Recently the President breezily dismissed his slumping poll numbers as a product of high gas prices. Like everything else in Obama's world, if it's bad it has nothing to do with him.
As gas prices soar above $4/gallon, let's reflect:
Incoherent energy policy? Check.
Domestic oil production scheduled to start declining next year? Check.
Starting a senseless war with a Middle East oil state? Check.
Royally ticking off the Saudis? Check.
Energy secretary who once said "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Check.
Insensitive "Let them drive Volts" moment to father with SUV. Check.
Yet another useless commission to take the place of real leadership. Check.
Now let's burn off a couple hundred tons of Air Force One jet fuel. Obama's gotta fly back from California to celebrate Earth Day.
Extra - Volokh: "Don't blame the speculators."
More - Instapundit finds that some tourist destinations fear Americans taking a "staycation" due to gas prices.
Even more - From Doug Ross.
3 comments:
I won't defend Obama's glib dismissals of our economic peril, but the overreaction to gas prices is out of hand. Take reasonable numbers like a 600-mile round trip vacation and 25 mpg on the highway, and the difference in cost between gas at $3/gal and gas at $4/gal comes out to all of $24. Most families will spend that much at McDonald's on the way.
Even a commuter who logs 15,000 miles a year at a paltry 20 mpg is looking at only 750 gallons of gas. A difference of $750 in a year is real money, but the people for whom it would cause a legitimate financial hardship are few. Pack a lunch from home twice a week or find a cheaper coffee provider than Starbucks -- problem solved.
Seeing gas at four bucks a gallon is a psychological shock, but then I'm always surprised by how expensive milk has gotten too.
"Seeing gas at four bucks a gallon is a psychological shock, but then I'm always surprised by how expensive milk has gotten too."
Ah, but are they not related? Aside from the pain of commuting cost (my round trip is 80 miles/day), rising gas costs lead to inflation of everything that is transported by truck. Which is everything, including milk.
"...rising gas costs lead to inflation of everything that is transported by truck. Which is everything, including milk."
The increase in milk prices has led (not trailed) the increase in gas prices out here, but that's not really the point. I'd have to see some numbers before I believed that gasoline prices affect dairy and produce prices by more than a few percent.
Sure, everything is getting more expensive -- feed, irrigation, refrigeration, probably storage -- but that doesn't justify singling out a $1/gal gas price increase as What's Wrong With America.
Post a Comment