I don’t know how mankind will survive now that the cost of living has gone up $0.75 a pint WC Fields
There was some risk in President Biden making the decision to cut off Russian oil imports to the US. Even though Russian oil only amounts to about 2% of US oil imports, the move was still going to bring higher prices to the pumps in a time of rising inflation.
Fortunately, the President has widespread public support for the move. A recent poll showed that a whopping 71% of Americans are willing to pay jore at the pump to flip Putin the bird and support Ukraine, with only 22% opposing the move. But how long does that last? Especially since people are talking before the price increases even hit the pumps? Maybe longer than you think.
Lawrence O’Donnell just had an incredible interview on The Last Word with Larry Summers, President Clinton’s Treasury Secretary. And Sanders gave a basic tutorial as to why the rising fuel costs of today are not the budget killing disaster that they were in the past.
Summers started out by noting that while oil prices may be at near historic highs, that’s not necessarily true at the pumps. Summers noted that when Obama was inaugurated in January of 2013, prices at the pump were approximately $4.58 a gallon in 2022 dollars. Which is right about where it is right now in most places. But that was ten years ago, and a whole lot of shit has changed in ten years.
Fort starters, every Democratic administration starting with Clinton has laid down regulations for Detroit to improve gas mileage. And thile Republicans screamed like babies, once the regulations were in, they were in. Detroit wasn’t going to ping-pong around on mileage every time the administration changed. Besides, states like California started passing their own laws regarding mileage and emissions. As a result, gas mileage is now 20% better than it was when Obama took the oath of office in 2013.
And that’s not all. By now, there are at least three generations of hybrid vehicles out there, cars that run on electric power until either the driver manually switches back to gas, or the batteries drain. And that doesn’t even count the at least two generations of purely electric vehicles that don’t use any gas at all. The prices at the pump may be up, but one way or another modern cars go one helluva way longer on the same tank of gas from 10 years ago.
And here’s the cherry on top. While gas prices may be rising, for the first time in more than a generation, so are basic hourly wages. They have gone up more in the last two years than they have in a generation. Even before inflation, thanks to the Biden administration’s Covid relief policies, American families have more money in the bank than they have had for years. And most of them are seeing significantly more money in their paychecks every cycle. Americans today are far better prepared to tolerate the rise in gas prices than they would have been say, 5 years ago.
So, while gas prices are rising, people can handle it. And more so, they have a cause celebre to rally around, support for Ukraine, and double barrel birds for Putin. And even AOC and Bernie should be happy. Because now that we’ve divested from Russian oil, we’ll never go back again, even once the war is over. We can go to work on taking that 2%, and committing it to fossil free fuel sources instead.
And you know who comes out as golden as hell in this? President Biden. watch for upcoming polling. Biden is gonna be one pretty popular wartime President. Right now, pretty much anything in congress that has the word Ukraine attached to it is sliding through with bipartisan support. h like shit through a goose, with bipartisan support. All of which makes Biden look good.
And here’s one more positive for Biden in this. Since day one of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden has aggressively been out there blaming future rising gas prices on Putin’s war. And since the GOP has been moot on the subject, there is no way that they can come back and attack Democrats for high gas prices in November. I love a win-win.
I barely fill up my Jetta once a week so rising gas prices are less than maybe takeout sandwich for me once a week. Uber and lyft drivers may be hurting more.
Back in the Bush the child wars people were reimbursed to buy gas guzzling vehicles. When higher gas prices hit and the 2008 recession people cut back. Gas consumption continues to be stable despite increases in miles driven.
Fear not!!! The oil industry would never take advantage of the American people!!!……
“American oil and gas companies should not — should not exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits,” Biden warned the oil companies before the impending Russian invasion, to which American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers responded , “Our companies would never take advantage of this kind of situation, and “My member companies are patriots,” he said. “This is not a time to target one particular industry that has a proven record.”
How this lying son of a bitch managed to utter that shovelful of BS with a straight face is beyond me…..that is ALL they have done for years!!!…..taking advantage of any slight political or natural disaster problem and gouging for every cent they can wring out of the American people.
You might as well put a -R behind this lying scumbag’s name, and note the price of a gallon of gas is up almost $1 a gallon since this reassurance that it won’t happen.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/business/us-oil-ceo-reaction-biden-ukraine-russia/index.html
Did anyone happen to see Sommers’ face when he dropped this turd out of his pie hole? I can only imagine the shit-eating grin this a*shole sported while he was spewing said turd.
What a lot of people overlook is that Don John persuaded Bin Salman to cut back on Saudi oil production. Biden, in view of the boycott on Russian oil, asked him to increase production to make up the shortfall. He refused.
sure hope we tell bin salman to pack sand when he asks for assistance in Yemen.
Biden has the advantage of being a wartime president in a war the US didn’t initiate and (at least for now) has no skin in. He can ride this to a second term if he plays it right.
Regarding oil production, something I never see mentioned is, the US is the largest producer of oil and natural gas IN THE WORLD. The only reason we have to import from Russia or Saudi Arabia is the guys pulling it out of the ground can make more money exporting it. If Biden had the stones to, he could sign an executive order nationalizing oil production and keep it here.
Unfortunately, oil companies are also major campaign donors.
Welcome to the Corporate States of America.
Why does everyone address al the alternative to curb inflation instead of meeting head on he greed of oil executives and their willful misuse of subsidies to enrich themselves while doing nothing to benefit the consumers who financed the subsidies from the beginning? The cause of the rise of gasoline prices rests squarely on the oil industry itself, and unless and until something is done about that, little will change. I have gone solar, and despite the fact that the country where I love doesnot allow solar panels to ne off their grids and they do not pay for the excess energy my panels generate, at least I am not getting billed 320 dollars, like last bill. We went through a transition month and the bill this time was $55. Nest month, our first full one with functioning solar, will tell the story. We have had a very hot summer, and I even ran ai rconditioning 24/7 for the past month and the bill still fell, without my contributing to pollution. It is possible, but only of the petroleum propaganda is halted.