[Perfectlap]

oh but it tis OUR money.....

The capital expenditures for new drilling are being spent by Big Oil and passed directly to you and I. Where do you think that mun-ey is coming from?
Their billions in profits? Heck we can even get these guys to sell us a FULL gallon of gas fair and square when the dang temp is above 60F like in Canada and Europe!!! (they must be making a KILLING with that nonsense at $5 a gallon).
Sure we will get the taxes and money from the leases but the govt is going to spend it to get more tails on the public transportation, the roads that need to be repaired with more mass commuters and pay for this trillion dollar Iraq mess, and a bunch of other things that are falling apart around us.
All corporate investments geared at future growth are payed for us the consumers. Mor drilling in ANWR or offshore will mean higher gas prices in the short term with a possibility of no benefit in the long term when Asian oil consumption is up to 10 barrels per head. We could be footing the bill to fuel the very economies we compete against!

As far as the govt. getting out of the way...This is 2008. Globalization is here and we're competing against emerging nations whose govts play an active role in making sure their economies are FULLY fueled. When gas prices go up Americans stay home. When gas prices go up in Asia they buy more. Even if those govts scale back fuel subsidies the sheer volume in the increase of demmand will still ensure govt participation in layering additional demmand onto the price action.
Asia is only consuming a mere two barrels per person per year. I mean seriously 30,000 cars a day between India and China! We're not selling 30K of anything. There's an economic war going on today and we're sitting around pickin our noses. Those govts are sitting on Trillions in cash reserves. They're going to use it to make sure economic growth fights off a world wide economic downturn as best as they can. If we are to have a chance its all hands on deck, including the Fed Govt.