Supply and demand. Which side of the equation should we attack in order to bring the price of gasoline down? In a highly publicized move, our decider-in-chief chose to stimulate the supply of oil with measures that sound good on television but will have very little effect. And to make his choice even more incredible, he proposes to ease environmental regulations along the way.
If, instead of doing what his oil buddies want, he used his bully pulpit to ask Americans to reduce their personal consumption of oil --even giving pointers for how to do so-- we would see an almost immediate drop in the demand for oil, perhaps even a very significant drop.
It should be clear that, when global warming is factored in, the only prudent course is to reduce the use of oil in the short term. In the medium term, a growing economy will demand additional gasoline, but we should do all we can to minimize the growth in demand for oil until alternative technologies can be brought to market. Using less oil will not only drive down its price, it will slow our approach towards the temperature cliff that threatens to pull us all over the edge.
