Statistics can tell you anything you want
(WRAL) It’s the political cure-all for high gas prices: Drill here, drill now. But more U.S. drilling has not changed how deeply the gas pump drills into your wallet, math and history show.
A statistical analysis of 36 years of monthly, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices and U.S. domestic oil production by The Associated Press shows no statistical correlation between how much oil comes out of U.S. wells and the price at the pump.
You’re welcome to read the whole thing, but, it comes down to the AP wanting to defend Obama, pure and simple. What’s missing is that supply has to outstrip demand to bring prices down. It hasn’t. Even with more domestic drilling on private land, as we’ve seen, the demand still outweighs supply. Said statistics are mostly based on world supply and demand, which fluctuates. Were America to make a concerted effort to massively increase our own supply, our domestic prices would change, much like in the other big producer countries, where prices are much lower.
The AP also forgets to get around to telling us what, exactly, drives prices.
