I have noticed this week that gas prices have fallen considerably. I’m in Oregon for a while and I saw a station today selling at $3.96 here–last month in Oakland I paid over $4.70 a gallon. I’ve been wondering two things: who do I thank for the relief and second, when will the break from high prices end?
Senator McCain has graciously offered an answer to the first question. Apparently it was the President’s push for off-shore drilling that lowered the price of oil. Mr. McCain fails to note that the national average upon Bush’s inauguration was $1.36 per gallon. I’m not saying that Bush is entirely to blame for the price hike, but any break at the pump should not translate to praise for the President. It’s still troubling that $4 a gallon is seen as a good price.
As for the second question, I don’t know when the prices will return to the spectacular highs we’ve seen this summer. But if McCain is correct (a BIG if) and the idea of offshore drilling influenced the market to lower oil prices, it will surely be short-lived. The allure of offshore drilling is understandably hard to resist, especially in election season, but as the Boston Globe reports it will not be a quick fix. Once that realization occurs, I think the soaring prices will resume and maybe even break $5 this summer as some projections say.
