Blood before oil: How Democrats subsidize one and demonize the other

The president’s solution? “One of the key ways we’re going to get gas prices down is just to use less oil. Right? If you buy less, prices go down,” he told a crowd in Reno last month. Equally simple but infinitely more grounded in reality is the formula for higher prices: slower production plus rising demand. But Obama’s message, like his policies, is anti-growth: you naughty consumers can’t keep your lavish driving habits.

This week, Senate Democrats are bringing executives from five major oil companies before the Finance Committee. The politicians will grandstand and the producers — those who would like to deliver more gasoline to consumers than they are currently able to — will stumble under interrogation. That’s how these hearings are designed. It’s a pernicious event that’s become a ritual, perpetrated by those with the deepest of double standards. If breaks given to profitable entities at the taxpayer’s expense are wasteful, why should Planned Parenthood be exempt? The wrong profits are on trial in the Senate, and Democrats should be forced to explain why.

Matt Wolking is the Executive Producer of The Laura Ingraham Show. You can email him at matt@mattwolking.com.