The case against tapping Oil Reserves

There has been increasing calls on the U.S. government to tap into the Oil reserves since the price of Oil is going up faster and the recovery from the recession not that great and may get even stalled due to high prices. But is this not tinkering into the mechanics of the free market system. Although it is the fear of the unrest in the Middle East that is driving up the prices, but not one person is manipulating the prices and even then the prices are not that high enough to justify tapping into Oil reserves. The reserves were started during the Arab Oil embargo and should and must be used for emergencies only like a shortage in case of the suspension of flow from the Middle East.

But to tap the reserves in order to reduce the price of oil is not an emergency. Furthermore the reserves are not that great to begin with (some 700 million or so barrels of oil) that is a fraction of what we alone in the U.S. consume every year. Although it can be temporary psychological boost that will no doubt reduce the price of the oil but only for a few days. We are also not facing a world where oil is about to run short and due to environmental restrictions we have not tapped our oil which is beneath the U.S. Also we have Canada to the North and other countries which can duly take the place of the disruption in the flow of Oil. So the U.S. should resist the temptation to manipulate the price of oil by tapping the reserves.