...and here's why (top story from a local conservative newspaper):
Gas may hit $2.50 a gallon
Gas prices are supposed to be down this weekend, but instead have jumped a dime a gallon in the past month and are still rising.
Two factors are contributing to the rise, according to AAA Washington: the summer blend of better-burning gas is coming on line, and OPEC announced this week it intends to cut oil production.
Critics disagree about the factors, but say gas prices will rise -- possibly to $2.50 or higher in Washington and $3 or $4 a gallon in California this summer, said Tim Hamilton, executive director of the nonprofit Automotive United Trades Organization, a group of 500 convenience store and gas stations in Washington.http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/156106Folks, to the average American, news about a weak economy is troubling, but, as long as you hear administration hype that we're "on the way to recovery," it probably won't affect your vote as long as you're one of the 94.4% of Americans who still have a job. And the news from Iraq is disappointing, but unless you have a spouse or child there, it's probably something that can be kept "out of sight, out of mind."
But pulling up to the pump and finding you have to pay $2.50 (or even $4.00!) per gallon is going to really hit home. $2.00 per gallon has long been a psychological "ceiling" in this country, and to see the price soar to well above that (even double that in California) is going to be a big blow to the American psyche, and confidence in Bush as a leader we can count on. Furthermore, high oil prices have historically led to greater economic slowdowns, so that you may well see "stagflation" (an awful situation where the economy is in the doldrums, and jobs are being lost left and right, but prices and consumer credit interest rates
still keep going up) by the time voters go to the polls in November. Finally, high oil prices will help bring into disrepute Bush's Iraq war as never before -- because, deep down inside, under all of the lip-service of WMDs and "overthrowing a cruel tyrant," lots of people approved of the invasion in the belief that the U.S. occupying Iraq's oil fields would inevitably bring cheaper gas prices. When the average voter sees a quagmire, steadily-increasing U.S. casualties, AND the gas prices that were supposed to drop instead climb to record rates, Bush is going to be in a
world of hurt. It's unfortunate that the Democrats seem to have settled on a flawed, vacillating candidate of their own, but, if ABB is the name of the game, this news should provide a big boost to one's hopes.
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