In order to help Americans with increased gas prices, our politicians are coming up with all kinds of ideas. That's good, unless of course they are bad ideas. And as usual, the Democrats have nothing but criticism and bad ideas, if any at all.
The Democrats want to repeal part of the gas tax to ease prices at the pump, temporarily. I don't know how many cents per gallon they propose giving back, but either way it's a dumb idea because lower prices will only further increase demand while doing nothing about supply (which by the way is the problem!). The price of gas is a symptom, it is not the problem. Decreased supply, or the speculation of decreased supply is what is causing gas prices to increase and therefore, supply must be dealt with if we want a real solution.
The bottom line is that gas prices are high because our free marketplace is working properly, and I for one think that is a good thing. No, I don't like paying more to fill up my car, but the prices are high because of a decreased supply (or speculation of decreased supply). At the same time, demand for oil (a finite natural resource) is greater than ever. That situation, in a free enterprise system, is supposed to result in higher prices, and you can't fix what's not broke.
So the solution must address future fuel supply, not current gas prices. I support more drilling in the US, reduction in the number of blends and spending money on alternative fuels research as President Bush is talking about. However, I fear it is only talk.
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