2Taboos.com: Gas prices are approaching $4.00 a gallon and President Obama has an epiphany

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2Taboos.com: Gas prices are approaching $4.00 a gallon and President Obama has an epiphany

Gas prices are approaching $4.00 a gallon and President Obama has an epiphany

It is an election year, the economy is recovering but it is a slow and fragile recovery. There are many things that could happen to stop it in it's tracks. President Obama is making promises left and right in order to placate the voting public. And gasoline prices which have remained stubbornly high are approaching $4.00 a gallon.

Why is this important? Because U.S. cities that built up after World War II grew around cars and plenty of cheap gas. So like it or not, Americans are very dependent on their cars. And during the last 30 years more and more of the average Americans disposable income goes to putting fuel into their cars.

We all know about the housing bubble and how it sent the economy into a tailspin, but in my humble opinion, the straw that broke the camel's back was not the rising value of homes, or the massive debt load many Americans carried, it was when gas climbed over $4.00 a gallon. At that point, many Americans could no longer afford to pay their debts, and commute to work everyday.

At the time the Democrats were in control of Congress and had spent the last 10 years or so blocking any attempts to increase domestic oil production. Under pressure from an angry public, they reluctantly agreed that we needed to increase domestic production. Of course they only agreed to it while running for re-election. As soon as they were safely back in office, they quietly threw up road blocks to at least slow down the rate of increase.

Last spring gas prices once more started to race to the $4.00 price and many economist, and politicians worried about a double dip recession. Miraculously, the steep climb in prices halted and then backed off a little to around $3.50 a gallon. This new price norm appeared to calm peoples concerns and the economy continued to crawl forward. I thought to myself at the time that the oil and gas industry had found their new baseline for how high a price the American public and economy would tolerate.

Now normally in the Fall and Winter gas prices would drop but it didn't happen this year. Prices remain roughly the same as during the Summer of 2011. Now we are coming into the Spring again when prices normally go up and many industry watch dogs are predicting a $4.00 - $5.00 price for a gallon of gas. In my opinion if the industry allows this to happen, the U.S. will go into another recession and President Obama will lose the election.

So now all of a sudden, we have President Obama preaching the merits of increased domestic drilling and bragging about how oil production is up under his watch. Obviously, he is concerned about what may happen this summer and how it may affect his chances for re-election. And he is attempting to get on the record his support for increasing domestic drilling. President Obama hopes that once again, people will believe his pretty speeches and empty promises, in spite of the evidence that proves his administration has done more to put up road blocks than to promote domestic drilling.

April 7, 2010 Obama halts US drilling in Chukchi Sea

Feb 28, 2011 Stall, baby, stall

Dec 5, 2011 Obama Administration Approves Only 35 % of Gulf Drilling Plans