As the price of gas – and everything that uses gas or oil – continues to go up and up, Barack Obama, John McCain, and many members of Congress have taken on President Bush’s mantra that “there’s no magic wand” they can wave to change the price of gas.
Well, that’s not exactly true.
It’s true that the major steps Congress needs to take – including, first and foremost, an absolute, bedrock commitment to converting from our fossil fuel economy to a renewable energy economy – would not instantly drop the price of gas a buck fifty. Such steps certainly would stabilize the market, though, and guarantee that prices started on a downward trend. But it’s no “magic wand” – just good policy.
Which is probably why Congress isn’t doing it. Instead, one of the most popular responses to high gas prices is the call to drill for more oil in the U.S.
Putting aside the supreme irony of politicians who claim deep concern about global warming yet simultaneously call for more oil drilling (and burning), expanded drilling off our shores or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge won’t do anything to address the price of oil and gas, because there simply isn’t enough oil left to make a difference. The fundamental problem is one of supply and demand. Oil is a finite resource, and the diminished supply can no longer meet the increasing demand. Trying to tap every remaining pocket of oil on the planet will not change this equation.
So no magic wand there either, except perhaps for the profits of the big oil companies – who seem to get terribly preferential treatment from the magic wand.
But there is one thing Congress can do that will absolutely and without question, magic wand like, raise the price of gas. They can declare war on Iran. And that, incredibly enough, is exactly what they seem to be doing.
Just this past week our supposedly anti-war Representative, Chris Van Hollen (D- MD8), became the 208th member of the House to sign on to the disastrous House Concurrent Resolution 362, which many analysts – including this one – consider tantamount to a declaration of war on Iran.
Although supposedly non-binding, the measure “demands” that the President “initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran.” It calls for “prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products,” “imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran” and “prohibiting the international movement” of Iranian officials. In other words, impose a blockade on Iran – an act of war.
Ignoring the fact – as Congress is now doing – that our own intelligence agencies concluded just last year that Iran had suspended any active nuclear weapons program (in theory what this reactionary House Resolution is supposed to address), a war with Iran would dwarf the Iraq war in its deadly, chaotic and destabilizing effect on the Middle East and the world. And it would probably provoke Iran to actually build a nuclear weapon.
And what would such a war – or even the increased threat of an attack – do to oil and gas prices?
When hawkish Israeli deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz said that he thought an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites was “unavoidable,” the price of a barrel of oil rose 9 percent to a new (at the time) record on June 6. As H. Con. Res. 362 made its way through the House this past week, oil hit yet another new record high of more than $140 a barrel. Geopolitical tensions, particularly those surrounding Iran, are regularly cited by industry analysts as a reason for the “unsettled” oil market.
If rhetoric has that effect, imagine the consequences of an actual military strike. The huge spigot of Iranian and Gulf state oil would be turned off. The price of oil and gas could easily double after an attack on Iran, and both the U.S. and the world could be quickly plunged into the global depression that many are already worried about.
We have arrived at the point where environmental, economic and national security policies are inextricably linked. Policies that promote conflict and war will also spell disaster for our economy and our planet. So there is at least one “magic wand”- unfortunately, it’s only for bad magic.
