So, the president is finally figuring out that rising energy prices, especially the price of oil, does unacceptable harm to the economy, especially when a recession is already under way. After a lifetime of saying we need to have high oil prices so that green energy is more competitive, he's FINALLY figuring out that the economy doesn't work that way simply because he wants it to.
When you stop new oil production and oil exploration, the price of oil goes up. That part he already knew. Remember when he was campaigning and glibly said, "the price of energy will necessarily skyrocket" under his energy policy? His theory at the time was when the price of oil/gas got high enough, people and the economy in general would simply switch to other greener forms of energy. What he didn't understand, that one learns in Econ 101, is that people don't switch to something else that's also unacceptably high-priced. When the cost of energy gets this high they stop buying things. They don't just switch to something else the cost of which is also unacceptably high.
So, he stopped new oil production and exploration when he came into office. He was willing to drive up the price of oil and, therefore, of nearly all goods we purchase because nearly everything is dependent on energy. Implementing his 'go green energy policy' was more important to him than our economic health. And he was willing to do it in the middle of a recession!!! That's about as knuckleheaded as it gets in my book. Econ 101 says that driving up the cost of things in a recession makes the recession worse.
It appears he he has finally figured out what happens when you allow the price of gas to more than double in two years. Most of us knew what would happen when he said he wanted the price of energy to skyrocket. Econ 101 y'know. It might have been something to at least try ... IF the economy had been in good shape. But what a responsible person does when something negative happens to them economically, is realize that it is no longer a good time to do something that they know will further hurt them economically. I respect President Obama's desire to drive up the cost of energy to get green energy going but when he saw the economy crashing he should have delayed those plans. However, with the far (progressive) left, ideology trumps reason and logic. Fixing the economy first so it can handle a big increase in oil takes a back seat to ideology. Doing the right thing for our economy takes a back seat to ideology, period. Common sense, assuming there ever was any, goes out the window.
He's finally learning Econ 101 ... the hard way ... over our dying economy. It's a hard lesson for him to learn by experience versus fundamental laws of economics taught in most universities. It's an even harder lesson for the average American who has to suffer at the hands of such staggering inexperience.
Before you get all congratulatory with the president over lifting his ban on new oil exploration and drilling, realize that our economy would have had a much better chance of recovering before now if he had put his green energy drive on hold until we got through this recession. He made it worse. Now the economy is so sluggish that even a devout progressive can figure out it's time to give Americans a break so they'll start spending again. The progressive energy policy has come at a high price. Worse, we haven't seen the worst of it yet.
One BIG problem is that it takes some time for this energy policy change to have the desired effect on the economy because it takes time to get oil production started up again. If he had done this upon taking office we'd be seeing the benefit by now. As it is, we're paying double for gas what we paid when he took office. As a result, Americans don't go anywhere and they limit spending because they, unlike the government, can't just print money when they need more.
To make matters far worse, the president's quantitative easing and other economic policies have kicked inflation into gear. If you think we're not having fun now, just wait til you see what happens to our economy next. Soaring energy prices AND inflation. Not a good formula for a health economy.
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