mike youngDriving by the local gas station I was shocked to see the price of gas below two dollars. It almost seemed like gas was free after paying almost five dollars in some places. I wonder what is going on. I had heard Obama’s previous Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, saying back in 2009 that we should expect six to seven dollar gas prices which the administration was working towards. Even Obama was saying that we could expect higher gas prices. However, he is now trying to claim his polices are responsible for bringing down gasoline prices.

Wow, what happened? Will prices go even lower? Maybe $1.50 which is what the price was before Obama took office.  Even today’s lower prices will save the average family over $1,000 per year according to CNBC. That amounts to over $75 billion says Goldman Sachs and they should know.

Filling up the old car has gone from $60-$70 to only $30-$35. That’s the way to start the New Year and even the economy. All the talk in the government about any government-paid stimulus is worthless. This is something that puts real money into real people’s hands. All that talk and money about shovel ready projects was a lie (as President Obama admitted) and only served to help friends of the administration.

Is our government directly responsible for the drastic fall in gasoline prices? No it isn’t. In fact government officials and the leftist liberals have done everything they could to not let it happen. Oil production is down more than 5 percent on government lands because of the slowdown in granting new drilling permits.

Was it a gift from OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) which met after Thanksgiving and decided to keep production levels up even though prices were falling? Were they thinking of ways to help us? Those Cartel members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela. It’s hard to believe they want to help us or anyone other than themselves.

So what did it? It was simply “Drill Baby Drill.”  Those words spoken by the much criticized Sarah Palin more drilling on private lands, but the high prices of oil that sparked the development of our oil resources by new production techniques.

It was the free market, not the government that came up with solutions to produce oil from territory where it didn’t seem practical. Those capitalist companies did the impossible, even against the withering fire of environmental groups (makes you wonder who they are working for). The Cartel is dropping their prices attempting to force out the new American oil production facilities. If they do what do you think that will do to oil prices?

Many local progressives have supported restricted oil production and driving up prices to force us to swap our cars for public transportation. That’s not a bad idea in most cities but not in the country as a whole. I have a great challenge for these folks; when you fill up your car with gas for $1.85, give the difference between the current price and Obama-suggested prices (say $5) to real life capitalists or to a local charity. That’s over $3 for every gallon you purchase. You who wanted higher prices can fork over the extra cash to those who enjoy lower prices. After all, you would not want to support capitalist ideas and capitalist success. And then you can ride the bus.

Much like our enemies throughout the world, the progressives would love to set America back in the name of equality, income re-distribution and the environment. They want to push Americans back 50 years or so and let our living standard fall. That’s the progressive agenda and under Obama it’s been working.

Capitalists have built the greatest society the world has ever known, in spite of those progressive ideas being pushed by every Democratic administration from Woodrow Wilson to Obama (although I do think Obama is pushing the hardest). The progressives think they know more than we do. That may be true in some areas but when I fill up at the pump, I salute the capitalists who built the country and what they have been able to do for all Americans.