Gas Prices

Fire of Liberty

As usual, when the prices of gasoline start going up we see various politicians and talking heads yacking it up about this being a "crisis," and start demanding or promoting government intervention. The only problem with such actions is that whenever the federal government starts butting their noses into anything dealing with the economy (aside from tax cuts and privatization) or pretty much anything not noted in the Constitution, is that things get worse instead of easing the problem. What they need to do is make it easier for energy exploration offshore or in ANWR or building new refineries by removing strenuous environmental restrictions. While I could rap on about how we can decrease the price of gas/oil but I figured I'd let Thomas Sowell give you one of the best arguments on the issue that I've read. Just read what he wrote in his recent column:

Today production is being held back, not by price controls, but by political hysteria whenever anyone suggests actually producing more oil ourselves. Organized nature cults go ballistic at the thought that we might drill for oil in some remote part of Alaska that 99 percent of Americans will never see, including 99 percent of the nature cultists.

People used to ask whether there is any sound if a tree falls in an empty forest. Today, there are deafening political sounds over oil-drilling in an empty wilderness.

Nor can we drill for oil offshore, or in many places on land, again for political reasons. Nor can we build enough refineries or even build hydroelectric dams as alternative sources of power.

Many of the same people who cry "No blood for oil!" also want higher gas mileage standards for cars. But higher mileage standards have meant lighter and more flimsy cars, leading to more injuries and deaths in accidents -- in other words, trading blood for oil.

That just about sums it up.