[ganeil]

if you are looking toward Washington DC for someone to blame for the current oil prices, I would look at the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue than the White House.

Because of Congressional action (or inaction) the US is unable to tap tens of billions of barrels of oil that are recoverable on US land or off our coast.

Oil is a commodity and right now there is very little excess production capacity in relation to demand. Therefore every little hiccup in the production or transport is going to have a significant market impact.

Increased US domestic production could help ameliorate this situation but Congress would rather bitch than do something productive.