Business

Prez needs to gas up America

Presidents Day weekend isn’t typically a time to hear a lot of talk about soaring gas prices. Such discourse is usually held off until at least Memorial Day — but not this year.

Despite signs that the US economy is entering its perennial pre-spring slowdown, oil prices are not, with a gallon of regular gas averaging $4 again here in the city.

Many of the world’s biggest hedge funds are betting that prices are headed higher still. That’s bad news for drivers in the short run, but not necessarily for American taxpayers, who, given the right policies, could also cash in on America’s energy revolution.

Indeed, the smartest hedgies in the room — those would be the folks at the $130 billion Bridgewater Associates — see “a bullish shift . . . for oil,” according to a recent report.

That bullish assessment comes from Bob Prince, the co-chief investment officer at the Connecticut firm. Prince’s name at the top of Bridgewater’s closely held “Daily Observations” report makes it a must-read for investors in the know and for those who can get their hands on it, including top guns at the White House and the Fed, who reportedly read the Bridgewater missives.

Unfortunately, it seems that the president isn’t getting the SparkNotes of the Bridgewater reports. If he were, his State of the Union address wouldn’t have paid only lip service to America’s incredible energy boom. In fact, lip service is far too generous a characterization. Rather, the president ignored the oil boom that contributed to a $4 billion improvement in our trade deficit in December.

More alarming, when it comes to the sea of natural gas that America floats on — gas that can run our turbines and cool our homes — the president was largely dismissive of an industry that could produce hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs.

“In the meantime” is how President Obama referred to the time frame for the natural gas industry that he hopes will tide us over until the wind and the sun take up the slack.

The smartest hedge funds in the world are betting that energy will continue to be a good investment.

It’s too bad the White House doesn’t see the same potential for America.