Why do Democrats only hate American oil?

In May Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Saudi Arabia could slash oil prices by drilling for more oil.

If Saudi Arabia were to increase its production by 1 million barrels per day that translates to a reduction of 20 percent to 25 percent in the world price of crude oil, and crude oil prices could fall by more than $25 dollar per barrel from its current level of $126 per barrel...

In turn, that would lower the price of gasoline between 13 percent and 17 percent, or by more than 62 cents off the expected summer regular-grade price...

Of course, Schumer also claims that drilling for the same amount of oil in the United States would not impact oil prices.

[Schumer said that] drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would “take ten years and reduce the price of oil by a penny.” ...Schumer also called for an end to the speculation in energy markets that drives up prices.

What does Schumer have against oil that's produced in America?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) believes that releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) would help.

Pelosi sent a letter asking the president "to draw down a small portion" of the SPR's more than 700 million barrels of oil...

"Releasing oil from the Reserve is a tool to manage our national and economic security, and when judiciously used will in no way jeopardize national security," the California Democrat wrote.

Thus, Democrats favor exploration of the SPR, which is supposed to be used only for catastrophic shortages, but believe that drilling for oil in the U.S. is "a hoax".

Can someone explain to me why Democrats only hate oil that's made in America?

Update: "Obama releases Exxon ad and hopes no one notices it's a lie"... You just can't make this stuff up...
Despite his new TV ad, Barack Obama has received more money from Exxon and Mobil employees than Senator John McCain.

Update II: "Tire-Gauge Industry Pumps Up Obama Campaign Coffers."

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Chuck Schumer: a hedge fund manager's useful idiot?

"Mick Danger" -- one of Donald Luskin's contacts -- wonders about Chuck Schumer's relationships with certain hedge fund operators. You may recall that Schumer touched off a bank run at IndyMac by releasing a letter that questioned the viability of the bank.


The director of the OTS noted that the letter frightened depositors, who withdrew funds at a catastrophic clip: "In the ...11 business days [following Schumer's letter], depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion from their accounts." This Schumer-induced run proved fatal for the bank.

The SEC is investigating hedge funds to see if they circulate rumors, knowing they are false, and trade on them, manipulating the market... Someone -- with an interest -- brought Schumer information on IndyMac. Who? When? Why? What are the chances that Schumer was looking into irregularities into IndyMac because some hedgie with a big short position turned him onto it?

Well, they ain't zero.

What are the chances Schumer was "investigating" IndyMac because the Senate Banking Committee assigned that case to him? Zero.

What are the chances the SEC enforcement guys will get very shy, very fast if they pick up a trail leading up the Hill? Close to 100%. (Note, Senators have a constitutional shield against certain prosecutions of actions taken in the course of their work as Members of Congress.)

Most likely result? The SEC staff will pluck a few hapless hedgies out of the middle ranks and shoot them in the public square.

Is Schumer correct? Or did Schumer break a law by leaking his letter? What if he were a research director at a hedge fund and told people what he suspected? Would that be the kind of rumor the SEC is hunting?

Think there might be a clever hedge fund which might use Schumer to leak info so they can trade on it without fear of prosecution? Uh, yeah.

Jerry Bowyer also has a take on "how Schumer set off a bank panic":

Well, they went after Indymac, and the result is the second largest bank failure in US history. Of course, we’ll hear a lot about ‘greed’ this week, and we should. But whose greed? Schumer’s greed for power? Community activists' greed for shakedown money? Trial lawyers greedy for huge class action settlements?


Hedge fund managers who write big checks to these groups and the Democratic Party (including Schumer’s Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) and then turn around and make mountains of money shorting mortgage paper? No, we’ll hear about none of the above from most in the media. The real culprits will have gotten away with it, and the victims will bear the blame.

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With approval at 9%, Democrats decide to touch off bank run

Believing Congress' approval rate might hit double digits, Senator Chuck "The Camera Hunter" Schumer decided to bill taxpayers tens of billions of dollars by starting a bank run.

The run on the bank came after a critical letter about the bank from Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. Federal regulators said on Friday that Mr. Schumer’s letter had prompted the collapse by causing the run and scaring away potential acquirers.

“The senator made comments in his letter questioning the viability of the institution,” John M. Reich, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, said in a phone call with reporters. “When a member of the United States Senate makes such a statement, it frightens depositors.”

In the days after Mr. Schumer’s letter was released on June 26, IndyMac customers withdrew an average of $100 million a day from the bank, or a total of $1.3 billion, the government said. Before Mr. Schumer’s letter, the bank had been receiving net inflows of money from depositors, Mr. Reich said.

Always willing to accept responsibility, the Democratic Senator denied he had anything -- anything at all -- to do with the bank run.

Mr. Schumer quickly fired back [stating,] "If OTS had done its job as regulator and not let IndyMac's poor and loose lending practices continue, we wouldn't be where we are today," Sen. Schumer said. "Instead of pointing false fingers of blame, OTS should start doing its job to prevent future IndyMacs."

Shw-w-w-w-w-w-weeeeeeeeen! Err, that was supposed to be a "tape rewind" noise (you know how hard it is to do sound effects in the blogosphere).

Anyhow, let's just use super-secret advanced technology to find out what really happened.

• 6/27/08 Los Angeles Times: Sen. Schumer calls for scrutiny of IndyMac's financial health:

"I am concerned that IndyMac's financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers," Schumer wrote. The bank "could face a failure if prescriptive measures are not taken quickly."

• 6/27/08 Insurance News Net: Senator Asks Regulators To Probe The Financial Health of IndyMac :

[Schumer, the] chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee asked U.S. regulators Thursday to scrutinize the financial health of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp Inc. and suggested that the mortgage lender might be on the brink of failure.

• 7/1/08 Forbes: IndyMac reassures customers after Schumer letter:

IndyMac Bancorp Inc. said it is working with regulators to "further improve" its safety and soundness after a senator's letter last week raised concerns that the bank could collapse... The Pasadena, Calif.-based mortgage lender said Monday that the letter, by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., gave "the wrong impression" on several issues.

Depositors withdrew about $100 million from the bank in the wake of Schumer's letter, company spokesman Grove Nichols said in a prepared statement. The withdrawals are equivalent to one-half of 1 percent of the bank's deposits, he said.

• 7/1/08 Housing Wire: IndyMac: Mini Bank Run, Thanks to Schumer:

“As a result of Sen. Schumer making his letters public and the resulting press coverage, we did experience elevated customer inquiries and withdrawals in our branch network last Friday and on Saturday of roughly $100 million, about ½ of 1% of total deposits,” the bank said.

• 7/2/08 Housing Wire: Consumer Group Targets IndyMac Over Alt-A Mortgages:

As if IndyMac Bancorp Inc. didn’t have enough problems of the real variety right now — trying to find sources of capital among them, as bank losses tied to Alt-A mortgages mount — the Center for Responsible Lending on Monday took aim at what many expect to be the next target for consumer groups’ ire, now that Countrywide Financial is no more.

The CRL’s latest report, “Indymac: What Went Wrong?”, claims that the thrift “put itself in a hole by engaging in unsound and abusive lending during the nation’s mortgage boom.” The report was released on the heels of a leaked letter from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) to bank regulators last week that questioned the bank’s financial footing amid growing losses.

• 7/2/08 Mainstreet: Is Your California Bank Financially Safe?

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Just how much has the Democratic Congress cost taxpayers? No more than usual, I suppose.


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