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Will anyone listen to straight talk if it’s not what they want to hear? McCain addresses the price of oil and gasoline head on.

McCain has taken the brave but dangerous path of telling us what we need to know.  Oil may well be $200.00 a barrel, with gasoline at $7.00 a gallon, if we do nothing.  Remarks By John McCain On Energy Security

Doing nothing about the price of gasoline includes placing a windfall profits tax on American oil companies. It may make some feel good but you can forget getting any relief in gas prices from that move.

There are two things that can influence fuel prices in the near term, conservation, and the prospect that supply will increase faster than demand in the future.

Conservation is a hard sell for politicians because it places some responsibility on individuals. There is no single sweeping government program politicians can take credit for, like the corn based ethanol program.  They can ignore the nasty consequences of driving up fuel and food prices further because they have taken action.  Conservation is the only measure available for lowering oil costs in the near term. At a recent hearing of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming chaired by Rep Markey while democrats railed against the oil companies Amy Meyers Jaffe, an expert on energy markets at Rice University, stated that one the biggest obstacles in addressing the problem was misinformation delivered to constituents by legislators.  Telling them what they wanted to hear rather the truth.  I would have gone further and stated that if legislators would stop lying to their constituents the problem would be manageable.

The other is to place in motion a credible plan that will make available new sources of oil.  It is true that there are vast quantities of fossil fuel in North America; however, they will not be available to refine gasoline for years if not decades.  Oil shale for example will take a decade to develop the large-scale extraction technology now only a demonstration project.  Oil shale production will require a huge investment by oil companies, which is another reason to not to raise their taxes.  The prospect of increasing supply in the future will help lower expectations for oil prices, and move prices lower.  The sentiment in the oil market has an enormous effect on today’s oil prices.

Obama grudgingly admits that is there is little that can be done about gas prices at the pump in the near term, but keeps up the rhetoric implying that an Obama win will offer relief.

Do not drink the Kool-Aid, insist that your legislators face facts and take responsible action on your behalf. You may even want then to pay for their own gasoline on occasion.