Friday, May 23, 2008

HIGH GAS PRICES AND THE LIBERALS

The answer to the question “Why are gas prices so high?” can be traced back to the 1970’s and the extreme Left and Liberals!

I can remember the period very clearly. The price of a gallon of gas was around $1.08 per the EIA (Energy Information Administration) (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/25opec/sld004.htm). The left was saying how terrible we Americans were because America used more gas than any country in the world. We were polluting the air. They wanted the government (Federal and State) to raise taxes on gasoline so a gallon would cost at least $3.00. Keep in mind that was $3.00 in 1972. They felt that at $3.00 per gallon, car manufactures and the American people would be forced to drive less and the use smaller engines (4 cylinder vs. 8 cylinder). One should also note, in 1950 the United States produced 52% of the world’s crude oil; by 1997 that figure had dropped to 10% per EIA (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/25opec/sld001.htm).

Over the past 36 years the Liberal Left (Democrats) has pushed through many laws that restrict our ability to drill for oil in the United States and off our shores. They have also restricted our ability to refine oil in the U.S. These actions make us more and more dependent on foreign oil.

Over the past week the Democrat-controlled Congress has proposed a law which would allow the government to sue the oil producing countries, OPEC, for not producing more oil. What a joke! Maybe more appropriately, what a bunch of idiots! First off I do not believe any international court would rule in our favor. Second, the OPEC countries would not pay even if we did get a judgment rendered in our favor. And lastly, this would cost us friends in the Mideast and as any business major can tell you, lawsuits just add to the cost of the product.

Recently I heard that the world has consumed approximately 50% of the oil available in the world. So why should the Saudis or OPEC or any oil-producing country increase their production just to lower the price for us?

The answer to our supply issue is to increase drilling and processing here at home. Offshore drilling, drilling in Alaska and North Dakota, and oil extraction from shale can provide significant amounts of oil and help keep the price down.

This week I have read several articles in the Washington Times that address this subject very well. “To Give America Freedom”, by Frank Gaffney, 5-20-2008 can be found at http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080520/COMMENTARY03/160902100/1012. There was also an article on 5-21-2008 by H. Sterling Burnett, call “Losing The Energy Race” in the Washington Times which I was unable to find on their webpage. However the same article was posted at eteam.ncpa.org under the title “We Don't Have To Take $4 Gas Prices — We Can Drill”. This can be found at http://eteam.ncpa.org/commentaries/we-dont-have-to-take-4-gas-prices-we-can-drill .