Now that the full damage of George Bush's foriegn policy's has come full circle.
Did I mention, helping out his oil buddies as well ?
Results...
Round trip flight to the Philippines $ 1200.00 , fuel surcharge $ 10,000.00 :angr
Options, take up swimming classes, learn how to row or rob a bank.

....and I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. Just hoping the damage is not permanent!

Or learn how to walk on water!!!!

what is that $10,000 fuel surcharge? has someone actually been charged that when booking a flight?

Not yet, just planning ahead.
Monkey boy (Bush), has set as all up for one hell of a mess.
I pray that the next president can fix what's coming up.

Thats very smart, alot of the people who come to this forum are going to take this post seriously and panic and worry, maybe next time post in the general discussion with disclaimers about it being your opinion. You do realize that the US government foreign policy has a minimal effect on the price of oil. Oil is priced and traded in dollars. Due to the damage from the mortgage crisis and lowered interest rates the dollar has weakened substantially against foreign currencies. Just look at the peso to dollar rate and what it used to be. With a weak dollar in the international money market Oil prices will rise. Also increased demand from China (putting 1000 new cars on the roads everyday) and India has helped increase the price. Add to that the people (not just americans but anyone with lots of money) who speculate in the futures market to make even more money. I would agree that the Bush family made their money on Oil. Its a lucrative business. Lots of wealthy americans have investments in oil and other wealth increasing commodities. Just ask the Middle Eastern OPEC members who reap billions in profits as they just pump it out of the ground. Some suggested reading and note this was written in 2005 and its quite predictive of our current problems in the oil markets. http://www.icfi.com/Markets/Energy/Marketi...ry-capacity.pdf BTW Im not a Bush fan but I know enough about the economy to see that its much more complicated then blaming the Executive Branch.

Your right, Bush and his friends are not the only problem. I am sure there are many issues involved.
Have you ever seen a president sit around and smile while fuel prices continue to rise at a record speeds/levels and our service men are killed ? He just seems happy to be a "war time president".
The huge increases in fuel costs are not our only problem, honest leaders have been trying to tell us for over ten years. As a nation we voted for a politician not a leader.
If I could say only one thing to the America public, it would be "vote your conscious next time".
Many people don't get it, don't let the media and their polls tell you who to vote for.
Are we sheep ?
If anyone is interested in our possible future's see U tube, type in Ron Paul.

Americans are too brain-washed to vote for anyone who isn't an ### or pacaderm. Unfortunately most of those asses and pacaderms are also crooks and/or idiots. Whenever I mention voting for someone else, I always get the 'wasted vote' comment. The sheep (American voters) move as one and the sheep dog (media) direct their lives and they'll probably never be independent enough to cast a ballot for anyone the media has labeled unelectable.

Every time Ron Paul made relevant comments, the ###/pacaderm candidates smiled and continued to discuss garbage topics that would be more suited for an article in People Magazine. Until a majority of American voters become more independent thinkers, the plague of corrupt politicians will continue to run this country as their handlers direct.

I think that you're not taking into account that the per barrel price of oil is not really set by the government but by stock traders. The people who are pushing up the price are those who are predicting that the price of oil will continue to rise. The Oil and Fuel industry is content to accept these record prices because they're fat cat businessmen. They posted record profits this year, why? because we need fuel to do anything in this country. Fuel for shipping, fuel for travel, fuel for everyday life. I'm not saying that politicians are innocent, because hey, they're politicians, but there's more than just the folks in washington making this mess. The economy is in a slowdown because the mortgage industry made a lot of huge mistakes, consumer confidence is eroded, the rising oil prices are pushing up the costs of everything else dependent upon oil, and we are not making as many luxury purchases which winds up hurting those employed by businesses that cater to the luxury/entertainment sales.

The Airline industry has been pummeled since 2001. I know of at least 2 airlines that have shut their doors, i can also think of at least 2 mergers that are being done to make it easier for them to continue doing business. With so many planes being forced to undergo maintenance, the airlines are seeing a shortfall in earnings until all of their flights are back on schedule. You don't think that they're going to try to make up the difference somewhere?

What can any one politician do to impact so many things?

The price of oil since the year 2000 is more due to inflation than anything Bush, OPEC, etc have done to directly affect the price of oil.

The cost of oil in dollars since Bush took office has gone up around 350%+, however the price of oil in terms of gold since Bush took office has only gone up around 30-40%. That 30% price increase represents actual oil value increases, the other 370% is nothing more than inflation. With the dollar devalued by inflation, it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil.

This means that if our currency was backed by a gold standard rather than an inflation inducing central bank fiat system, we'd still be paying around $1.50 per gallon, or $28 dollars per barrel of oil.

Bush is largely at fault for this by irresponsibly pushing this war machine with no regard to the cost, creating dramatic over spending and fueling inflation even further.

If we ended this war and pulled our military back home, we could abolish the income tax and still have a surplus rather than our current defecit. This would do a great deal to fix our inflation problem. Instead it looks like our foreign military operations will be expanded before they are retracted.

You'll never see this bullish oil trend reverse unless something is done to put a cap on inflation. As things are now, expect 200 dollar per barrel oil in the next 3 years. That translates to $7-10 per gallon.

Do you really think it'll take 3 years to reach $200/bbl? If more countries trade oil with euros or in some type of bartering agreements, the dollar will decrease in value even more. Most of the comments about the rise in oil prices from politicians don't mention the devalued dollar. Maybe it is an effort on their part not to panic the American public.

We'll see, but notice I said within 3 years, meaning 3 years at most.

Yes it's not all Bush's falt, but his I want to be like daddy war is killing more than our people. They are printing money to pay for it and soon there will be hell to pay.
Think about this, no empire in history (the last 3,000 years plus) has lasted ! They all have crashed as an empire (we are an empire/super power).
If the american people dont wake up soon many things will come to a boil, weak dollar(from printing unbacked money), fuel costs, health care and pissing off half the world...
Jesus America, think for yourself. We need leaders not politicians. Next time your channel 12... tells you a canidate can't win. Think about who you really want for your childrens sake.

I wish EVERYONE knew of Ron Paul and gave him a chance. He is by far the best choice for our country

Why not blame the do nothing congress for the high cost of oil which has much lower approval rating than president Bush. The public gives the do nothing congress headed by the wonderful leaders of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid an approval rating of 22% which is an all time low.

hmm.... an off topic thread in the Philippine Forum. where's GaryC and Jabberwocky? haven't seen them post yet.