Four Dollar Gasoline

Any endeavor humans embark upon carries a cost and a risk. Someone fell in the shower this morning and a pedestrian will die under a car somewhere today. Oil drilling comes with inherent dangers, to those working in the field (as in the eleven oil rig workers off Louisiana who were just tragically lost) and for the environment itself. But the benefit of cheap, abundant petroleum far offsets the risk. Nothing man has produced to this point can replace the gasoline-powered motor as the literal engine of prosperity. So, when David Axelrod says today that no new drilling will be allowed by the Obama administration until the cause of the Gulf of Mexico tragedy is found, it is bound to drive oil prices up and inhibit economic growth. Stopping new drilling, which is already slowed to a glacial pace by existing regulation and litigation by environmental interest groups, will only drive the price of gasoline up that much more just as we are entering the peak summer travel season. As schools are out and vacationers are planning their annual road trip sparking the highest sustained demand at any point in the year (Christmas boosts demand as well but not increased gas use for several months), there will be no chance of an increase in supply to keep prices at the pump steady. In fact with even one deep water well offline, our monopolistic adversaries in OPEC, the likes of Chavez's Venezuela and the September Eleventh Saudis, may further restrict their flow here to squeeze us. As our use rises, and availability contracts, we will see four dollar a gallon gasoline and perhaps long lines at gas stations despite exorbitant, extortionist prices at the pump. And that is precisely the way the Al Gores and Barack Obamas of the world who never want to share the wealth but always seek to spread the misery want it- punitive gas prices stifling free movement in America.