Let's Think About the Numbers

LET'S THINK ABOUT THE NUMBERS -- (House of Representatives - March 04, 2008)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, when asked about the possibility of gas going up to $4 a gallon, the President of the United States and leader of the free world said, ``That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.''

Yes, gas prices are predicted to top $4 a gallon, and the leader of the free world doesn't even know? Something is clearly wrong.

Mr. Speaker, with an economy based on the fuel of yesterday, America needs new vision and leadership. We cannot rely on leaders who don't know what most Americans understand and are living every day, that our oil economy is based on borrowed time that is fast running out.

Let's think about these numbers. A recent Congressional Research Service paper summarized the point clearly. Researchers predict that a 10 percent increase in oil prices lowers economic growth in our country by a quarter point to a little over a point over the next four quarters, compared to a flat growth rate for oil prices.

When President Bush took office, gasoline cost 1.45 a gallon. Today gasoline averages $3.17 a gallon, with some analysts saying the price could reach $4 a gallon. Californians already know that.

The American people don't need the Congressional Research Service to do the math to understand what this means, but let's run the numbers just for the sake of argument.

During Bush's tenure in office, the average price of gasoline has increased over 218 percent; not 10 percent, 218 percent. With researchers predicting that a one quarter increase of 10 percent in oil prices leads to an economic contraction of a quarter percent to 1.1 percent for the following four quarters, the American people can only imagine what a 218 percent increase has meant for the American consumer over the last 7 years. It is profound.

In rough terms, the Bush economic stewardship plan has driven our economy into a tailspin. Our economy is in trouble. It needs rescuing. And our top leader doesn't even know prices could reach $4 a gallon?

We should have learned something from the first Arab oil embargo of the 1970s when the United States suffered both high unemployment and rampant inflation. President Reagan called it the misery index. Don't we remember that misery? It's being exacted on the American people again.

The rising prices of oil imports in 2006 and 2007 alone accounted for over $70 billion of our mammoth trade deficit. The global savings glut is being driven largely by the transfer of wealth from our country and western democracies to the oil rich kingdoms of the Middle East, and this imbalance continues to grow, and our people continue to suffer more.

The dollar declines. It's very clear what's happening. Gasoline prices are destroying the economic gains of our economy every day, pushing up our trade deficit and making America less competitive on the global market.

Every paper you open up there are layoffs in community after community after community, coast to coast, and people are losing their homes at greater rates. Without a course correction, the next generation will never be able to compete.

Energy legislation this House considered last week is a step in the right direction, and the other body ought to pass it quickly. But it is only a step.

This is the time for America to redouble our efforts and invest in an energy-independent future that uses geothermal, wind, biomass, solar, advanced vehicle research, new fuels of all kinds and new vehicles, developing the technologies of tomorrow for this new century.

America needs energy independence now, not in 2025, not even in 2015. We need every single elected official at the national level to be committed to energy independence now. We need a change in this Capitol city. We need a change in the White House, and we need people elected to this Congress who will save America from ruin because of the terrible toll that rising oil prices are having on the innards of this economy, in every borough, in every hamlet, in every city, in every town across this country.

It is high time America moved from the carbon-based economy into the carbohydrate economy, and we can't do it fast enough.

The sun waits to be captured. The wind across our plains needs to be put to new use, and it is renewable. It was given to us as a precious gift. We ought to use it. And we need to have elected officials who are committed to this great American quest in this new American century.

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