Dick Durbin wants lower fuel prices and higher fuel taxes

Leave it to a Democrat to try to play both sides. Tonight I watched two videos from Dick Durbin's senate web site:

1. http://durbin.senate.gov/watchClip.cfm?clipId=d805af5c-1682-4acb-aa4a-a7a5df930ce1 - 5/28/2008 - Durbin talks about high gas prices, how it's hurting our state, and what he'd like to do about it (put the screws to "big business"). Of course, he doesn't admit that he's partially to blame for this situation.
2. http://durbin.senate.gov/watchClip.cfm?clipId=674b41e3-2664-4d0c-9e69-cc768bcde421 - 5/30/2008 - Durbin talks about Al Gore style Global Warming and what he'd like to do about it. He's clearly buying into Al Gore's Carbon Credit scheme (swindle would be a better word for it). What he didn't mention is the 1.2 Trillion Dollar Carbon tax and how much high it's going to drive gas prices.
   

So, what must be going through Dick's mind? Here's my take:

1. Oil Companies ("big business") are evil and have conspired together to raise gas prices to record highs. They have no concern for the economy. They just are out to "make a buck".
2. The government can pressure the Oil Companies into operating at a loss (or at least without profit) by telling them "it's the right thing to do". This will correct their "evil ways" and bring gas price back down to more palatable levels.
3. Al Gore knows more about Global Warming than any real scientist.
4. Al Gore's Carbon Credit scheme is the solution to all of our problems.
5. Because he'll be able to make the Oil Companies correct their "evil ways", we won't notice the 1.2 Trillion Dollar Carbon Tax that drove the fuel prices even higher.

Back to reality. What's really going on?

1. Oil Companies are like any other business. They expect to bring in more money than what they spend (that's called "profit"). They have to get the oil that becomes gasoline somewhere. Today, that means buying it from other countries (including those that are hostile to the US) that have worked together to drive prices higher. In true capitalism price gouging is quickly corrected by market forces. The Oil business has historically been a business of higher than average prices. Hence the phrase "strike it rich" in reference to discovering oil.
2. The Democrats have worked very hard to prevent the Oil Companies from obtaining their oil from domestic sources. Examples of untapped domestic sources blocked by Democrats include: ANWR.org, ANWR Democrats, oil shale in Colorado, etc. The Democrats have also worked hard to keep gas prices high. As Newt Gingrich Posted on 05/20/2008: Saudi Arabia Did More Last Week to Lower Gas Prices Than Congress Did.
3. Al Gore appears to have have no idea what he is talking about. As I have written about before, http://blog.justbob.us/2008/05/unstoppable-solar-cycles.html and http://blog.justbob.us/2008/04/happy-earth-day-al-gore.html Al is frequently putting the "cart before the horse". As seen in Unstoppable Solar Cycles, An inconvenient Truth, and The Global Warming Swindle. It appears that any real scientist that looks at our climate over a significant span of time (much, much more than 100 years) find that our climate changes over time, and this change has little to do with humans.
   
4. The Democrats believe that we can be "taxed into prosperity". With this in mind, a 1.2 Trillion Dollar tax should make us all rich (exactly how does that work anyway?). In reality, we will all be poorer (except a few politicians...).
5. Exactly how does a Carbon Credit "fix" "Global Warming". Does that mean that if you have enough money, you can just "fix" the "problem"? Why hasn't someone like Bill Gates bought enough Carbon Credits to solve it once and for all? Answer - if the problem is real (a real question), money won't fix it. If anything, it's an engineering issue, not a money issue (as in buying Carbon Credits, see: http://newsbusters.org/node/10989). Again, the reality: A Carbon Credit is a license to pollute, nothing more.

That's enough venting for now from me. What do you have to add?

-Bob