By: Peter Marko Tase
In the last year, the United States has experienced inflation that is higher than ever in the last 40 years. Perhaps the most painful driver of inflation was the skyrocketing price of gasoline at gas stations. When President Joe Biden was sworn in, the average retail price of gasoline was $2.38 a gallon. Today, it averages $4.23 per gallon. In some parts of the country, the price even exceeded $6.90 a gallon. This was no coincidence. This was not an unintended side effect. Nor was it a major consequence of the war in Ukraine. This is the result of green fanatics from the Biden administration who are advocating a Green New Deal. The Americans were told they would do so. And they kept their promise. Now, however, Democrats have figured out they have a problem.
Rising fuel prices are a new election headache for Joe Biden. Republicans accuse him of advocating a “radical anti-American energy agenda”. Democrats, however, blame the greedy oil companies and Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine. While some argue that the crisis is an opportunity, consumers are feeling the pressure, which is the latest complex problem of the American president, who obviously cannot find a break after 14 months in office. President Biden has started a war against American energy and would rather buy gas from the Maduro regime in Venezuela or Vladimir Putin than from Americans who make money in America. Americans do not like having to pay four, five, or seven US dollars per gallon to fill a tank.
The Biden administration’s attack on oil and gas production began during his campaign, when he promised during the debate: “No more drilling on federal land. No more drilling at sea. The oil industry will not be able to continue drilling.”
He promised this to the Americans, and he fulfilled that promise on the first day of his term – he cancelled the Keystone oil pipeline. The following week, he halted all federal oil and gas lease sales, halting the development of that part of the economy that produces 24 percent of US energy. On May 7th, Biden’s interior ministry announced plans to ban oil and gas extraction on 30 percent of US federal lands. On June 1st, Biden rescinded leases on the northern slope of Alaska, which meant 16 billion barrels of oil left dormant. On October 7th, Biden revoked Trump’s permission to restructure regulations. On October 29th, Biden’s Home Office began using the “social cost” of carbon, a new type of analysis that Congress has never enacted and is designed to validate or deny permits. On March 21st, just a few weeks ago, Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued a new regulation aimed at reducing investment in oil and gas and thus “cutting off” capital from drilling. Supply and demand have always been determined, but the Biden administration waged a war against supply, and prices rose sharply. This is no coincidence. This is not Putin. It is Joe Biden, the Democrats, and their Green New Deal. Democrats are now desperately looking for a political excuse to blame someone else for the consequences of what they promised to do to Americans.
Biden’s presidency is like a curse, as he is weighed down by the continuation of covid-19, inflation that has spiralled out of control, a crazy leader in Russia, and now rising energy prices that are hitting voters in the pocket. Voters want to be able to buy fuel for their cars without spending a hundred dollars.
Prices at the pumps, which reached record highs last weekend, had been rising long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine as demand recovered from congestion due to the new coronavirus. Announcing a ban on Russian oil imports to the United States, Biden sought to turn this into a “Putin price hike”. The White House is having a hard time this election year, and the inflation crisis will reverse relations in the US Congress at the end of 2022.
Peter Marko Tase is the author and editor of twelve books on Paraguayan history and foreign policy.