Now admittedly this report does not address the problems in our approach to policy, and I wish we would get off this partisan finger pointing and move the country forward. It is an election year so I would expect that the politicians are much more concerned with their jobs than on actually doing their jobs.
Over at Hot Air this morning, they have selected a couple of very defining video clips that illustrate why we are where we are, and why it is not going to change in the near term. The article focuses on BHO’s comments on gasoline prices. Pay attention though to the end of that clip where he states that it is the Auto Maker’s responsibility to drive the consumer’s purchasing and driving habits. Personally, I think that if we are waiting on the auto makers it is going to be a long time before we see any relief to the demand side of this equation. People cannot and will not go out and buy new cars just because of their gasoline bills. It is just not an economically feasible approach. Even if they could the price, stability, and early adoption of new technology in autos is not something that most Americans can afford.
All that said, now we need to put this into the global picture. Demand is not driven by US consumers alone. Particularly for gasoline. This is a complex issue, that is going to require several stages of solution over a couple of decades to be solved. Unfortunately, the politicians don’t really understand this. If they did we would be well down the road of implementing the Energy Policy that was published early in GWB’s first term.
Without further ado I give you the post from Hot Air on this very topic.