It's blindingly obvious

Today's Washington Post leads with a sob story about the price of gas in America. It's hardly surprising that Americans are suffering given the recent price hikes in their most popular product so they're on the hunt for a solution, each one more laughable than the rest.

Senator Schumer in New York suppors releasing oil from the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve which, as others have pointed out, is not the reason those reserves are kept. His plan to try to flood the world market and drive down prices would leave the country with little or no reserves for national security and would only have a temporary effect. Others want the Congress to drop the federal tax on gas but oops... just before they finished for the summer, they passed the largest ever transport bill all of which is paid for by gas tax.

And so, if they can't reason a way to drop prices, they adopt the bullying approach. Lobyists have suggested investigating the oil production companies for any sign of a cartel that would be keeping prices artificially high while others want the government to pressure oil producing countries into lowering price. Clearly a publically desperate America will only strenghten producers power and give them no incentive to lower prices.

Of course, there is one way to ease the pain but most Americans will never think of it. Drive less and take public transport. I'd be shocked if they did.