Bill O'Reilly: Economic Ignoramus

As far back as 2005 Bill O'Reilly was demonstrating his utter ignorance of economics from his bully pulpit at Fox News.

Getting to the bottom of high fuel prices. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. It's not easy. Last night we had an extensive discussion about the pricing of gasoline and the huge profits American oil companies are making. One thing struck me: after all the experts we've talked with, after all the research we've done, we still can't find out who exactly sets the price of a gallon of gasoline. Which human being in America does that?

...Every time I ask who sets the price I get "the market", "the Merc", "OPEC", and on and on. Well it's all B.S. Somebody tells your local gas station owner exactly what to charge. Somebody does that...

O'Reilly's three-year long rant against high oil prices seems to have hit a lull lately.

Perhaps he'd like to blame the oil companies for low prices now. Or the "speculators". Or the "price-fixers".

Oh, and maybe he supports a bailout for the oil companies too, since their profits have fallen so dramatically.

What an economic illiterate.