I’m sure all of us can remember President Obama, along with his sycophantic surrogates telling us early and often, that we couldn’t “drill our way to lower gas prices.” Well, it appears we can. From the Daily Signal

When gas prices topped $4 per gallon in May 2011, President Barack Obama said, “We can’t just drill our way out of the problem.”

Throughout his presidency, Obama stated some version of that sentiment every time he wanted to push to subsidize alternative energy sources.

More than seven years later, human ingenuity, technological innovation, and the power of the free market have proven him wrong. To the benefit of American families across the country, the United States is now the largest global producer of crude oil.

According to a report from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration this week, U.S. crude oil production surpassed that of Saudi Arabia and Russia. When Obama made his statement in May 2011, U.S. monthly production was 174 million barrels (5.67 million barrels per day). In June 2018, monthly production stood at 320.23 million barrels (10.67 million barrels per day).

Since 2011, I have noted that gas prices in my area of the country have dropped below $2.00 on at least 5 different occasions including yesterday. That’s not the extent of the good news. Not only have we drilled our way to lower gas prices, it also appears that we have drilled our way to the top of the heap as far as petroleum production, surpassing Vlad Putin’s Russia, but also the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This from the Global Energy Institute.

Last month, the United States surpassed Russia – to become the world’s largest crude oil producer, reaching 10.9 million barrels a day of production in August. This is the first time since the 1970s that America has claimed the top spot, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week, confirming months of predictions that U.S. production would top Russia’s after two decades of trailing behind. EIA expects U.S. crude oil production to continue to exceed that of Russia and Saudi Arabia for the rest of 2018 and through 2019.

It’s critical to note that this achievement was despite the efforts of Jimmy Carter’s Department of Energy, which although created to make us energy independent, never did so, actually having quite the opposite effect under President Obama. This just proves how awesome American technological prowess is, especially when not unduly hindered by mindless government.

Finally a question; Why haven’t President Obama and his minions apologized for excoriating Governor Sarah Palin and Representative Michelle Bachman for promoting, “Drill Baby, Drill?” We know the answer and I guess we shouldn’t hold our collective breath.

Mike Ford is a retired Infantry Officer who writes on Military, Foreign Affairs and occasionally dabbles in Political and Economic matters.

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