One quick fix

How about releasing 50 million Barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Mr. Bush only had it filled to capacity in 2001 to 700 million barrels, I think that would provide some relief for a while. What the hell do we have the reserve anyhow for in the 1st place?? Clinton did it, and it brought the prices down, but not Big Oil Mr. Bush!! He would rather see people suffer and go broke!!

 

I dont know where you get this from?? Its not a well or pocket that hasnt been drilled, it makes no sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Petroleum_Reserve#Filling_the_SPR
This is physical oil that we have stored in tanks around the country.

 

Facilities

The SPR management office is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The reserve is stored at four sites on the Gulf of Mexico, each located near a major center of petrochemical refining and processing. Each site contains a number of artificial caverns created in salt domes below the surface. (Note: Capacity numbers may be out of date.)

• Bryan Mound - Freeport, Texas. Has a capacity of 226 million barrels (36,000,000 m³).
• Big Hill - Winnie, Texas. Has a capacity of 160 million barrels (25,000,000 m³).
• West Hackberry - Lake Charles, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 219 million barrels (35,000,000 m³).
• Bayou Choctaw - Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Has a capacity of 72 million barrels (11,000,000 m³).
• Richton, Mississippi. In February 2007, Secretary of the Energy Department Samuel Bodman announced the creation of a new site. This new site is currently facing some opposition.
• Weeks Island - Iberia Parish, Louisiana (Decommissioned 1999) Capacity of 72 million barrels (11,000,000 m³). This facility was a conventional room and pillar near-surface mine salt mine, formerly owned by Morton Salt. In 1993, a sinkhole formed on the site, allowing fresh water to intrude into the mine.

Individual caverns within a site can be up to 1000 m below the surface, average dimensions are 60 m wide and 600 m deep, and capacity ranges from 6 to 30 million barrels (1 to 5 million m³). Almost $4 billion was spent on the facilities. The decision to store in caverns was taken to reduce costs; the Dept. of Energy claims it is roughly 10 times cheaper to store oil below surface with the added advantages of no leaks and a constant natural churn of the oil due to a temperature gradient in the caverns. The caverns were created by drilling down and then dissolving the salt with water.
Because of the mine's construction in salt deposits, fresh water would erode the ceiling, potentially causing the structure to fail. The mine was backfilled with salt-saturated brine. This process, which allowed for recovery of 98% of the petroleum stored in the facility, reduced the risk of further freshwater intrusion, and helped prevent the remaining oil from leaking into the aquifer that is located over the salt dome.

 

I dont know about that, I understand Wiki isn't always correct, but I read basically the same thing at the DOE website. According to the DOE, with a emergency order by the President the DOE can begin delivering oil into the market place within 13 days.
What your saying and what I'm reading are in total conflict of each other. Some links in conjunction with what your saying would be helpful in order to read more in depth about the subject.

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/

Strategic Petroleum Reserve -
Quick Facts and Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/spr-facts.html

 

I read about that a while back. I personally think this is nothing more then price gouging by big oil. If you read about the oil reserves around the world it would blow your mind!! We have enough oil in the Strategic Reserve to last a year, but they wont release not one barrel.

 

I will agree with you that a *true* reserve is a capped oil well or a untapped deposit. I also believe the fact that we have up to 700million BBL of oil stock piled in these salt mines and such. Whichever way you look at it, if 50 million BBL were released into that market at below cost, it would bring prices down and stabilize the economy.
Until we see the passing of the Bush administration, it is highly unlikely you will see that happen.
The only candidate running for President that so far has addressed this is Mccain.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/10/mccain-says-oil-prices-too-high-to-buy-for-spr/?mod=WSJBlog