A release would probably be ineffective in any event. The U.S. sold 30 million barrels from the stockpile in mid-2011 to offset global disruptions amid the ouster of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. Gasoline prices retreated after that release, which was coordinated with the 27 other nations in the IEA. But the price at the pump declined by only 2 percent, for just a week, before rising again.
Gasoline prices are a tempting target for presidential intervention because so many other economic indicators are stalled or going in the wrong direction. Unemployment remains stuck at more than 8 percent, economic growth this year will probably be a dispiriting 2 percent and housing continues to be the patient that won’t get well. More discouraging news arrived Tuesday: Consumer confidence in August had the biggest decline in 10 months.
Obama is understandably concerned that Republicans will use higher gasoline prices as another cudgel with which to batter him at their party’s convention this week. That’s politics.
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