"Yes, I understand that Ron and Anna are upset with me about something, but I do not understand the argument. Russia was about to invade us? WTF?"
The funny story about the price of oil started way back during the Carter Administration. Jimmy Carter was the poster boy for how to screw a pooch without really trying. His concept of “joining hands in sacrifice” spanned the globe. We missed the Olympics because he didn’t like what the USSR was doing in Afghanistan. He tanked the economy which caused up to 22% inflation, almost making us a Latin American economy. The price of gold ran from $220 dollars a ounce to ultimately $848 a ounce. The cost of Silver ran from $7.25 dollars a ounce to ultimately $44 a ounce. Jimmy had his brother “Billy”, who later created “Billy Beer”, his lovely wife Roslyn, his mom and “his faith”. He cut our Defense Budget to beyond the bone. There were even rumors that the USSR was going to invade the United States. Carter was a former Nuclear Engineer for the U.S. Navy….but he was against Nuclear Power. The price of oil and consumer gas prices skyrocketed when he went for the gold and the grand faux pax to upset OPEC, because of the Iranian Crisis and half the the rest of the world. This whole Administration indeed was a cautionary tale of; “How not to run a railroad or a government!” By the Grace of God…hopefully his own; Jimmy was a one term President and was soundly defeated by Ronald Reagan. If the election included “a loss of confidence provision”, Carter would have been totally successful.
Not to bother to mention that Reagan changed everything that Jimmy did, as soon as he could. In April of 1980 as the cost of a barrell of oil rose to just about what one ounce of silver was worth at the time: $44 dollars….the cost of buying gas at the pump had risen from $1.23 to just about $2.50 a gallon. Pretty costly for 1980. So, Reagan took action. He called Mexico. Pemex had really cheap oil. In those days, the cost per barrel was about $12 a barrel. The Big Oil folks here all poo pooed the Mexican oil…saying it was not Bonnie Light Crude that was easily “cracked”, but some terrible “dark black stuff” that required extra refining techniques which would price us out of the world market. Reagan made a deal for 10 years of Pemex Oil for $20 dollars a barrel. It made the Mexicans happy and it filled our needs for the short fall from OPEC. This was a major Hedge Fund Buy. Some said it was a “Future’s Buy”, which technically we suppose you could say was true, but in this case we actually had a contract with Pemex for as much oil as we wanted to buy for $20 dollars a barrel for 10 years. This takes us to 1990! For those that forget; Gas Prices at the pump remained stable throughout those years. The Clinton Administration did not renew the contract.
Today as we watch the misrepresentations of various lawmakers on our morning talk shows about why “gas at the pump is someone else’s fault”! We might indeed take a stronger look at the facts. First off, the United States is not the largest producer of oil annually on the planet! Who is? Russia! How much does a gallon of gas cost in Russia today? Just about $2.10 a gallon US.
How much does gas cost n Russia? | ChaCha
Winships: “Jimmy Carter was the Poster boy for how to screw a pooch without really trying”
Because we all know how hard most of us TRY, how much effort we put into, screwing a pooch. Jimmy made it seem effortless, natural. While the rest of us were all “Get over here you damn little pooch!” Am I right? Am I right?
On re-reading that, I’m less surprised that a Winship or two is familiar with pooch screwing, effortless or not, than I am that there was actually a poster put out explaining how to do it. Sometimes the less one knows about something, the better.
Especially, Greg, especially … when the boy used for these posters was that distinguished peanut farmer / nuclear physicist / post-presidential humanitarian JC, who admitted to “lusting after women in his heart.” Was the pooch a putatively harmless outlet for those pesky urges? And why do I seem to remember the posters in girls’ rooms in that decade NOT being pooch-screwing JC, but Travolta, the BeeGees, Luke Skywalker. I suspect I was overly innocent, some things flew right over my head. Not over the Winships’ head(s) though, thank God.
*Everything in the ’70’s was effortless….unless of course you count the Catalytic Converter and Charlie’s Angels! Diamond’s choice of words for Carter…are poetic
if nothing else! The truth of the matter regarding “Pooch Screwing” came from the days before the Space Industry – although used there indiscriminately. It was actually mentioned in the great movie “The Right Stuff”.. We believe it to be a US Air Force derivative from World War II, although used a bunch in Korea and Vietnam.. It also might have been exemplified by the Layfayette Escadril of The Great War and our volunteer flying corps heroes – who lasted never more than five to ten sorties before being downed or demised. Gasoline was pretty cheap then too! Currently, it is modern day parlance used throughout military circles in the event that the plan does not work or that it is not performed correctly.
*This is a 3rd party read on Screw the Pooch:
Best Answer – Chosen by Voters
The phrase screw the pooch, meaning to mess up, commit a grievous
error, was made famous in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff. The phrase
is a euphemism from US military slang. The original expression was
f*ck the dog and meant to waste time, to loaf on the job.
F*ck the dog dates appears in print for the first time in 1935, but in
1918 another euphemistic version, feeding the dog, appears. The
original sense dates to 1918. Over the decades, the meaning shifted to
the current sense and the screw the pooch wording took the place of
the original phrasing.”
2 years ago from Yahoo answers…
*Hmmm. Maybe they used “Screw the Pooch” in another famous movie “Catch 22”.
Rosarian……be praised!
It’s “Yossarian.” And Vern and I both know the expression; we’re just funning with you. Carter suffered from being prematurely correct about energy policy.
Yes, yes, Winships, we all know the expression. We just hadn’t heard it paired with “without trying,” as though most of us would put effort into doing that.
Please try to answer without saying
*Ever heard of Nickita Krushev? When he banged his shoe…on the NATO table “we had” visions of Sara palin and Deb Pauley – now “theres” two martinis…..you dont want to mix with!!!!!
*In the words of Richard Nixon: “To be perfectly clear……” “Let there be no further confusion!” Anonymous “These are the times that try men’s souls!” Monte Python
Yes, “Yossarian” is quite correct. Rosarian was close but no cigar! Didn’t you just love Richard Benjamin? Alan Arkin is a legend. Still proud we got to work with him for a couple days on one of his lesser known endeavors.
Our appraisal: Carter never suffered ENOUGH for what he didn’t do, much less what he did do!