Rising Gas Prices- What Media will not tell you.

Another of the many failures of mainstream media is its unwillingness to explain to the American public the causes for rising gas prices. There is no current shortage of gas and oil, world demand is down, current US demand is lowest since 1977, and supplies are relatively high, so what gives?

One major reason for your suffering at the gas pump is uncontrolled speculation in gas and oil prices by investors, which at one time was regulated. Speculation in gas and oil is not new; it has been around for many decades and understandably so. Airlines for example, consume large quantities of fuel, and it behooves them to take the initiative to insure predictable prices of fuel. In order to know what they will be paying in the future, they arrange purchase deals with fuel suppliers with both parties agreeing upon a purchase price several months from the present. They secure a price with a dealer for a set amount, as an example 6 months in the future, sign a contract, and then know what the price of their fuel will be at that time. This is not new and in many cases is needed for certain business. Oil and gas are commodities, and at one time the buying and selling of commodities was regulated to prevent one or two companies from getting control of too much of an item such as fuel, then manipulate and control the price. Slowly both major parties began to look the other way and allow regulation of commodities such as oil and gas to fall by the wayside. Speculators saw an opportunity to invest in commodities like oil and gas. These people do not purchase oil and gas, nor do they need it; they are simply investors buying bets on the future price of a commodity, and hoping to sell it at a profit. The danger is that a large speculator or two could purchase so much of a commodity future contract of oil or gas, they would have control of a large share of that product and be able to control the price. That is exactly where we are today. Speculators have gained an inordinate share of the future contracts of gas and oil, and have the ability to control the price. Congressman Bernie Sanders, one of very few who have not sold themselves to the financial dealers, estimates speculators have driven gas prices up by 40%. Consequently the price of gas has been on a rapid rise even though there is no shortage. Commodities speculators are chasing all kinds of products with oil and gas being just one example. Expect rapidly rising prices in foods, grains, and other such things as speculators get control of more commodity products. The solution is to regulate how much gas or oil or any commodity for that matter, can be controlled, but neither major political party is willing to put teeth into the regulation of commodities because we have Congress that has been purchased by the Wall Street.

The second major reason for crippling gas and oil prices is due to our foolish policy towards Iran. The right wing of the Israeli, through its agent in the US called AIPAC, has managed to convince our Congress that regime change is needed in Iran. Seemingly some in the Israeli government want nothing less than war on Iran, or at least to have the US make war on Iran and do their dirty work, but others suggest regime change can be achieved by imposing brutal sanctions which could eventually lead to regime change in Iran. The pretense for all this is the false and specious argument that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program, of which the US Intelligence agencies, the IAEA, and many top ranking Israelis have insisted is not true. There is no evidence at all that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program, yet the big lie is endlessly repeated by mainstream media. The economic sanctions are trying to destroy the Iranian economy by not allowing them to sell oil or gas to the rest of the world. Without an income they would collapse, so the US has bullied nations into not purchasing oil or gas from Iran which has resulted in an artificial shortage. Iran, in a retaliatory move has stopped selling gas to Greece, Spain, and several other nations which has cause demand for gas and oil to rise. It is the foolish policy of trying to bring to bring down the Iranian economy by forbidding Iran from selling its oil and gas, thus creating the artificial shortage and allowing oil companies to exploit the situation, that has been a major contributor to the rising price of gas at the pump.

A failed and foolish foreign policy towards Iran, along with looking the other way while allowing Wall Street speculators to gain control of such things as oil and gas, are the two primary reasons for suffering at the pump.

Sanctions are Immoral and Punish the Innocent.

For decades we have been told Cuba is a “bad” country and all the while the US government has imposed brutal sanctions on the people of Cuba. Why? Our government does not like the leader of their government, so for 50 years the strategy of our government has been to punish the Cuban people. Again why? Cuba we are told, is a dictatorship, and so the Cuban people are powerless to do anything about the government that we do not like. Where is the logic in starving the people of Cuba for being burdened with a dictator that we do not like? The sanctions have been severe and have taken a toll on Cubans for the past 50 years. If sanctions have been imposed for 50 years, it should be pretty obvious they have not accomplished whatever was intended, so why continue to starve and punish innocent Cubans? Because of the hardships imposed on innocents the entire western hemisphere has literally begged the US to lift the sanctions, but as in many cases, the US government has ignored world opinion and continues to impose the devastating sanctions on innocent people. The degree of difficulty caused by the US sanctions can be seen in their dwindling population. The population of Cuba has gone from 12 million to 10.2 million because of the effects of punishing sanctions and the fleeing of Cubans from their country to escape those sanctions. Does the policy of starving innocent people reflect the wishes of the American people?

Even though sanctions do not work and needlessly punish civilians, they have been, and remain a favorite tool of the US government. The US imposed brutal sanctions on the people of Iraq because the US government did not like the dictator of Iraq. After 10 years of savage sanctions, resulting in death for more than one million innocent people, Madam Albright, the Secretary of State was asked by Lesley Stahl in the infamous 60 Minutes interview if she thought the deaths of over 600,000 innocent Iraqi children was worth maintaining sanctions on the people of Iraq. Ms Albright casually replied she thought it was worth the deaths of over 600,000 children, and the world cringed. Again the world appealed to the US government to remove these sanctions for they were not harming the dictator, but resulting in massive civilian deaths, and again the US defied the world and insisted the sanctions be maintained.

If you are unsuccessful at first, why not be unsuccessful again? Currently the US is imposing a brutal set of sanctions on Iran which is causing incredible suffering, pain, and the death of innocent civilians, to placate the need of the phobic right wing of the Israeli government for war, and to allow Congress to appease AIPAC.
The US threatens Iran almost daily, claiming all options are on the table, including the nuclear option. How the worm turns. For many years the US government supported the repressive dictator of Iran, known as the Shah. He overthrew a democratically elected leader of Iran with the invaluable help of the CIA, and his dictatorship survived until the people rose in rebellion against their dictator and ours, and overthrew him in 1979. Interestingly, during the reign of the Shah, it was the US government who insisted that Iran turn to nuclear power, and it was US companies like General Electric who sold Iran 6 billion dollars of nuclear technology, all of which was approved and supported by the US government.

Now, years later we are threatening to nuke Iran for having an alleged nuclear weapons program, after having forced them to go nuclear years ago. It should also be noted the US Intelligence Community, as well as the Israeli intelligence, and the International Atomic Energy Association, have all concluded Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, but let the facts be dammed. It is much more important that US politicians in the Congress placate Israel’s need for war, than to pay any attention to the facts.

In conclusion a number of questions should be asked.

Does it make sense to punish the people of Cuba, Iraq, and Iran, because the US government does not like their government, thereby causing millions of deaths of innocent civilians who have no control over their government?

Does it make sense to make war or nuke a country, when there is not a shred of evidence that they have a nuclear weapons program?

And finally to Cuba, the country you have always been told is evil. Cuba’s main export is medicine, with some of the best health care in the world. Its advances in medicine are world renown, sending thousands of doctors and medicine around the world bringing relief to suffering people. The main export of the US, on the other hand, are military weapons of death. The US is the leading exporter of arms to the rest of the world, insuring deaths of untold millions and has often resorted to arming both sides in a war, insuring mass death and slaughter. Who is evil, the country who exports medicine and doctors to relieve suffering, or the nation who exports the weapons of war insuring death, suffering, and misery?