John McCain admits that his energy policy consists of nothing other than mind games.
"I don’t see an immediate relief,. But I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist, and in the view of many experts that do exist off our coasts, is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have a psychological impact that I think is beneficial."
McCain's argument is that speculators will magically drive the price of oil down when they learn that the federal government has opened up ANWR and other offshore drilling sites; in other words, treat the market like a crap shoot and hope things fix themselves. Here's an idea: Why don't we go after these irresponsible crooks and bring the price of oil down to it's legitimate supply and demand level? In fact, according to experts, these people are directly responsible for artificially inflating gas prices to the extent that it's costing Americans a half trillion dollars a year.
Gasoline should cost about $2.25 a gallon, and everything above that is ''funny money'' largely tacked on by and manipulation, testified Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America.
''The speculative bubble in energy commodities has cost households about $1,500 over the past two years in increased costs for gasoline and natural gas,'' said Cooper, estimating that the total cost to the U.S. economy has been more than half a trillion dollars.
$500,000,000,000 and all John McCain has to offer is "psychological" relief.
