Choose Information Over Ignorance — And Vote!

To the Editor:

When I recently had the chance to catch up on my reading of The Bee and the [Letter Hive] pages, I couldn’t help but notice how the misinformation machine over at FIXed News was working overtime into whipping our good citizens into a misdirected frenzy once again.

The latest myth being perpetuated over at FIXed News and repeated by Mr Barzetti [“A Very Dangerous Man,” Letter Hive, 3/6/12] is that our President is both directly responsible and happy to see gasoline prices go higher and higher. Of course, what you won’t find backing up Mr Barzetti’s comments, or the misinformation emanating from FIXed News, are the facts to support that claim.

The first disconnect used in the whole myth is to just ignore history. The claim totally ignores that gasoline prices actually peaked at higher levels during the Bush Administration compared to where they are today. But that’s an inconvenient truth.

FIXed News would also prefer that you ignore their own words from 2008, where they are on the record saying, “...the facts are, no President has the power to increase or lower gas prices. Those are market forces.” But don’t take my word for it, you can see and hear those very words here: www.triplepundit.com/2012/03/fox-news-high-gas-prices-presidents-fault-obama.

But let’s talk about those market forces, because they are what drives energy prices. Mr Barzetti totally ignores that we live in a global market for fuel, driven by the global supply and demand for petroleum. As it turns out, global demand is so good and prices are so high relative to those here domestically, that the USA was a net exporter of refined petroleum products in 2011 for the first time in 62 years! Accordingly, a more rational viewer would realize the interconnected world we live in and the oil companies’ willingness to exploit that world market is one of the key factors for rising energy prices here in the USA.

But the most important reason why we have seen a resurgence in energy prices of late has nothing to do with the laws of supply and demand. It has to do with the real impact of speculators in oil markets. If you were to look at the latest “Commitment of Traders Report” put out by those “pesky” regulators over at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, you would see that speculators are holding record or near-record net long positions in most key products across the oil complex. The relationship between speculators’ net long positions and high oil prices is well documented in a variety of studies.

I do agree with Mr Barzetti on one point — I also encourage you to vote. But at the very least, please try to make an informed decision with real facts. There’s a lot to be upset about. But blindly criticizing the President with a completely bogus fact set only qualifies as ignorance, not information.

Peter Sandler

4 Far Horizon Lane, Sandy Hook                               March 16, 2012