Congress affect the price of Oil?
well I agree with you ..but I don't agree with the notion that the government en total do not directly effect prices ....they do.


Through Policy and oversight or the lack thereof, and by systematic obfuscation and deregulation. Through the guise and slogan-ism of ';Free market'; rhetoric. Through the billions of Lobby dollars spread to both parties by Big oil, to sway and lead away from alternative energy productions. California was supposed to adhere to a federally mandated gas millage and pollution standard, they completely blew it off at the state level and the fed did nothing to counter... BIG OIL IS IN CHARGE YO...





The current administration so devalued our currency that the price of oil and the Petrol Dollar'; alone conspire to inflate the price, further tampering with markets via the ';weather'; and other such hyperbole help to create the illusion of ';shortages';.


Also the holding back of stockpiled fuel, ';the reserves'; further exasperates the situation...





No I believe with all of my heart hat the manufactured oil shortage was by design a conspiracy to move the American people towards the desperate knee-jerk position that we face now regarding off shore and Alaskan drilling which you so accurately point out will do nothing to lessen the load .Please explain: How exactly can Congress affect the price of Oil?
It's not so much that they are to blame for high gas prices as they are to blame for not doing anything about them. They wont off shore drill, the wont drill in AK, and they continue to blame everyone else.


The truth is that there are alot of ppl to blame for high gas prices.....BUT...Nancy Pelosi said that if we elected democrats to congress then gas prices would fall 10cents a gallon in the first 100 hours......that was January 4th 2007 gas was $2.09 a gallon......





I know that the congress doesnt control the price of oil, you know the congress doesnt control the price of oil, and more importantly, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in congress know that they don't control the price of oil.....but they will tell you they do as long as they get elected.....sounds kinda like whats going on now.
Well, based on what I just heard on a business report, the price of oil has jumped $25 a barrel today on the news of the giant economic bailout and the resulting weakening dollar.





You're right, drilling into the relatively tiny US oil supplies will do nothing for either supply or demand -- although it will enrich the oil companies even more.





But as for the actual reasons for the price of oil, they're way more complex and global than most of us want to think.
The only logical way is to drill ! Drill ! Drill ! Eventually we will affect the supply and demand and price will drop. To stand around and whine, will accomplish nothing.! To put resrictions on the fifty mile from shore drilling practice will reduce the possibilities of finding oil.





If the price of oil does not drop, than the government is as much to blame as the greedy oil barons. The supply side will have been alleviated with drilling. This should reduce the demand and the price should drop. This approach, along with conservation, alternative energy sources, and exploration of new or other resources should take the wind out of the absolute greed, corruption, and manipulation of the oil industry.
Congress can spend more money on developing alternative energy or give tax breaks to companies that develop alternative energy. When Kennedy believed in a space program, he made it happen and we have many new and innovative products in private industry as a result.





It's time to make change happen.



1. Reduce the supply by blocking us from drilling





2. Excise taxes. While it may not affect the price of a barrel of oil, it does affect the price at the pump.
Considering about 1.60 per gallon is in tax's and a long refusal to ween ourselves of foreign energy through misguided congressional energy plans...they have a good hand in the crisis...
The Democratic Congress brought this on themselves when they promised to reduce the cost of gas in order to get elected in 2006. Of course, if you don't accept the basic economic premise that an increase in supply will decrease prices, there isn't much point in giving you a full analysis of why drilling can help. Nevertheless, perception is reality in a lot of cases. If people believe the price will drop in the future due to increase supply (e.g., drilling), or decreased demand (e.g., demand destruction or alternative fuels), they are more likely to produce more oil to sell at the current high price. If you look at the other side of the coin, suppose a new auto were developed that got 200mpg, could be built as a large as a Chevy Suburban if needed and everyone loved it because it was priced below the average price of a new car and could replace all cars on the road within 18 months. Do you think oil prices would not drop because of this? Congress could encourage development of new technologies such as this and any promising new technology could have the effect of lowering prices because current producers would be pumping oil like mad in order to beat the price drop (which would, in and of itself, cause a price drop). This Congress has done nothing. We don't need them to do a lot; we only need impact at the margins. We wouldn't even necessarily need the magical Chevy Suburban to do it.





Of course, Bush could just turn the mythical lever in Washington and make all of this better. Of course it is all his fault, like it is his fault that my corn crop failed this year and that my dog sometimes poops in his pen.