Bachmann's $2 Gas Promise: Ordering Up a New Global Recession?

Republican Michele Bachmann promised during a campaign event to bring the cost of gasoline under $2 if she's elected president. Bachmann didn't say how she planned to do do this, but she did give one hint at the town-hall style meeting:

The day that the president became president gasoline was $1.79 a gallon. Look at what it is today, she said at an event in Greenville, S.C., Politico reported. Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen.

I'm sure Bachmann must have been thinking of something else.

Seriously, folks
But let's take her at her word. Aside from the inconvenient fact that gas prices are tied to the global price of oil, Bachmann would face a few other challenges in getting gas back down to $2 a gallon. Among them are the limits of drilling and -- believe or not -- anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but increasing our domestic drilling -- which is what Bachmann has pushed for in the past -- will not lower gas prices. Commercially viable domestic resources in the U.S. aren't enough to meet our daily demands. The U.S. government estimates there are 18 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of the lower 48 states that are off limits to development. That's about 2.5 years of supply for the U.S. Meanwhile, demand from China and developing countries will continue to put pressure on the global price of oil.

As if that weren't enough, there's Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and the author of the no-new-taxes pledge most anyone who's anybody in the GOP has to accept. This week, Norquist officially blessed an extension of U.S. gasoline and diesel-fuel taxes set to expire Sept. 30, the Houston Chronicle reported.

That essentially gives permission to the rest of the GOP to vote for an extension. Instead, he's pushing for states to have more control over the 18.4-cent per-gallon gas tax, which is currently collected by the federal government and doled via the Highway Trust Fund. So axing the gas tax -- just in case Bachmann was mulling that thought -- isn't going to happen for a while.

Getting back to the oil-gas price link, perhaps Bachmann needs a refresher:

• The price of oil nearly tripled between 2007 and July 11, 2008 when it hit a record $147 a barrel. The average U.S. gas price hit a high of $4.049 later that week.
• Oil prices then proceeded to go into a free fall as the financial crisis unfolded and demand decreased. Oil slid to $32 a barrel by December, and gas prices followed.
• OPEC cut production twice (September and December) in hopes of supporting prices.

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