The "Don't-Drill-Democrats" -- How They Do so Love The Turmoil They Have Created

A tip of the hat to Mr. Hewitt for this one. And the above graphic, as well.

The "Don't-Drill-Democrats" have cast their lot this year with their hard-Left environmental lobby. They refuse to budge on the issue of oil drilling at all. Take a close look at the graphic above. There you will see that while we did have a steady increase in gas prices from 2001 to 2006, the Democrat-controlled Congress helped cause a significant spike in the prices we pay at the pump. As an example, my car has a sixteen gallon gas tank. The last time I filled it up, it cost me $72.00. Compare that to 2006, when it was first bought when I was paying just over $30.00 to fill it up. If you do not think the price jump matters to us, or to a good majority of the nation, think again.

Today the WaPo focused on the economy, and Fed Chairman Bernacke's testimony to Congress yesterday regarding our shaky economic conditions. How are the financial markets tied to gas and oil prices? Because oil is a commodity, and it greatly influences the financial markets as it climbs, uncontrollably, through the roof. Uncontrollably might be too harsh a term because we can control it to a point.

From the WaPo piece:

With world capital markets interconnected as never before -- financial problems at U.S. banks are affecting pension funds in Japan as well as depositors in California -- a mounting sense that America's financial crisis is still far from touching bottom is adding to global troubles, including rising overall inflation and soaring energy prices.

In Paris and London, stock markets fell yesterday to their lowest levels since 2005, partly as investors doubted plans unveiled by U.S. regulators this weekend to prop up the ailing government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In Tokyo, the benchmark stock index fell 2 percent, slipping to levels not seen in 3 1/2 months as the Nikkei newspaper reported that Japan's three largest banks were holding at least $44.2 billion in debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The dollar fell to a new low against the euro, though in one piece of good news, oil prices fell sharply, a key reason that the U.S. stock market was down only 1.1 percent, as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.

The gloomy environment reflects a financial crisis that began last summer and now has spread to regional banks as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. Bancorp missed earnings projections, and a leading analyst issued a dire warning on a mountain of potentially bad debt held by banking giant Wachovia. International news agencies beamed images of panicked Californians jostling to get their savings out of the failed IndyMac Bancorp -- images once associated with developing nations and not the world's economic powerhouse.

Yes, the world economy is as shaky as our own is right now, and the Democrats in congress refuse to do the one thing that could help stabilize us right now. They absolutely refuse to budge on the idea of drilling in the outer-continental shelf and drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. Harry Reid stated just two days ago that the oil companies have plenty of places to drill. He cited their 68 million acres under lease right now, but refused to address what the oil companies have consistently reminded Congress in the past, which is that those fields are dry. We must open up new areas of the nation for exploration and drilling.

The Democrats plan, thus far, has been to whine about the demand. Nancy Pelosi refers to the calls for more drilling as "a hoax." That is their answer to the Rasmussen and Pew Research polls that show the majority of Americans want Congress to drill more in an effort to bring down gas prices.

Beginning the process now will help reduce the price of oil, and the price at the pump, quickly. It would prove to be a stabilizing factor to our economy. It would help bring our markets around, and when our markets settle, the world markets will calm down. I am not saying this is an end-all, be-all solution for everything, but I am saying this is a factor to help shore up the weakened economy we have right now.

The feckless Democrats do not care. Their idea for solving this problem is to tap into the Strategic Reserves at a time when we are facing problems in the Middle East. We explained this earlier this week that the Strategic Reserves are there in case there is an energy crisis; in case those abroad decide to turn off the spigot to the United States. Releasing oil from the Strategic Reserves will artificially and temporarily ease the pain at the pump, but it will do little to help us in the long term. It is, at best, a minimal solution to a grand-scale problem. We equate it with putting a band-aid on a cancerous tumor, and pronouncing the patient safe from reaching the terminal stages.

The answer -- the long-term answer -- is to open up exploration, and when we locate oil we should drill it. We urge readers and like-minded people to call up Congress -- 202-225-3121 -- and demand that they stop these games. Make America energy independent, and at the same time, help the economy begin a rebound.

Marcie