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Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

The price of gas is determined by the Government at hand. Not only has our current President halted off shore drilling, he won't even entertain the thought of dipping into our own reserves. In past years, the President just putting the subject on the agenda for discussion has made prices drop. Those in the know say the price of gas would drop below $2 per gallon if the reserve was tapped.

The Government allowing full off shore drilling and ANY discussion about the reserve would have a dramatic effect!
Remember, the United States has more oil in reserve now than when Regan was President.

okay, let's lok at things:

first, the u.s. has more oil in reserve now precisely because prices are high, making sources like tar sands and oil shales economically viable. high prices = high reserves, low prices = low reserves. funny, innit? but it's true. prices have a way of automagically change supply levels. i can explain this in greater detail in another post if you want.

second, oil drilled in the us is not u-s-only. it goes into a world market where prices are determined by supply and demand. high supply = lower prices, low demand = lower prices; low supply = higher prices, high demand = higher prices. sure, we can artificially lower the prices temporarily by flooding the market with our reserves, but that's not a sustainable answer.

third: strategic oil reserve means just that: strategic. in other words, if israel bombs iran or iran gets nukes first and a global clusterfuck ensues around the gulf of ormuz, we would still have oil to run the country for a while in spite of massive global shutdown. yes, we could dip into it to manipulate world prices and satisfy the whim of voters, but that would be like getting a 2nd mortgage to buy milkshakes for everyone in your town--not very prudent.

so yeah, the government doesn't control the price of oil, the market does; and the government could manipulate the market temporarily, or it could provide subsidies to lower the price, but that would have bad consequences-- depleting the strategic reserve would leave us vulnerable to the zombie apocalypse, and subsidies would increase demand and deplete other sectors of the economy that would need to be taxed to pay for them, so no.