Global Sticker Shock

Seems a popular topic these days is to talk about who’s to blame for the cost of gas being so high. Americans rarely move on any issue more than when the cost to fill up their tank skyrockets, as it has done. This is certainly not the first time in the last two decades we’ve had gas spikes, but it’s the first time since the 80’s the media has had Republicans to lay the blame on.

Naturally Big Oil is also a time-tested boogeyman. Talk of windfall profits taxes and hearings on Capitol Hill are exceedingly prevalent these days. Never mind that profit on most gas is typically .09 a gallon for most oil companies. Never mind things like the huge tax on gas by state and federal government. The easiest thing to ignore is the world oil market. Big Oil’s to blame! We don’t need any other proof! To the gallows!

And thus you have what the Left sees as one potential avenue of strategy to win back Congress in November. And, because Americans really hate paying the high price for gas, they might be able to sway quite a few individuals. I mean, consider rhetoric like this.

"Pain at the pump: 70 percent of Americans say they're feeling the sting. Is Big Oil to blame? Should they do more to ease your pain?... [T]he estimates are that the six large U.S. companies will have a total of $135 billion in profits for the year 2006. Don't consumers have a right to be angry?... [I]isn't at some point enough, enough?... [I]s there any sacrifice that Big Oil can make? People, the public looks at this and says what's unreasonable about a windfall profits tax?"

Charlie Gibson at CBS.

Hat tip to the Federalist for that quote.

Charlie’s right, of course. Consumers have a right to be angry. So who will be our target? Should it be Big Oil? That seems so short-sighted. Maybe we should look elsewhere, beyond the smoke and mirrors of the antique media machine.

Well, there’s the small matter of the developing economies of China and India. Even though the U.S. is the chief purchaser of foreign oil, China and India are cutting into that market and want their fair share. Developing economies gobble up a lot of resources, none so much as oil. This might explain why oil is over $70 a barrel.

Then there’s the areas most oil comes from. The Middle East, long a powder keg that rested under a forced island of stability, the region has destabilized, and about time too. Stabilization brought dictators, oligarchs and theocracies with delusions of grandeur. Destabilizing the region may cure some of that, but one of the side effects will mean the oil supply is more precarious for a time, which also drives up prices.

Then there’s nations like Mexico and Venezuela, nations growing more and more hostile to the U.S. and its interests. Venezuela has a wonderfully socialist presidente for life (he hopes) and Mexico, well, they’d like about six of our states before they’ll consider being friendly with us (how unreasonable we are). Sad that our most stable supplier is Canada.

What to do? Well, we could start tapping our own reserves again and all the ones they’ve discovered in the last 30 years. There’s oil and natural gas on the continental shelf in the Atlantic, possibly in extreme abundance. Actually, there’s no possibly to it. It is abundant. Then there’s still untapped reserves in Alaska and in the shale deposits of the central mountain states. We have considerable supplies of domestic production. So why is that being sat on? Why no alternatives?

Must be those greedy Republ…wait a minute, there was that rather extensive environmental movement on the part of the Left that was championed by the Democrats and some liberal Republicans now that I think about it. I seem to recall, as recently as this year, calls for higher taxes on gas and more restrictions on where we could explore for oil. Hmm...

Wonder if they have anything to do with the high taxes and high cost of a gallon of gas. Could be. But I’d imagine it’s the last of the long line of possibilities outlined above that you’ll see anyone with a microphone and a network (and most cable) news show or a printing press. You’ll see the first one, the Big Oil in bed with Greedy Republicans (I should trademark that phrase, I could make a fortune off George Stephanopolous alone). They’re not going to mention all they did to stop oil exploration or stifle production, new refineries, alternative power (like nukes) and tapping new supplies like the Shelf. That might show you that they are just as culpable in this energy mess and that wouldn’t exactly help them win in November. You might consider it, though.