The Week: Global Oil Crisis

• Two months from the nation’s 250th birthday, we had hoped the most frequently mentioned signer of the Declaration would not be Elbridge Gerry.

• The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz continues to constrain the global oil supply. The gyrations in the price of oil since the opening of hostilities in the Persian Gulf have been bad enough, but more alarming is the fact that, however deep the dips, oil is still much more expensive than a year ago. The news may be about to get much worse. As American drivers and air travelers are already discovering, higher prices cannot be avoided. This will be grim news for the economy and, with midterm elections approaching, the GOP. As a major oil producer, however, the U.S. should mostly avoid any reruns of 1970s-style gas lines. There is a serious threat of oil shortages only in parts of the country, most notably California, which lack refining capacity largely due to absurdly stringent environmental regulation. They will receive a hard lesson, and not learn from it.

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• Two months from the nation’s 250th birthday, we had hoped the most frequently mentioned signer of the Declaration would not be Elbridge Gerry.

• The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz continues to constrain the global oil supply. The gyrations in the price of oil since the opening of hostilities in the Persian Gulf have been bad enough, but more alarming is the fact that, however deep the dips, oil is still much more expensive than a year ago. The news may be about to get much worse. As American drivers and air travelers are already discovering, higher prices cannot be avoided. This will be grim news for the economy and, with midterm elections approaching, the GOP. As a major oil producer, however, the U.S. should mostly avoid any reruns of 1970s-style gas lines. There is a serious threat of oil shortages only in parts of the country, most notably California, which lack refining capacity largely due to absurdly stringent environmental regulation. They will receive a hard lesson, and not learn from it.