By Donald Kaul
Guest Commentary

Did you see that the price of oil got up over $100 a barrel the other day, before falling back a few cents? If you didn’t, don’t worry about it; you’ll get another chance. Soon.

While experts are predicting a near-term retreat from $100 oil – because we seem to be teetering on the edge of a recession – they also predict a surge to $120 or so in the summer when the driving season kicks in.

That’s a lot, $120-a-barrel oil. It represents an all-time high and will translate into $3.75 at the pump.

There are those who will say, “Why doesn’t the president do something?” And I will reply: “He did do something.  He gave us $100-a-barrel oil.” As recently as 2003 the price of a barrel was as low as $25.  That was before George Bush’s energy program kicked in.  The good old days.

If, in 2001, you had laid out a plan to make oil cost $100-a-barrel by 2008, it would have been pretty much the plan that George Bush and his oil-field cronies executed. First, you fight all efforts – international and domestic – at energy conservation as though they were terrorist plots conceived in the mind of Osama bin Laden.

Then, you go to war in the Middle East, not once but twice, to destabilize the world’s top oil-producing region and send oil prices shooting up.  It has been said that as much as 30 percent of the price we’re paying for oil is due to the risk of that instability.

You also make sure to propose a series of half-hearted, too-little-too-late measures to develop alternative fuels, just so you can say you’ve done something.

So to ask a society like ours to conserve, to do with less, not to buy, is ridiculous. I buy, therefore I am. That’s why ideas like the $2-a-gallon gas tax will never fly. People don’t want to use less gasoline. They want to use more. Which means, whether they know it or not, they want $120-a-barrel oil.

And they’re going to get it.

Donald Kaul is a former Washington correspondent. His e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Article distributed by MinutemanMedia.org.