Bush vs Gas

Gas price is one of the major issues that concerns us as we live in a nation where the land is big and driving is a necessity (be it personal vehicle or public transportation) even just to shop for grocery. As many people probably notice as I did, despite the fact that I do not drive and gas price never concerned me, the price of the gas increased vastly over the last few month. A car that used to be $40 a tank now requires at least $60 to fill up that same tank.

As there is a reason to every incident, I knew there had to be reason why the gas price increased so much. I knew there are at least more than one factor that contributed to the rise in gas price. I just did not know if it was the big oil company, conflict with the Middle Eastern Countries, or the U.S. government itself is to be blamed.

In truth, the rise in gas price is mostly based on the most fundamental law of economics: the supply and demand. The decreasing quantity of oil supply and the rising demand for oil, as the development of the countries national wide has created increasing need for oil, meant that gas price had no choice but to rocket upwards.

However, the question here is, could the U.S. government have taken the steps needed to prevent such from affecting the U.S. residents. Was the increase in gas price inevitable? Data from Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll taken on June 19, 2008 shows that 29% of the people asked (1233 adults nationwide) says that Bush administration (29%) followed by oil companies (25%) are to be blamed for the rising fuel prices. Furthermore, 81% of them think that the bush administration has not done enough to control the rising oil and gas prices and ease its affect on American families. True enough, while President Bush’s plan was to convince (not successfully) the Congress to “expand domestic oil production”, apparently not enough has been done to halt the decreasing oil and gas prices.

On the other hand, however, I have to admit that increasing oil and gas prices has its merits. First of all, it discourages people from driving and encourages them to use either cycle or take public transportation. Secondly, it is environmentally beneficial. Less usage of gas means less harmful gases are released into the atmosphere. And lastly, it saves us money. In any case, the rise in oil and gas price will not concern me as much...until I get myself a car.