Joe Biden made himself out to be a genius during the 99 days that gas prices at the pump were falling. His releases from the Strategic Oil Reserve, his carping at the oil companies about “price gouging,” and other policies he adopted forced down prices.
And as long as prices were going down, it was all due to Biden. But now that prices are rising — 60 cents a gallon in some areas last week — shouldn’t the president take the blame?
Obviously, you don’t think like Joe Biden. But don’t feel bad. Most primates don’t think like Joe Biden either, despite the simple-minded chimp-like reasoning at work.
Biden didn’t make that very clear while taking credit for the pump-price descent over the last three months. The White House and Democrats looooved to point to the fall in prices as evidence that Biden’s economic policy was working. As early as mid-July, Biden was taking credit for those changes, tying it specifically to his short-term releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and supposed increases in US production.
The Washington Post claims that Biden’s best option is to limit exports to other nations. That would bolster U.S. supplies and put some downward pressure on prices. But it is also likely to send Europe into a severe recession. And besides, it’s hardly Biden’s best option.
That is not the most potent policy option Biden has, and the Post should know better. Biden complains that oil companies won’t invest in production, but his Executive Order 13990 vastly increased the costs and red tape involved in exploration, extraction, and refining. Biden could start by rescinding that EO and returning energy policy to the status quo ante, but he wants to stand by his commitment to end fossil-fuel use within the next decade.
Green heads would explode all over the country if Biden were to do that, so it’s not in the cards. Biden is falling back on his tried and true attack on Big Oil, seeking political cover despite the president doing everything in his power to slow oil production to “save the planet.”
Energy companies are rightly asking why they should invest tens of billions of dollars in new supplies when the administration wants to phase out all fossil fuels in 10 years.
Want to know why gas prices will soar again? That’s why. We have a completely irresponsible approach to energy policy, dictated by fantasies of technologies that have not proven reliable and a complete refusal to address the actual needs of the nation. It’s sheer idiocy.
The American people aren’t idiots, however. No matter how much Democrats try to dodge responsibility for these soon-to-skyrocket-again gas prices, voters will remember that we didn’t have these issues in the four years before Biden and his team of incompetents took charge.
It’s not just an “irresponsible” approach to energy. It’s mindless and predicated on the political whims of the moment.
Just a few short years ago, America was virtually energy independent. But then the war on fossil fuels began, and a pandemic hit. Now, we find ourselves at the mercy of other countries for our energy needs.
And that’s on Joe Biden.
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