It's a frightening day when I largely agree with both the
Washington Post editorial board AND conservative columnist
Charles Krauthammer. But, apparently, today's my lucky day, because on gasoline prices, they both pretty much nail it. From the
Post editorial, "Phony War on Gas" (bolding added for emphasis):
NO DOUBT IT makes everyone feel better when the president states his concern for Americans, who are now paying more than $3 a gallon for gasoline. Unfortunately, the measures President Bush chose to announce this week to combat high prices are either meaningless or possibly dangerous in the long run, even if they do offer a bit of temporary relief...
...Stopping the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve won't increase supply by much, and it sets a bad precedent: The reserve, after all, is meant for national emergencies, which this is not...
The president has, of course, had plenty of opportunities over the past five years to shape a more rational energy policy, one that would have provided incentives to move away from oil and toward other energy sources. He could have lobbied harder to remove the oil industry tax benefits from the energy bill he signed. He could have insisted that Congress add more tax breaks for hybrid cars, as he now says he wishes it had done...
And he could have used his statutory authority to raise automobile fuel economy standards or persuaded Congress to find other ways to improve mileage per gallon of U.S. vehicles. Again,if he were completely honest, the president would tell Americans that the main reason fuel prices are higher in this country is because demand is growing -- and one reason for growing demand is that people drive inefficient cars. They drive inefficient cars because public policy, long shaped by the president and by Congress, has made it advantageous to do so. Until that changes, little else will.
The main thing - unless you really want to get into a discussion of MTBE and RBOB (not!) - I'd add to this analysis is the supply side, where a combination of OPEC and Big Oil have failed to invest adequately in new oil production capacity since the oil crash of the late 1990s. Sure, this is due partly to the cyclical nature of the oil business - boom following bust like day follows night. Still, it's hard to feel any sympathy for the oil producers when OPEC and ExxonMobil are raking in record revenues ($8.4 billion in first-quarter profit for ExxonMobil announced yesterday). What are they doing with all that money? A lot of things, but not much new oil drilling, that's for sure.
Which brings us to Charles Krauthammer, and his op-ed, "Say It With Me: Supply and Demand." I love this:
...Nothing can match the spectacle of politicians scrambling for cover during a spike in gasoline prices. And this time the panderfest has gone all the way to the Oval Office...
...A 60-day suspension of the federal gas tax. It would cost $6 billion and counteract the only good thing that comes with high gas prices -- the incentive to conserve.
George Shultz once said, "Nothing ever gets settled in this town." But even Shultz, who has seen everything, must marvel at the perfect regularity, the utter predictability, of the bottomless cynicism of Washington in the grip of gasoline fever.
Bottomless cynicism. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Which is exactly why we need to get straight-talking, straight-shooting, "Born Fighting" folks like Jim Webb to Washington, ASAP!
P.S. By the way, if it makes you feel any better about paying $3 per gallon (or more) for gas, close your eyes and think of England, where "petrol" is now around $7 per gallon. Maybe they deal with it by calling it 99 pence per liter? Sure sounds cheaper, anyway! Ha.