Joe Biden blames Big Oil for high gas prices

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(NithidPhoto / Getty Images)

President Biden wrote a clumsy and politically transparent letter to the Federal Trade Commission, attempting to blame the rising energy prices on the bad Big Oil cabal. In the letter, Biden speaks of “growing evidence of anti-consumer behavior on the part of oil and gas companies,” suggesting the agency should “consider whether illegal driving is costing families at the pump.” He thinks “you should do this immediately”.

But when it comes to energy, no one has engaged in more anti-consumer behavior than Democrats. Earlier this month – the same month he visited COP26 to reaffirm the country’s commitment to tackling climate change – Biden blamed the prices at the pump on the “refusal of Russia or the OPEC countries to pump more oil ”. While Russia and OPEC may temporarily benefit from higher prices – although both were producing above pre-COVID levels; “It’s the United States that is lagging behind,” according to Bloomberg’s Javier Blas – all of this would be far less of a problem if the Biden administration hadn’t done everything in its power to undermine domestic production.

Yes, oil is a fungible commodity and strong demand is a function of our way out of a government-induced recession. But it has been the policy and stated goal of Democrats for more than a decade to drive up the prices of fossil fuels to reduce their use and save the planet. On the first day of his presidency, Biden joined the Paris Agreement and revoked building permits for the Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would carry around 800,000 barrels of oil a day to the United States. A week later, Biden signed a series of executive orders prioritizing climate change over power generation, ending any new oil and gas leases on all public land. When a court blocked the order, the Biden administration appealed the decision, even though there were indications that energy prices would rise. None of this even serves to calculate the huge amounts of investment diverted from reliable energy to expensive alternatives due to subsidies and government mandates.

Democrats routinely accuse Big Oil of encouraging our dependence on dangerous fossil fuels. And now they also want to blame Big Oil for the expensive gas. Shouldn’t Biden thank them? And how long before the people who argue that multibillion dollar spending bills “cost” a dime start demanding price controls and other policies that attack the immutable laws of the economy? As a general rule, the analogies comparing the 2020s to the 1970s aren’t satisfactory (we’re well, much better off), but really, if we’re going to have odd and even gas driving days, the comparison will be impossible to resist. .

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