But my point regarding his $2.75 assertion is that it is now what he thinks gasoline should cost, but it is hugely more than the $2.16 it cost when he got sent back to Congress by promising to reduce gas prices.

And yes, whatever else he is, Baron is a native of Seymour.

1.) Wow…This is somewhere between irritating and infuriating: citing economists with whom he’s supposedly talked.

a.) First of all, from our Jasper debate in 2006, he made clear that “those fancy economists” were not worth listening to (at least on the minimum wage).

b.) He’s had an economist asking him to debate on gas prices and he’s been too busy to debate me. After repeatedly demanding a debate from Sodrel on gas prices in May 2006, you’d think he’d have to debate now.

c.) The number and the argument are patently absurd. If he or “the economist” believed that a speculative oil bubble is that large, then they’d move their investments to take (massive) advantage of this “knowledge”.

2.) I think he’s confused about $2.75/gallon gas. That’s about the price we’d have for gas if the dollar had not been devalued since 2002. President Bush and his Congresses (including Hill and Sodrel) bear considerable responsibility for that.

side note – car pooling this week first time ever

People will be quite surprised at how quickly oil prices change once it is believed that we will actually drill. Think about the news reports on days that oil increases a lot–things like Israel threatening to bomb Iran or other political unrest in the 3rd world. Part of the cost drop will be having more of the proven reserves in a politically stable environment, not only the increase in supply.

There. Fixed. Did he ever actually live in Seymour?