Mark Warner has announced his plan to fight high gas prices. As usual, he uses his typical weasel words that he then proceeds to parse. As for offshore drilling:
“I think we need to at least find out, for example, what’s off the coast of Virginia,” he said.
Okay, great. But are you for DRILLING there if we find something? Sounds more to me like you’re trying to placate the public with another one of your “I will not raise taxes” false promises, while also giving a wink and a nod to the enviros who do not want actual drilling to occur.
If Marky Mark were serious about making America energy independent, he would whole-heartedly support more oil and gas drilling. He would support building new refineries as is being put forward by House Republicans:
Discharge Petition: Representative English (PA) moved to discharge the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Armed Services from the consideration of H.R. 2279, to expedite the construction of new refining capacity on closed military installations in the United States (Discharge Petition No. 9).
Instead, Marky Mark’s primary “solution” to high gas prices is to crack down on speculators.
Isn’t that how he made his own fortune? By speculating in the emerging cellular communications industry? As I recall, Mark Warner went out and sold spectrum licenses that he acquired via speculation (based upon inside information he obtained as a Congressional staffer.) If anything, these speculators in the oil markets are more honest than Marky Mark. At least they’re not operating on inside information gained while working as a public servant.
If Marky Mark truly understood capitalism and the way that markets work, he would realize that the best way to lower gas prices and tamp down rampant speculation would be to undertake a program to bring more supply to the market. Even if the additional supply was not immediately available, it would help curtail speculators who themselves are trading in oil futures.
While he ridicules former Gov. Jim Gilmore’s “Drill Here, Drill Now” approach, Marky Mark only proves just how ignorant he truly is when it comes to matters of business — supposedly his strong suit (solely because he lucked into getting rich via a very ethically-questionable deal.)
Filed under: 2008 Elections, Energy, Jim Gilmore, Marky Mark, Virginia Politics
[...] goes to show you, just because a guy can make millions via insider trading on cell-phone licenses (Riley) doesn’t mean he actually knows how an economy works (Washington Times): Make no mistake [...]
Perhaps Mark is getting his talking points from Democrat candidate Barack Obama, who recently unveiled a plan to “clapdown on oil speculators.”
Or, possibly from GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, who said:
“I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and, if so, how much it has affected the price of a barrel of oil. There’s a lot of things out there that need a lot more transparency and, consequently, oversight.”