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Originally Posted by redpoint5
People are going to put money ahead of politics, so it's doubtful the market is being manipulated just to spite Trump. This is the normal game of running oil prices high and low in a cycle that has been going on since I've been around. Prices are raised to whatever the market will bear, then the US cranks up domestic production on those oil sources that weren't profitable at $2/gallon prices, but are profitable at $4/gallon prices, then the OPEC cartel increases production again to shut down US production... rinse and repeat.
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As I wrote in my previous post, oil Demand is (effectively) inelastic. This has been known for decades. The variable then becomes Supply, and the oil companies control that in various ways. Demand shifts do occur and those are driven by extreme Price shifts, as we are experiencing now. These Price shifts are very disruptive to economies and are, by and large, avoidable.
In this case, politics and money are following the same path. Raising prices neutralizes a threat and makes money, lots of money.
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I'm pretty sure all politicians have been critical of OPEC. Calling the cartel out for what is obvious does no good in breaking up their collusion.
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The problem is not with OPEC, it is with the oil companies. In 2004, Royal Dutch Shell caused a significant spike in oil prices simply by adjusting down their stated reserves. Shell went on to experience their greatest earnings in history and the greatest earnings of any European company in history.
Politicians, on both sides of the aisle, generally do not interfere with oil companies because they profit by them, either directly or indirectly. The dictum is, "don't bite the hand that feeds you." Saying things and doing things are not the same. Oil companies care nothing for rhetoric, only action. They let politicians complain, often quite loudly, but complaining rarely leads to action.
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W's final term was mostly tarnished by having found no Iraqi facilities making weapons of mass destruction. If you're going to assault a country, the reason given for the assault had better exist.
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They did find weapons and facilities, though the bulk of the weapons were moved to Syria (who is using them now) before the invasion. The information was simply ignored by the press. It didn't support the narrative. Fake news is not new.
I don't know what happened to Dubbya. He seemed to lose all enthusiasm. He stopped fighting, even knowing he was in the right. It was extremely frustrating watching his non-confrontational second-term.