$50 oil missing from the debate

Here are three numbers that ought to matter to you. $2.30. $51. $300 billion.

The first number is what I paid for a gallon of gas Tuesday when I filled up my car.

The second is the record price reached on U.S. markets this week for a barrel of high grade crude oil.

The third number is a conservative estimate of the bonanza that members of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will haul in this year. That amount is almost three times what OPEC earned in 1998.

All these numbers add up to a growing energy crisis that is being largely ignored in this smashmouth presidential election.

SanJoseMercuryNews