Sunday, November 16, 2014

Obama’s Latest Economics Lesson
He says the Keystone XL pipeline will merely transport ‘their oil.’
Sometimes we wonder if President Obama has even the vaguest idea how a private economy works. The latest reason to doubt came Friday in Burma, where Mr. Obama was asked at a press conference about the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been waiting for approval for the length of his Presidency. The pipeline would allow oil to flow from Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast.
In off-the-cuff remarks, Mr. Obama managed to insult our great northern neighbors while suggesting that the project would be no help to U.S. workers or consumers. “Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”
Someone should tell the President that oil markets are global and adding to global supply might well reduce U.S. gas prices, other things being equal. A tutor could add that Keystone XL will also carry U.S. light oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale. So even if he thinks that bilateral trade only helps Canada, he’s still wrong about Keystone.
“If my Republican friends really want to focus on what’s good for the American people in terms of job creation and lower energy costs,” the President added, “we should be engaging in a conversation about what are we doing to produce even more homegrown energy.” Mr. Obama routinely entreats Congress to spend taxpayer money on “infrastructure” to create jobs, yet he implies that the 1,179-mile Keystone infrastructure project won’t create jobs. Perhaps (see editorial above) Mr. Obama really does think the American people are stupid.
He says the Keystone XL pipeline will merely transport ‘their oil,’ the Wall Street Journal writes in an editorial.
online.wsj.com

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