A gasoline crisis? Nope

Philadelphia Inquirer: Americans accustomed to artificially low prices are finally getting a whiff of what it's like to buy gasoline in the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, they don't like it.
State attorneys general are alleging price gouging (unlikely), and Democratic senators are demanding that President Bush tap the strategic oil reserve. They're trying to end-run basic economics.
But there is no good, simple way to manipulate a complex world market back into U.S. favor. It won't work. President Bush is right to resist.
The strategic oil reserve was created after the 1973 oil embargo to protect the United States against major disruptions in oil supply. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration wisely vowed to fill salt caverns on the Gulf Coast to their 700-million-barrel capacity. It's a hedge against another attack.
It's not there to protect Americans from feeling a little extra warm-weather pinch in the wallet.
The wrong next step
If only Bush had stopped at his comments about preserving the strategic reserve. But he couldn't let the moment pass without chiding Congress for failing to pass his energy bill. That lousy bill -- thick with tax breaks for industry and pitiably thin on strategies to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil -- would have done nothing to avert this year's pump prices. Even Bush's favorite panacea, drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, would take 10 years to yield oil.
The president, Congress and the states also should reject schemes to roll back gas taxes. Those revenues are desperately needed to pay for roads, bridges and mass transit.
Once you factor in inflation, those $2-a-gallon gas prices aren't even that high compared with the past. Adjusted for inflation, gas isn't as expensive as it was in the 1980s or even the 1950s.
Another silver lining: The American economy is less sensitive to oil prices than during the 1970s, when the oil embargo helped trigger the twin plagues of stagnation and inflation.
While sales of SUVs and pickups are down slightly in the last month, Detroit economists estimate gas prices would have to hit $4 a gallon to significantly shift consumers away from conventional SUVs and toward new hybrid models or other fuel-efficient cars.
Until Americans are ready to change their gas-guzzling habits, government shouldn't tamper with sound policy to pamper consumer pocketbooks.