Charles Brown wrote:
> CB: I don't want to suggest the c.t. words, but some of these loud
> mouth
> radicals on the radio are saying things like "what a surprise ! The
> gas
> prices drop as the election nears". Now that's not me. It's those
> radicals
> on the radio
It's not just radicals: [...]
A hefty 42% of Americans polled over the weekend said they think fuel prices are being manipulated by the Bush administration to help Republicans in an election year. The USA TODAY/Gallup Poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Petroleum analysts say the reasons are less Machiavellian: Supplies are above average, partly because summer's high prices attracted record imports. Hurricanes haven't knocked out Gulf of Mexico production. U.S. regulations permit a cheaper-to-make fuel blend in fall and winter.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, there is not any manipulation, and it has nothing to do with the approaching election,” says Peter Beutel, head of energy-price consultant Cameron Hanover. The petroleum market is “too big a market to manipulate. The price just
could not sustain itself.”
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060919/1b_gasprices19.art.htm