Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Are gasoline prices really at record levels?
Of course not. Gregg Easterbrook has an extremely crisp little piece cutting up the press coverage -- and the posturing of the Administration -- over gasoline prices. In constant dollars, gasoline prices are almost 40% lower than their real peak in the early eighties, and no higher today than during the halcyon days of the 1950s.
The real question is why Spencer Abraham is making a big deal out of this -- on its face, this seems more like an issue for John Kerry. I can only think of three reasons why the Bush Administration would want to express concern over "record" gasoline prices. First, it wants to sustain its ambition to let oil companies drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Second, it wants to get subtle credit in the mind of the American voter for doing what it can to "secure" oil supplies from the Middle East, even while denying -- correctly -- that the war in Iraq was an attempt to sieze Arab oil. Third, it wants to act like it cares more about the average voter than the profits of oil companies.
Damn, this post makes me look like a leftist or a cynic, and I don't think of myself as either! Does anybody have another more palatable explanation?
The real question is why Spencer Abraham is making a big deal out of this -- on its face, this seems more like an issue for John Kerry. I can only think of three reasons why the Bush Administration would want to express concern over "record" gasoline prices. First, it wants to sustain its ambition to let oil companies drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Second, it wants to get subtle credit in the mind of the American voter for doing what it can to "secure" oil supplies from the Middle East, even while denying -- correctly -- that the war in Iraq was an attempt to sieze Arab oil. Third, it wants to act like it cares more about the average voter than the profits of oil companies.
Damn, this post makes me look like a leftist or a cynic, and I don't think of myself as either! Does anybody have another more palatable explanation?
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