Gas Crunch Easing, But for How Long?
by Jeff Davis
Well, looky looky. There may actually be some good news for a change. Gas prices have finally dropped significantly. Is this going to be some long overdue relief for American consumers or just a cheap pre-election trick? How long will it be before that drunken moron in the White House fouls it all up for us?!
According to Yahoo News, “Consumer confidence zoomed to a seven-month high as lower gasoline prices made people feel a lot better about the current economic climate and their own financial standing. That marked an improvement from August, when consumer confidence sank to a three-month low of 74.8. At that time, the toll of soaring energy prices was blamed for weighing on consumers’ psyches. The recent drop in energy prices, however, provided people with some relief and propelled confidence to its best reading since February…. ‘The drop in pump prices is very visible to consumers and seems to have a huge impact… Consumers seem to view gasoline prices as a barometer to their overall well being.’” Two-thirds of the US economy depends on consumer spending so lower gas prices mean more consumer activity for everything else.
The same article notes “After surging past $3 a gallon in many areas, gasoline prices are now hovering around $2.62 a gallon nationwide, the Energy Department says… Oil prices, which surged to a record closing high of $77.03 a barrel in mid-July, have since eased and are now above $63 a barrel. Natural gas prices, meanwhile, fell to a two-year low on Thursday, raising hopes that homeowners who depend on gas to heat their homes will see lower bills this winter.”
Economic and political commentators all across the spectrum agree on one thing: an American bombing campaign against Iran would be catastrophic. Iran’s oil would be shut off, either deliberately or because the pipelines and refineries and port facilities would be destroyed by American bombs and cruise missiles. The Iranians would most likely close the Strait of Hormuz, through which forty per cent of all the world’s oil flows, and the United States would be forced into a bloody ground campaign using the already overstretched Army and Marines to try and force the strait back open–not that there would be much oil coming out anyway, with both the Iranian and Iraqi fields and pipelines effectively shut down by Muslim rebels.
Crude oil could easily top $100 barrel and four or five dollars per gallon gas would become a reality. The number of American jobs that would be lost would be beyond calculation. The human misery that this deranged, misanthropic little man in the White House could inflict on mankind is beyond the power of the human mind to envision. It boggles the mind that George W. Bush was chosen over Pat Buchanan in the 2000 Republican primary. At least now, we see that Pat was right about everything and Bush was wrong about everything. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about impeachment.