Gas Prices too High? Not Yet.

The price for gasoline, while a big headache for all of us, is not high enough yet, or stated differently, the price of gas is not high enough for those in the United States to do anything more than complain about it. If the price of gas were actually "too high" we would demand that we draw the oil reserves out of ANWR. If the price of gasoline were really too high it would be political suicide for the governors of coastal states to stake their incumbancy on stopping off-shore drilling. If gasoline prices were really too high, we would be willing to leverage the ridculous amount of coal resources the United States has for our fuel needs. In the true measure of whether or not gas prices are too high, if gas prices were too high the free market would deliver a new innovative substitute fuel or technologically driven renewable source of energy, and competition for consumer's energy needs would drive market equilibrium to a lower price per unit of energy. However, none of this is happening. We have the luxury of sub-optimal fuel sourcing. We can revel in our smugness, knowing that somewhere a caribou is feeding on grasslands that might otherwise fuel our nation. We can feel good about our ferderal government spending billions on inefficeint, market failures like ethanol. We can enjoy cocktail party banter about the vast energy resources of the United States that go untapped, while we send billions of dollars to buy our energy from those who despise us. A barrell of oil will hit $ 100 some day. It may not be tomorrow, but absent some impactful change in the attitudes and actions of the US consumers, the price of oil will hit $ 100 a barrell. It has to, market demand is increasing faster than market supply. I am certain when that day comes, we will gripe about how gasoline is simply too expensive. However, until we are ready and willing to do somthing about it, it really isn't. While pondering about "somedays", someday this problem will be solved, someday the price of gaoline will be so high that we will do somthing about it or the free market will do somethng about it. That day just isn't today.