Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
The Hill reports that Rep. Michele Bachmann vowed that gas prices would fall to under $2 a gallon if she became president:
Bachmann, speaking to a town-hall meeting in South Carolina, said she would pursue energy policies that send pump prices down to levels not seen since early 2009, at the thick of the U.S. recession.
“Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again,” she said in Greenville. “That will happen.”
Over at The Corner, Dan Foster wonders why a conservative candidate would pretend the presidency has such power as well as just how in the world this would happen. Getting rid of the entire federal fuel surcharge would only cut 18.4 cents per gallon, he notes. He offers the only three ideas he can think of that would achieve this campaign pledge:
1) The seizure by force and nationalized exploitation of a large proportion of the world’s oil supply.
2) The massive federal subsidization of fuel costs.
3) The fomenting of a second global recession as bad as or worse than the last one, complete with negative global GDP growth.
I understand that politicians make unattainable pledges all the time. But this one seems fantastical, no?
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
CandE: We experience $2/gal gasoline for 17 years between 1986 and 2003. However, the triple whammy of supply disruptions from the Iraq war, Katrina and 2006 congress, and demand increases in China and India have brought us to a new equilibrium.
However, despite recent decline in domestic production we are still the 3rd largest producer in the world (behind Russia and Saudi Arabia) with 10-12% of total global supply. If we take strong measures to Drill, Baby, Drill, then it will have an immediate impact on prices.
The only nitpick I have with your post is that we are not at a new equilibrium: we are in a state of flux.
Drilling in ANWR and offshore; tapping oil shale and tar sands; and exploiting natural gas to free up more petroleum for transportation are all ways to shift supply and demand to reduce the price at the pump.
And consider what happens to oil prices if and when Israel develops its oil shale (not to mention when the US develops its own) and taps into the equivalent of a new Saudi Arabia.
Re: Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
Jetstream, thank you for the extraordinary, over-the-top compliment. I revere Milton Friedman and have followed his more accessible writings since my teenage years. I am, of course, nothing like as capable or talented as he was.
Interesting tidbit: My admiration for Dr. Friedman drew me, years ago, to Pacific Research Institute events on a regular basis. In an interesting turn of events, I now have the honor of serving on PRI's board of directors. So in that limited sense I am connected to Friedman's legacy.
Jul '11
Re: Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
Stuart Creque
The only nitpick I have with your post is that we are not at a new equilibrium: we are in a state of flux.
Drilling in ANWR and offshore; tapping oil shale and tar sands; and exploiting natural gas to free up more petroleum for transportation are all ways to shift supply and demand to reduce the price at the pump.
And consider what happens to oil prices if and when Israel develops its oil shale (not to mention when the US develops its own) and taps into the equivalent of a new Saudi Arabia. · Aug 18 at 3:20pm
100% agree.
Dec '10
Re: Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
Gas was $1.89, Michelle Bachmann is aiming for $2.00. If we think that is just too far-fetched to be believed or hoped for, and worthy of ridicule, then we as a nation are even more pathetic than I fear.
It's a reasonable goal. It's not like she said $1 or $1.50. She said eleven cents for than just a couple of years ago.
What if, magically speaking, she became president and within 4 years, you were paying $2.15 a gallon? Would we call her a failure and a joke, and laugh at her for missing by 15 cents? No, we'd be both thrilled and proud. It would mean that as a country, we were perhaps finally doing something right.
May '10
Re: Is This The Stupidest Campaign Pledge Ever?
Vuvuzela:
What if, magically speaking, she became president and within 4 years, you were paying $2.15 a gallon?
I can just imagine the Democrats' attack ads. Ominous music, dark shadows, a dime and a nickel clang to the concrete floor of a dank room. A low, gravelly voice begins, "In a world where..."