In my humble opinion, both Hilary Clinton and John McCain fail Economics 101. While they really grasp the politics of the situation, they have really got the economics of the price of petroleum wrong. When the commodity is in short supply relative to demand, the price will go up. If you artificially reduce the price (price cap/tax cut), the shortage will increase because the demand will not decline. If you let the price rise, the demand will go down. Does anyone other than me remember the Jimmy Carter – gas line days. With two-thirds of the current presidential candidates you can expect a return to those good old days.
What we need in this situation is leadership from someone who can lead us out of the mess that we have gotten ourselves into.