Democrats Fumble Ball On Energy
The Bear on Apr 29 2008 at 8:28 am | Filed under: Energy Policy
Energy Policy: After weeks of dithering and fearing for her party’s political life, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has finally said something about energy. We listened. As the old Peggy Lee song asks, “Is that all there is?”
Surely the majority leader in the world’s most important deliberative body should be able to come up with something better than what Pelosi and the Democrats have proposed.
In a letter just this week to House Republican leader John Boehner, Pelosi touted an extensive record of energy success. But a look at Pelosi’s “record” shows it to be pretty pathetic.
She and congressional Democrats have pursued energy “price-gougers,” even though more than 17 studies have shown the practice is virtually nonexistent; they’ve punished “Big Oil” with higher taxes, while handing subsidies to alternative energy; and they’ve sought to punish “market manipulators.”
None of these ideas work. Today, we have less energy and higher prices than before. Pelosi’s party apparently suffers from a total lack of understanding of basic economics. When you tax and punish, you get less of something — not more.
As we noted earlier this week, the price of oil has risen sharply since the Democrats, with their government-heavy energy schemes, took control of the House. Since January 2007, the first month for the Democrats in office, oil prices are up by more than 113%. And the price for a gallon of regular gas nationwide has surged from $2.29 a gallon to $3.47 as of April 21.
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