This really sums up the entire situation/discussionHigh gas prices: How much can Obama (or could Gingrich) do?Quote:
The major cause of the recent spike—gas rose to $3.80 a gallon this week—is the increasing tension with Iran, most analysts say. That's making traders nervous about a possible conflict in a crucial oil-producing region, which could have the effect of cutting off a significant source of the world's oil.
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In addition, Japan has been using much more oil since shutting down virtually all of its nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster last year.
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Republicans say opening up the United States to more domestic drilling would bring prices down.
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But American consumers are part of a global market for oil, and crude oil accounts for about three-quarters of the cost of a gallon of gas, according to the Energy Information Administration. So increasing domestic production wouldn't do much to ease prices. Not to mention, it would take years to come to market and start bringing prices down even marginally.
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Couldn't the administration bring down the amount Americans spend on gas by encouraging a shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
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Yes, eventually. But again, it would take around a decade, experts say, for the effect of that shift to start to be felt at the pump.
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Some Democrats have argued that unscrupulous speculators on Wall Street are driving up prices, but even if that is going on, most experts say that global oil markets are simply too large for regulators to police.
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One last-ditch move would be for President Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Indeed, experts say the impact on prices has generally been only temporary.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/high-gas-prices-much-obama-could-gingrich-204700858.html