AS THE PRICE OF OIL roars above $100 per barrel and gasoline nears $4 per gallon, a cry for solutions understandably goes up. Higher gas prices amount to a regressive tax increase on the American consumer, with all that implies for the ability of the U.S. and global economies to sustain their fragile recovery. Some in Congress, citing the disruption of production in Libya, are asking President Obama to uncork the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the government-owned emergency supply - currently 727 million barrels - that Congress established 36 years ago. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) says tapping the strategic reserve would "mitigate the runaway increase in prices [like] that we saw in the summer of 2008."