A milestone was just reached when gas prices at the pump increased 100% from an average price of around $1.79 per gallon when Barack Obama took office as president.
Today's average price of around $3.60 per gallon takes a significant chunk of money out of the U.S. economy, having a huge negative impact on almost every consumer and industry in America.
So how would lowering the price of a gallon of gas actually affect our economy?
"Economist Philip Verleger equates it to "a stimulus program for consumers," leaving them more money for clothes, dinners out and movies. Over a year, a 50 cents-per-gallon drop in gasoline prices would add roughly $70 billion to the U.S. economy."
$70 billion dollars of stimulus with only a 50 cent drop per gallon! That equates to a whopping $1.4 billion pumped directly into our economy for every year the price of gas goes down just one penny.
What's even more astounding is that this kind of economic stimulus doesn't have to be borrowed, paid for, printed by the FED or be overseen by some government bureaucracy; and the best part of all is it won't cost American consumers one red cent in new taxes.
So what has President Obama done to encourage a drop in gas prices to ease the economic burden on consumers and industry and stimulate the economy? You guessed it--absolutely nothing. And what's most appalling is that President Obama's energy policies have actually caused an increase in the price of gas at the pump.
Taking a look at the opposite effect of Verleger's "stimulus" equation with respect to where Obama's energy policies have gotten us in three years, we can estimate that since the price of gas has steadily risen and doubled since Obama took office, roughly $200 billion in real stimulus has been taken out of the economy directly from the American consumers' pockets.
With President Obama doubling-down on his destructive economic policies by vetoing the Keystone Pipeline, along with some analysts saying gas prices could hit $5 a gallon sometime this year; it could spell back-breaking hardship for consumers and industries already reeling from a staggering economy in coming months.
Also, in direct contrast to Obama's destructive energy policies, many economic and industry analysts are saying that an overhaul of our energy policy allowing more exploration and drilling for our own energy resources here at home would conservatively create a million plus jobs and cause the price of oil to quickly plummet by about 50% triggering a dramatic reduction in the price of gas at the pump.
It's becoming less of a stretch attributing President Obama's actions as a purposeful attempt to harm our great country with regard to the devastating effects his energy policies are having on our economy. But with facts such as these out there for anyone to see and understand, I believe many Americans are putting two-and-two together and beginning to come to the unfortunate and sorrowful conclusion that Barack Obama is either the most incompetent President in history or a deliberate saboteur.
