Politicians Deserve Some of the Blame for High Gas Prices

They're at it again-the politicians who want to blame everyone but themselves for the high price of gas at the pump. It seems as though the politicians in Congress everyday blame someone or something for high gas prices, whether it is oil companies, the war in Iraq, a dwindling oil supply-everything that is, except themselves. An inability for politicians to blame themselves is part of the problem causing high gas prices. 

Let's start with the claim of those in Congress that the oil companies are gouging the public, price fixing among themselves, or just making too much profit. I don't want to dwell too much on any of those points and would rather, for the most part, let oil company executives answer for themselves. I will say, however, if the oil companies don't make a profit what incentive do they have to drill to find additional oil?

Some are calling for a tax on excessive oil company profits, called a Windfall Profits Tax. As pointed out in Capitalism Magazine, September 26,2005, at www.capmag.com, in an article by James Glassman, the United States tried such an approach between 1980 and 1987, and the tax (WPT) "reduced domestic oil production between three and six percent. This made the U.S. more dependent on imported oil." At a time when we need to find more oil and reduce costs, some in the United States Senate are instead considering something that would make us more dependent on foreign oil.

Will politicians ever actually consider something that might rapidly lower the price of gas during the current spike in oil prices, like lowering or abolishing the tax on a gallon of gasoline? It seems not. It seems it's just easier to try to look tough, to pretend you're trying to do something, by taking on the oil companies. Again, I do not work for an oil company, and I will let executives defend themselves. I will not say they do or don't need as high profits as they now have, but obviously they not only need profits to make the business viable, but also to be able to search for more oil.