Drill, don't redistribute.(The Week)

OVER the past two months, consumer sentiment has ebbed to its lowest level in almost 30 years. The drop is at odds with much of the data--economists now believe, for example, that economic growth in the second quarter was around 2 percentage points, hardly a cause for deep melancholy. The unemployment rate hovers around 5.5 percent, about its post-war average.

What explains this low morale in a moderate economy? Democrats and Barack Obama offer a populist story: While the economy as a whole has not done that poorly during the Bush years, the little guy has fallen farther and farther behind. Americans yearn, the story goes, for massive redistribution.

The accompanying chart suggests a stark and simple alternative story: High gasoline prices are killing the national mood.

The chart begins in January 2004, and plots the price of gasoline against consumer sentiment. Since the relationship is an inverse one--high gasoline prices lead to lower sentiment--the right-hand scale is inverted. Back in 2004, the gasoline price was around $1.75 a gallon, and consumer sentiment was soaring. Over the next four years, the gasoline price jumped to almost $4.25, and sentiment dropped to its lowest level since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

If ...