I always enjoy reading Paul Krugman's columns in the New York Times because they provide a window into the thinking of the delusional left. Yesterday, however, Krugman outdid himself. His column is about how the GOP is crazy to believe that high gasoline prices are the result of intentional policies of president Obama and the Obamacrats. Indeed, Krugman is astonished that Mitt Romney would buy into such a crazy world view.
Krugman, of course, starts by telling us that the president doesn't control gasoline prices or even have much influence over those prices. This is the newly minted Obama excuse of "It wasn't me!" Obviously, Obama cannot blame Bush for the high prices (oil was $38 per barrel when Bush left and Obama took office versus the current price of way over $100 per barrel.) So now we hear the oil prices are set in the world market.
The truly funny thing is that Krugman is an economist by training. He knows that markets set prices based upon supply and demand together with perceptions of future supplies and future demand. To say that Obama does not control the price is correct, but to claim that Obama has no influence on these prices is an absurdity, one which Krugman well knows.
For years, Obama has been following policies that have driven the price of oil higher. Areas that George Bush had opened to drilling were closed by Obama. Areas in the Gulf of Mexico that were completely unrelated to the BP oil spill were closed to drilling. Driling permit approvals on federal land and offshore areas that used to take 6 days for approval now average close to 10 months under Obama. This change alone pushed out production of millions of barrels of oil for almost a year. The Keystone pipeline which would add about 1% additional supply to the world oil market was blocked by Obama. Hydraulic fracturing (the process which has opened up the production of shale oil and natural gas in the USA) has been repeatedly threatened by the feds with being shut down, and these threats have reduced investment in the area. Obama has managed to cut production of oil in the areas of the country where he has control (federal and offshore lands) by close to 11% while production in the rest of the country has risen in response to the higher prices. Indeed, but for Obama's actions, the world oil supply would right now be something like 2% higher. While 2% may not sound like much, in the oil market it is enough to drive prices down substantially.
Many folks believe that Obama's policies are intended to drive gasoline prices higher, but Krugman disputes this. He points to Obama's statement in 2008 that "under my [Obama's] plan, prices will necessarily skyrocket." Krugman properly points out that Obama was talking about electricity rates not gasoline when he said that. Of course, Krugman ignore Obama's statement in the same year that he had no objection to extremely high gasoline prices, his only worry was that they increase in price would be too rapid. That statement was about gasoline prices, not electricity, so Krugman just ignores it. Krugman also ignores the statement by Obama's Secretary of Energy that the USA should have gasoline prices like those in Europe ($8.50 per gallon).
It is pretty clear that Obama has intentionally followed policies that have had the effect of driving up gasoline prices. He cannot now claim to the contrary. But let's assume for the moment that Krugman is correct and Obama was not trying to drive up oil prices. That means that Obama did not realize that driving down the oil supply would raise prices. All the "experts" that Obama has assembled just somehow missed the fact that cutting millions or billions of barrels of production from the world supply would push prices higher. In other words, that would mean that Obama and his advisors are totally incompetent.
Either way, Obama has got to go!
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