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Toledo Blade...
It’s complicated
Americans are told that the rising price of gasoline is either
inevitable or, Republicans say, a result of President Obama’s
mismanagement of America’s energy resources -- particularly his refusal
to “drill, baby, drill.” The truth is harder to arrive at and, as
usual, more complicated than talk-show pundits and politicians might
suggest.
Wall Street and other financial centers see opportunities in
speculation in future oil investments. They scan the daily news,
looking for some development that provides a reason to fiddle with the
market or, in this case, push up the price of a commodity. Tinder for
this fire includes a number of global phenomena.
One is the unrest in the Middle East, especially Iran. That nation is
shifting its oil exports from Western Europe to customers such as China.
Iranian oil makes up less than 5 percent of the world market. But the
Middle East, which would be mightily disrupted by a war over Iran,
provides a third of the world’s oil and 20 percent of U.S. oil imports.
Overall, the United States imports 60 percent of its oil.
Another phenomenon is the tentative recovery of the U.S. economy. The
signs includes lower unemployment rates, more business starts, and
higher consumer confidence. That leads to optimism, which leads to
higher demand for fuel.
Ironically, that increased demand and the events in the Middle East
could drive a stake through the heart of the recovery that all
Americans want to see. One way for Mr. Obama to curb the rise in gas
prices is to work to quiet the cries for war that are giving
speculators an excuse to play games at Americans’ expense.
Read this and other articles at the Toledo Blade
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