Mary Fallin: “If I told you that a loaf of bread was $4, and there was plenty of wheat growing right here, but you said I could not…”

“If I told you that a loaf of bread was $4, and there was plenty of wheat growing right here, but you said I could not harvest it, then I would be right to call you illogical. If I told you that you could bake more bread with a new oven, except that your rules say we can't build it, then I'd be right to say that your rules are hurting consumers. If I told you I needed to keep my bakery profits to expand my production, and you tax them away to "punish" me for market forces beyond my control, then you would be the one to blame for the rising bread prices. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Unfortunately, this pretty much sums up our current energy policies. Just substitute gas for bread. Bad policy has banned drilling offshore in Alaska where there are huge oil reserves. Bad policy has curtailed refinery construction. Bad policy taxes productivity, reduces the capital needed for new production, and the same basic rules of economics apply to bread and energy. When bad policies block production, you have shortages, and prices go up and people get hurt.”