Gas Prices: Where Is The Outrage?

President Obama is getting his wish. He said he wanted gasoline prices to go to $4/gallon gradually (so it's not such a shock), and here we are creeping up through $3/gallon again. As the leftists in the press have their hero in office right now, this is not a problem like it was when the other guy's ox stood to be gored. Government interference with the energy market is screwing up the prices we pay for oil and gas. Still. This toying with our pocketbooks is something for which I previously criticized President Bush; but the treat-the-people-like-they're-stupid tactic has been brought out yet again. So, yet again, I will criticize.

The Department of the Interior says they will allow some drilling for oil to resume. The economy will take off like a shot now, surely!

Hold on there.

This is how the leftists try to convince the Useful Idiots out there that someone in D.C. has a clue what should be done. What should be done is briefly summed up as "Drill here, drill now, pay less" but there is a problem with that strategy. The problem is that the Democrats in Congress are beholden to watermelon environmentalist pressure groups. We CANNOT allow drilling here, now, for lower energy prices, because it prevents Democrats being supported by the leftist environmentalist-whacko base demographic. So what we'll do instead of "Something" is put out statements which sound nice but will have little short-term benefit.

When you tell a giant monster mega oil company they can't drill for oil anymore, they take their half-million-dollars-a-day-whether-they-are-drilling-or-not drilling platform somewhere they can, you know, actually drill. Scheduling this takes many many months. For Uncle to suddenly turn around and say "just kidding, come drill again!" will lead to relatively little effort in the short-term. Not only is it hideously expensive and time-consuming to relocate and start up a drilling rig, the payout is long-term. The roughnecks sometimes have to keep drilling for a while to produce a winner. It is even possible, if Exxon (or whoever) thinks Interior will turn right around and kick them off their oil lease again in six months

they
won't
bother

coming back. But you rubes in flyover country will hear that President Obama tried to get the oil companies to come play again but they wouldn't. The press can then whip up your feverish little mind to blame the Republicans now (closer to being) in power, and the Democrats escape blame for the damage their policies do. Great success!

Don't fall for it. Remember next November: incumbent politicians from BOTH parties allow the moratoria on new drilling to continue, year after year. Energy security? Is that a lobbying group?

Vote the bums out.

********

(spin)
In Related news, President Obama has failed yet again to live up to his promises to the environmental movement, and declared he will allow deep water oil drilling just like the Deepwater Horizon was doing before it blew up in the gulf . . .