Republicans love screaming that President Obama somehow won’t let American companies pump oil. That is so blatantly false that it brings us to our number of the day: 1.
That’s where we’re heading — the world’s No. 1 producer of oil. The Associated Press reports that our output is rising that fast. We’ve already passed Russia to become the second-largest producer. We could surpass Saudi Arabia by 2020. In fact, the more production numbers you look at, the more ridiculous the Republican arguments become.
U.S. production of liquid hydrocarbons will probably end 7 percent higher this year than last, the biggest gain in a single year since the Truman administration. Our dependence on foreign oil has dropped from 60 percent to 45 percent in the last seven years, to the lowest percentage of imports since 1995.
As for the price at the pump … Republicans keep comparing gas prices now with the cost right after petroleum — and everything else in the U.S. economy — took a crash dive in late 2008. But in real numbers, the average price is about the same as four years ago this month.
All these numbers point in one direction. We are having a massive surge in oil production — and Mitt Romney’s complaint against current policy is a shameless lie.
