Life repeats itself, eh?
Trump Finds Himself in the Joe Biden Bind
But he has only himself to blame for the spiking price of gas.
NEON SIGNS ANNOUNCING the price of a gallon of gasoline are as ubiquitous a feature of America’s roadways as strip malls, cigarette butts, and roadkill. With so many gas stations competing with one another, each is eager to advertise a lower rate—especially since cheap fuel helps bring people in the door of the shop, where the real profits are made selling cigarettes, lottery tickets, and snacks.
But the glowing numerals above the nation’s highways and byways aren’t just economic messages—they’re political messages, too. The price of a gallon of gasoline is one of the most tangible ways for voters to measure not only their own costs of living, but also the overall health of the economy. It’s an imperfect measure—cheap gas doesn’t always correlate with economic growth—but spikes in the price of oil usually do come with an economic downturn.
“Every time [Americans] drive to the grocery store, drive their kids to school or drive to work—there is that monstrous sign that shows them, day by day, how much [the price of gas] increases,” said Democratic pollster John Anzalone. “It’s maddening to people.”
Affordability has long been the key issue Democrats believed would motivate voters in the midterm elections—particularly the rising cost of health care, groceries, and electricity bills. But gas prices were not a part of the messaging plan because they had gradually dropped since Trump returned to office. Until the last week, that is.
Trump’s war of choice against Iran has been a self-inflicted political wound….
More behind a paywall….
Joe Biden story Summer 2024….
War’s and bad political decisions seem to drive worldwide gas prices UP….
Joe Biden Shares the Blame for the Nation’s Soaring Gas Prices
The political season is upon us again, and both parties are arguing about who is to blame for the nation’s high gasoline prices. Campaigns muddy serious policy discussions, so let’s take a look and place blame wherever it belongs.
The average U.S. gasoline price is $3.60 per gallon. Those who have an interest in convincing Americans this is a bargain—politicians trying to retain office—point out that this is well below the June 2022 peak of $5.03 per gallon, and opponents will say current prices are well above the April 2020 low of $1.94 per gallon. But just how much finger pointing is warranted? Obviously global events (a pandemic, a war, inflation) matter a lot. But the Biden administration is not entirely free of blame.
While it’s true that the pandemic stunted oil demand and depressed prices, it is important to realize that gasoline prices were already low and had been enjoying historical lows for years since the fracking boom sent U.S. oil production surging. Trump would like to take credit for that, though the trend started under Obama. But that happened despite Obama’s policies rather than thanks to them, and Trump can take some credit for keeping the trend going since federal drilling permit approval times fell from 196 days in 2016 to 94 by 2019.
Then when Biden took office, prices started climbing again. Most of this wasn’t Biden’s fault, as two big factors that were mostly outside of his control that drove up prices: Rising transportation demand as the world started getting back to normal, and a war involving Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers. The latter point, though, matters less than the Biden administration would like to claim. Gasoline prices were surging before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and had already risen by $1.16 per gallon by that point since Biden took office (with another $1.45 per gallon to go)…..
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