There is a basic principle in economics called “The Law of Supply and Demand.”  Stated simply, it means that if you have a lot of something, the price will tend to go down, if you have a scarcity of something, the price will tend to go up.  A few examples–the cost of housing as the housing bubble broke and there was a glut of houses on the market, the cost of diamonds at any time, the cost of Super Bowl tickets.  You get the idea.  It’s a pretty logical principle and most people have a basic knowledge of the concept even if they don’t necessarily know the rule. 

On Monday Newsbusters.org reported that Chris Matthews, in responding to Tim Pawlenty’s statement that exploiting America’s energy resources would help lower the cost of energy in this country, stated, “Well, nobody thinks this country can drill its way out of high gas prices.”

That is an amazing statement.  Let’s look at some of the highlights of America’s energy program:

The last refinery built in the US was in Garyville, Louisiana, and it started up in 1976.

 
BigGovernment.com reported on February 3 of this year that the Obama Administration was blocking 103 Gulf drilling permits.

Drilling in the Bakken oil reserve in North Dakota has resulted in North Dakota’s  unemployment rate at 4.3% in December–more than five percentage points below the national level–and the state government projects a surplus for the current budget cycle.

Not only will drilling lower the cost of gasoline, it will lower unemployment and bring money into the country rather than sending it out of the country, often to countries that are not our friends.