I’m Sure It’s Just A Coincidence

Another jump in oil prices.

Think it has anything to do with the fact that both presidential candidates favor a hidden tax on energy and oppose expanding domestic oil production?

You know, in the past, when I’ve said that prices in this range are not sustainable, I always assumed that, at least at some point, sanity would reign in Washington. What a dumb assumption.

[Thursday morning update]

Wise words from Lileks:

…there’s hope. An article in the paper last week said that the gyrations in the oil market may indicate that the laws of supply and demand no longer apply. Well, clever us, to live in an age where immutable laws are abolished with ease; no doubt faster-than-light travel is now possible as well. Whenever someone says that the old laws no longer apply, it’s a sure sign that the laws are about to reassert themselves with brutal force.

Three-buck gas by October? Likely.

As Carl notes in comments, even when you know you’re in a bubble, you don’t know when it’s going to pop.

[Update a few minutes later]

Four-dollar gasbags:

Anyone wondering why U.S. energy policy is so dysfunctional need only review Congress’s recent antics. Members have debated ideas ranging from suing OPEC to the Senate’s carbon tax-and-regulation monstrosity, to a windfall profits tax on oil companies, to new punishments for “price gouging” – everything except expanding domestic energy supplies.

Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production. Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we’re insane and self-destructive, while the Saudis laugh all the way to the bank.

And unfortunately, both presidential candidates are economic ignorami:

Recent weeks have seen some GOP stirrings on Capitol Hill, but John McCain has so far refused to jettison his green posturings, such as his belief in carbon caps and his animus against offshore development. A good reason for a rethink would be $4 gas. At present, it is charitable to call Mr. McCain’s energy ideas incoherent, and it may cost him the election.

Of course, Obama’s even worse, but even if McCain wins, it will be a lot closer than it need be. And prices will continue to soar. Needlessly.