Pitching the promise of energy independence, President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday that it’s going to be tough to transition from America’s oil-dependent economy and acknowledged there’s little he can do to lower gas prices over the short term.

“I’m just going to be honest with you. There’s not much we can do next week or two weeks from now,” the president told workers at a wind turbine plant. It’s a theme Obama’s struck before as he tries to show voters he’s attuned to a top economic concern with gas prices pushing toward $4 a gallon.

Obama said he wants to move toward “a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you.” That will happen by reducing oil imports, tapping domestic energy sources and shifting the nation to renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as wind, the president says. He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025. 

But the president said it won’t happen overnight and if any politician says it’s easy, “they’re not telling the truth.”

“Gas prices? They’re going to still fluctuate until we can start making these broader changes, and that’s going to take a couple of years to have serious effect,” Obama said.

Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.

“If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,” Obama said laughingly. “You might want to think about a trade-in.”

The president spoke at a town hall meeting at Gamesa Technology Corp., a Spanish company that makes giant turbines that use wind to generate electricity. According to the White House, it is the first overseas company of its kind to set up shop in the U.S.

 For the Rest of this Article:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-says-little-shortterm-apf-1680912387.html?x=0&.v=4

 Face Forward Comments:Holy freaking cow…… Who does this man think is being hurt by the fuel prices. Oh wait a minute, that’s right, he knows it is the working middle class that is paying the fuel bill right now. And he does not care. Those being least hurt are the public transportation crowd AKA his voters. What arrogance! For a American citizen asking a legitimate question, being needled by the president of the country. Can you imagine what would be said if Bush had said something like that to a voter?

And now finally, I wonder how much of your money, Mr and Mrs American middle class Tax Payer, was given to this Spanish company? It is something you should find out and if you don’t like it, I suggest you vote out the man who gave it to them.

FUNDAMENTALS U.S. crude inventories fell last week as imports dropped, but stocks at the key delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma hit a record high, the EIA said in a report on Wednesday. Domestic crude stocks fell 364,000 barrels to 346.38 million barrels in the week to February 25, government data showed, compared with expectations for a 700,000-barrel build in a Reuters poll of analysts. Inventories at the key Cushing terminal rose by 1.13 million barrels to a record 38.57 million barrels.  

Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures. “Fundamentally we have surplus oil in the United States and most of the OECD countries,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. “It’s very obvious that the market is being driven by a very different dynamic…geo-politics of the Middle East, and that is going to be in play for a long time.”

Excerpt From

http://www.futurespros.com/news/futures-news/update-1-oil-on-the-rise-as-middle-east,-north-africa-tensions-hot-up-1000008451

Face Forward Comments

I think everybody has known or a long time that Rahm Emanuel policy of “Never wasting a disaster” is something that business has practiced for a long time. I am normally a business supporter but this one has politics and big business collusion all over it and smells bad.

If I look hard enough II can almost see enough to start asking questions. Is there a connection between Obama wanting $5 dollar a gallon fuel? Is there a connection between Obama and GE pushing Electric recharging stations. How about GM’s electric car? Do higher fuel prices help it? And finally who really benefits and who really looses?

Finally, just imagine a voting demographic of Mass Transit users vs Car Owners. I bet you would find the Obama supporter group is far more likely to use mass transit than the conservative Republican /Tea Party group. It is just one of the many reasons he may not be so concerned about the amount of money being puled out of the pocket of the working middle class.

 At this point I am just asking questions. I’m not saying conspiracy yet……….

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices climbed Tuesday as Iran clamped down on anti-government protesters and unrest in the Middle East threatened to keep energy prices high for months to come.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April delivery gained $2.66 to settle at $99.63 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude gained $3.62 to settle at $115.42 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The recent surge in oil has pushed up gasoline prices in the U.S. by nearly 20 cents per gallon in the past week. That’s the sharpest increase since September 2008, when Hurricane Ike shut down Gulf Coast refineries, according to the Oil Price Information Service. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina sent prices soaring about 45 cents per gallon in one week.

 Americans are now paying roughly $75.6 million more per day to fill up than a week ago.

The national average added another penny on Tuesday at $3.375 per gallon. Prices should keep rising to between $3.50 and $3.75 by spring, according to OPIS oil analyst Tom Kloza. He said future increases will be much more gradual, because gasoline markets have mostly priced in the recent rise in crude. “So we should flatten out” in coming weeks, Kloza said.

 Oil prices surged 13 percent last week, peaking above $100 per barrel, as Libyan protesters expanded their control over the country. While the Libyan uprising continued Tuesday, news agencies reported that Iranian authorities imprisoned opposition leaders in Tehran. Iranian authorities denied the reports.

 Pro-reform groups have clashed with the Iranian government. Jailing opposition leaders would be a major escalation of the country’s political crisis. Iran exports about 2.5 million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day, about 3 percent of global demand.

For the rest of story please go here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oil-prices-climb-as-Iran-apf-1296176780.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

 FaceForward Comments:

We need to Drill and to build Nuclear Electricity plants as quickly as possible.