Stop the Insanity

I'm getting a little tired of hearing about gas prices. There must be a story every 15 minutes. Is that really necessary? I don't think its necessary to keep telling people what they probably already know. And then again and again. If only we could harness hot air for energy.

What's almost always missing, of course, is a dose of sanity. Well, let's get some, shall we?

The politicians have a lot to do with it.

Consider the "Liberal Line":

We are horribly dependent on foreign oil. But we shouldn't develop domestic oil or boost our refining capacity. We need a gas tax to wean Americans from foreign oil, but high gas prices are an outrage. We need alternative forms of energy, but we shouldn't use nuclear power. We need renewable, sustainable energy, unless it spoils the view of rich liberal icons.

Got it?

At least one politician understands this:

During an interview with Larry Kudlow earlier this week about rising gas prices, Rep. Blackburn observed, “If we're going to work toward [energy independence], we’re going to have to do some things differently. Now, I can tell you one of the things that I wish had been done differently is over the past 30 years, we have had environmental extremists driving energy policy in this country, saying no to everything.”

Certainly increased demand for oil from the growing Chinese and Indian economies and instability in the Middle East are major pressures on oil prices, but both Republicans and Democrats have added to these pressures by allowing the environmental movement to tie our energy policy in knots.

Bowing to environmentalist demands since the 1970s, Congress has blocked oil and gas drilling from areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (10.4 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Geological Service) and the Outer Continental Shelf (86 billion barrels of oil, according to the Minerals Management Service).

I also really like this story today: 'Qatar: Price of oil would drop $15 if Politicians would shut up'
Seems fairly obvious to me. Nearly every politician in Washington has joined the gasbag scaremongering witchhunt against oil companies.

Some pundits sure do get it right, though. Here's Neil Cavuto talking to Durbin:

CAVUTO: "Do you know how much, out of curiosity, senator, is billed into a gallon of gasoline, profits of the oil companies, per gallon? Do you know what's the average?"

DURBIN: ExxonMobil, what did they make in three months? It was $10 billion, if I'm not mistaken, the largest corporate profits in the history of the United States.

CAVUTO: Maybe you could answer my question. It's about 9 cents. Do you know how much taxes are, senator? About 50 cents.

DURBIN: Let me tell you....

CAVUTO: So, don't you think you should be more focused on the tax- gouging than necessarily the profit-gouging?

DURBIN: How do you explain their profits -- how do you explain their profits after taxes? You're ignoring that, Neil. You don't want to talk about it.

CAVUTO: Are you ignoring the taxes? Senator, I'm asking you simply, are you ignoring the taxes?

DURBIN: No. I'm telling you...

CAVUTO: Would you roll back those taxes?

DURBIN: .. the taxes pay for the roads that we use.

CAVUTO: Would you roll back those taxes?

DURBIN: No.

CAVUTO:"So, 50 cents a gallon, those taxes are okay? The nine-cent profit, that's not okay?"

DURBIN: Oh, stop the 9 cents. Talk about ExxonMobil's record profits, my friend. Four hundred million dollars for their CEO, aren't you a little embarrassed by that?

CAVUTO: Are you worried, though, Senator, that you're mixing this argument here...

DURBIN: You didn't answer me, Neil.

CAVUTO: that, when people look at what is being paid for a gallon of gasoline, the problem, the oil companies are no saints, but you know what, Senator? I think you're a bigger sinner, because it's the tax gouging that is killing Americans, not necessarily the price of the crude.

Its economics 101. And thats all there is to it. Supply and Demand.