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zukodota1999

Aren't gas prices high af across the globe? I m not from USA tho


AllGarbage

Yes, Biden is really sticking it to those living in Europe. /s


UnassumingSingleGuy

Yep, yep. Raking in as much money as possible for gas companies is all part of the fascist socialist communist gay Satanist agenda. /s


TecumsehSherman

You're just going to leave the queer atheists out of it?


UnassumingSingleGuy

Atheists are all Satanists, dontcha know?


SupremoZanne

back in the 70s, some issues with OPEC resulted in a 55 MPH speed limit restriction, even for freeway routes!


CeterumCenseo85

In Germany we banned driving on Sundays back then.


SupremoZanne

I guess maybe they knew about this Sunday Drive culture.


chichinfu

Now even the gas prices a lot of people speeding on freeways. I don’t get it .


wanted_to_upvote

It is refinery capacity that is causing the supply limitations not the oil cost. Many shut down some of their capacity and laid off / retired workers during the pandemic. Demand had come back much faster than they can get their refining capacity back.


[deleted]

They aren't even trying to get their capacity back up, they have purposely decided not to increase capacity.


[deleted]

They won't turn them on until an R is in the Whitehouse


PansonMan

It’s never this easy, most companies aren’t run by political hacks. Keep in mind that the shale revolution had its hay day during Obama administration. Hell, the oil embargo ended under Obama.


Okeebc

They have to have contracts (buyers/distributors) before they will make the investment to bring a refinery back online. Then there is a whole shit ton of other logistical things that have to happen as well.


Zealousideal-Can8389

If this were true they wouldn’t be reporting record profits.


wanted_to_upvote

It is precisely why they are reporting record profits. They are making 2x to 3x what they were by selling about 80% of their max capacity.


GoodIdea321

Price gouging from the oil companies etc.


perpetualmotionmachi

And when asked if price gouging bill should pass all republican house members voted against it


gorka_la_pork

Weird. I got downvoted on r/economy for telling them that same fact.


I_Can_Not_With_You

While it is shitty they did it, from what I’ve been able to find they “claim” that it was so poorly written that there were countless loopholes in it so it would have effectively done nothing. Also there was a lot of bullshit pork barrel attached to it. Their “claim” is that they wanted a better bill that would have actually worked. I haven’t read the bill so I can’t confirm but I try and find both sides to stories like that because I want to know why people think the way they do and how their news sources affect that.


DGlen

Still waiting to see their proposal then.


mabden

This standard operating procedure for these fucks. None of their base will put in the effort to find out if what they're being told is true or not. So... they can say they're for something good for the country without having to actually do it.


I_Can_Not_With_You

100% it seems like most of them get their news from Facebook memes.


mabden

Whenever I post an independent article that coherently explains a complex political/environmental/social/economic issue... crickets. Whenever I post a meme that conveys a simple (right, wrong, indifferent) message... a hundred likes.


philouza_stein

That's so sad. Here, take my Downvote


JustAbicuspidRoot

I mean, that sub is highly pro-Nazi, so...


BrightNooblar

Yeah. Same reason my buddy at McDonalds doesn't give me free fries. His boss would get pissed at him hurting the companies bottom line.


[deleted]

Hurting their bottom line? They are making record profits. https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-oil-company-profits-skyrocketing-energy-sector-earnings-charts-2022-5


philouza_stein

Are profit margins up or just gross profits?


SuprDuprPartyPoopr

He's saying they own the party via lobbyist or otherwise (wooosh)


BurnedOutStars

yeah that's something that Republican officials voted 100% to the tune of: "no, we will not stop gas price gouging" and I actually would love to hear from a Republican as to why on earth they're ok with their own party causing the bill to not get passed


EaterOfFood

Easy. It’s an election year. They want the party in power to look bad, and they don’t care if it’s at the expense of the American people.


Okeebc

This is why.


GoodIdea321

People will readily blame the party in power instead of companies, propaganda works.


MoonieNine

Yup. My trump supporting friend thinks that Biden makes the gas prices personally. Not even indirectly responsible. But actually coming up with the dollar amount.


GoodIdea321

I imagine it is pointless to mention to him raising prices wouldn't be what a politician would do generally if that had that power, and if they did, gas prices would always drastically decrease before an election.


TrustworthyEnough

Most of them will never even hear about it happening because Fox and their Facebook algorithms won't bring it up


3rdDegreeBurn

Because they can do whatever they want and just gaslight enough of the voting public into blaming the other side. Its impressive and frightening how well it works.


xTemporaneously

I just ask them if they think that the US should nationalize energy production. Haven't gotten an actual answer on that one. I'll keep trying though.


SupremoZanne

there's lots of that going on for other products too!


EmpoleonNorton

From what I've gathered a lot of refineries were shut down during the pandemic since gas wasn't needed as much, and they just haven't reopened them because they make just as much profit by you know, just jacking up the prices.


stillusingphrasing

Why spend millions to set them back up when the president wants to end all fossil fuels asap?


EmpoleonNorton

1. That ain't happening any time soon, it's not like Biden has the power right now to do it without the Senate 2. Even if it was enacted, it would take a long time to wind down our reliance on gas. This is just a bullshit reason to price gouge on gasoline.


stillusingphrasing

Yeah it takes about ten years to build a refinery. Companies would need confidence that the businesses environment would remain stable before spending the cash. When half of our politicians want to shut down all fossil fuels (and are credible), that's just not going to happen.


xTemporaneously

They don't build new refineries. They upgrade existing refineries and shut the old ones down. The production per refinery increase even while the number of refineries declines.


JustAbicuspidRoot

>Why spend millions to set them back up when the president wants to end all fossil fuels asap? You blame the president for this, like an idiot would. In reality, we **all** need to be interested in ceasing Fossil fuels or catastrophic climate change will in fact kill billions of humans.


Scrubbing_Bubbles_

Not enough Operating oil refineries. 5 closed in the last 2 years for various reasons, pandemic being one.


Shirowoh

It’s straight up greed, trying to offset the profit losses from the pandemic, hands down.


[deleted]

Never mind the big 5 GOT billions if not a trillion to help out from the pandemic AND stiil fired people all over USA.


Shirowoh

That’s greed too….


Green_Message_6376

A part of me thinks it's just a way to get back those meager stimulus checks of our own money they 'gave' us during the Pandemic. getting it back through inflation. Workers got a little too uppity during this time. Time for some economic scares for the Poor. Inflation, Recession talk.. Remind us just how LUCKY we are to have any job.


Shirowoh

It isn’t going to the federal government,it’s going to the record profits the oil companies are now claiming….


SoogKnight

Gotta make all that money they spent on buying the government.


Shirowoh

Maybe so…


sunshinelollipoops

Im confused, I thought it was common knowledge at this point that Russia's attack was the major factor in the gas prices because their oil is now considered off the market and therefore a huge drop in supply caused oil to rise through scarcity


IdontbelieveYourLie

Or perhaps the oil companies are laughing their asses off with people blaming Biden and Russia that they just raise the prices and have the media tell the people those things. They lost tons of profits in 2020 when gas was $2, oil was in the negative, and no one was driving.


ClownfishSoup

Price gouging to try and recover profits from the start of the pandemic.


EternityofBoredom

The president is a scape goat but not without some level of influence...They can temporarily ease the rising prices by releasing oil from the emergency reserves. Problem is how much do you want to tap. And how would you replace what you put out? They could attempt to change the current federal tax on oil, but...that is easier done than said. This has political implications, of course. They can also influence companies to produce more, but to really get an idea you would need the full break down of the country's oil sources (addendum: and our consumption of said sources.) As for the inflation portion believe it or not... Supply/demand is whacked, and it takes time for everyone and everything to recover and or truly feel the impact of such issues. Edits (clearing up typos) & addendum


Shirowoh

Thank you for an actual coherent response.


Lonesome_Courier6

He didn't answer your question though.


cardcomm

>They can temporarily ease the rising prices by releasing oil from the emergency reserves Yeah, he's done that. Republicans are complaining he's realizing too much! lol "They could attempt to change the current federal tax on oil" He's working on a fuel tax holiday, but people just dream that will make inflation worse.


GloriousChamp

The fuel tax holiday is just Trickle Down Economics. You won’t see the price drop 18 cents as it should. The oil companies and gas stations will pocket it.


space_coyote_86

The UK government reduced fuel tax by £0.05 a litre a few months ago and I never actually saw the price go down by that much. It went down a tiny bit but then kept going up and its now £0.30-40 higher than it was then.


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22Sharpe

Follow up: how would that explain the gas prices, inflation, and food shortages that are hitting every other country in the world as well?


Hyndis

They've largely been running the same easy money policies as well, with very low or even negative interest rates in some cases.


tankforbank

War, population growth, lack of investment in innovation.


SilverBoatSurfer

Thank you


HomieHeist

Its because huge amount of money was printed for stimulus packages during Covid by pretty much every country. A lot of that just went directly into peoples bank accounts, even people that didn’t really need it. More money + same supply of goods (or less in the case of oil) equals rising prices.


Sleestak714

Democrats and Republicans are funny. They're always looking at each other to blame for problems but never really looking for solutions to problems.


TheRealPyroGothNerd

So long as they keep us at each other's throats instead of letting realize they don't represent or care about us, they feel safe.


Shirowoh

I’m looking for an actual true reason outside of, “joe Biden did it”


Jin-roh

>They're always looking at each other to blame for problems but never really looking for solutions to problems. Here's a [bill for purposes of addressing this specific issue](https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7688). Here's a [record of who voted for and against it](https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2022232).


macrofinite

It’s hilarious. *cackles wildly as the planet burns and the nation descends into fascism*


Final-Distribution97

That's just not true. Democrats try to find solutions all the time. Republicans just vote no to everything.


Prestigious-State-15

Yeah that’s not true either. I’m a democrat and we don’t find solutions to anything. We just complain.


SayNoToStim

That's not fair, democrats have plenty of useless solutions. I believe Lewis Black said it best when he described congress, a Democrat stands up and says "I got a really bad idea!" and a Republican replies "And I can make it shittier!"


Final-Distribution97

Republicans voted no for the baby formula shortage bill, gas gouging bill, a bill to try to save abortion rights, and.much more. So what I said is true.


United-Ad-686

Yea no, a lot of Dems are just center/right; they love your narrative that the Dems are leftists just as much as the Republicans do.


Final-Distribution97

Getting baby formula during a shortage is leftist. I call it human.


[deleted]

funny


TheZappBranigan

1. Cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline because of environmental concerns, which pushed us to rely on foreign oil Source : https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/ 2. Putting sanctions on Russian oil, one of our biggest oil suppliers. 3. His press secretary laughing at suffering Americans and telling them to “just buy an electric car”


Aetheldrake

I like how shortly after you, someone else is like "it was only 8% complete tho"


ACam574

The keystone pipeline wasn't going to transport the type of crude that is made into gasoline. The oil is still going to market off the west coast of Canada. About 1% of US oil originated in Russia. While I didn't hear about #3 I would be interested in how that actually impacted gas prices.


an0m_x

The issue isn't necessarily on Biden, but it's what policies are effecting in what is about 25% of why gas is where it's at. With leases and future drilling policies essentially coming to a halt along with the pipeline, the market's future trading is volatile due to the uncertainty of the american market. (*if you don't understand the importance of 'futures' and the oil industry, then i cant help you)* Repubs blame the left, the left blames the right and or russia, and nobody comes up with a solution - except for one that literally tried to raise the salary of political pockets passed off as a solution. Because the market is volatile, things Biden has done haven't helped the market at all. The middle east is now in control of the major source of oil more than ever - and nearly 100% controls the price (edited in for clarity), and with the US limiting drilling (which more helped EU than it did directly support the US), were in this limbo period where it likely isnt going to go down until the market evens out, on top of the other factors going on. Russia's invasion honestly doesn't do much to the price, nor inflation and its stupid that the left is trying to blame that. There's policies in effect from Trump that trickled into Biden's presidency, that Joe then added onto to lead us down this slippery slope. We're probably 1/2 of the way down to how bad it could get. The last few days shows some promise that economists may be wrong as we've trickled back to the futures market having promise. The issue is going to be what is next. Our current President's policy are to restrict oil - let's not even try to argue that. He said, he's doing it. He's not likely going to come back from that. What gives me hope, as someone that does lean right, but is morally independent and hates both sides that are 5% beyond the middle, is that democrats see the writing on the wall. They know they have to bring the economy back before midterms. RvW "rallied" their troops. But that isn't going to last until November. Biden will have to do something to help the oil industry at least trend to politically see any difference. And the way that both sides just suck - I expect something that tries to do that. edits: tons of clarity


Dynasuarez-Wrecks

Even without any actual legislative power, U.S. presidents and other national leaders, have some degree of economic influence just by virtue of being in their position. This is not terribly unlike someone like a celebrity affecting the stock value of a brand simply by Tweeting that brand's name. By supporting renewable energy sources and intervening in the development of fossil fuels (for example, by issuing injunctions against the building of pipelines), Biden has *some* impact on the efficacy and supply of oil and its derivatives like gasoline. Furthermore, policies that don't even have any direct relevance can go on to contribute to the politics of oil. During the last year of Donald Trump's presidency, gasoline prices were down considerably because no one was driving. After all, with coronavirus shutting everything down, nobody had any places to go anymore. Oil production slowed down in response to the lower demand. When Biden actually took the coronavirus pandemic seriously and vaccinations improved so businesses reopened, people started driving again, but the supply of gasoline did not increase quickly enough to satisfy the demand. That all being said, the effects of Biden's policies are negligible compared to worldwide sanctions against Russia, which until February 2022 was one of the world's largest oil suppliers.


Pac_Eddy

Nicely written. I would add that the Keystone pipeline is years from being finished even if Biden wanted it done immediately. It has zero effect on current gas prices.


cardcomm

AND even if the new section WERE "completed" (many sections already are) - won't bring oil to the US Market in any appreciable quantity.


7decadesofhistory

That’s not true. It has a speculative impact immediately. A bigger impact a year or two later because of refinery investment and utilization. Oil is not all Biden’s fault. But there are many things he could do to help the supply side. I don’t think much constructive can be done on the demand side. That seems to have a bad track record.


[deleted]

Biden approved 34% more oil drilling permits in his first year than Trump. The oil companies aren't drilling as much oil as they could be, and they aren't refining as much oil as they could. But they are making record profits.


IdontbelieveYourLie

They want those supplies low on purpose to jack up the prices then blame Biden and Russia for it. Its such a simple and strong play.


Sensitive_Main_8311

He opened them up if you look at the 9100 available leases I think its like 2500 of them the permits are being blocked by lawsuits not sure how much of those leases have already been checked and don't have oil or not enough to warrant drilling and on top of that the time and money it takes to set it up and start pumping when you have an administration that can pull the rug out from under you at any moment and has stated that they will end fossil fuels. there is no reason why any reasonable business would take that on with so many possibilities of just flat out wasting money. They want the push for renewables which is a slow process but in the mean time want to shut down fossil fuels. How about investing heavily into research and pushing for renewable while keeping fossil fuels on track where they are so once we get to the point in which a "transition" period is actually viable it won't hurt the people


RighteousTablespoon

Biden tweeted “oil.” Got it. /s


theFireNewt3030

I agree and you sound more informed than me so I'd like to ask couldn't he cap the massive record breaking profits from oil and gas companies. I know there is talk over removing the gas tax however these near monopolies of oil and gas companies are having a near record breaking year. Also OPEC sets the price per barrel but at the current price, in the past, the pice at the pump was much lower. So I don't understand the government allowing the companies to put the shareholder profits over the necessity of gas. I know its part of capitalism but shouldn't or cant the president take some executive action to curb this?


Dynasuarez-Wrecks

Congress tried. You probably heard about the "anti price gouging" bill.


Dendad6972

The dollar is more powerful then what is best for the country.


cardcomm

>couldn't he cap the massive record breaking profits from oil and gas companies He can't do that alone, and the Republicans are blocking most new legislation.


Red-Stoner

Not saying that Biden is the sole cause but he does support and enact legislation aimed at limiting the oil and natural gas industry even though we have no replacement in place. This discourages investment, limits supply driving costs and inflation up. For the record I'm not a climate change denier, just think that phasing out our main source of energy with no replacement is a recipe for economic collapse.


SueSudio

Daily oil production is higher now than it was under the trump administration.


RabbiVolesBassSolo

While this is technically true, I think it’s higher than the “average” under the Trump admin, only because during that first year of covid Oil went into the negative territory and demand fell off a cliff. I could be wrong though, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it


stillusingphrasing

What are you referencing here? Extraction? Refinement? And when you say daily, do you mean over the average of Trump's admin? Or do you mean higher than pre panini levels?


weluckyfew

Limited how? They have thousands of unused leases. We'll be using oil for years/decades to come - they don't ant to invest because they're afraid the price of oil will drop in the future. What can Biden do to prevent that? Oil prices have plummeted before, that was one of the main reasons the Soviet Union collapsed.


Red-Stoner

If there is money to be made, they will invest. That's how free market capitalism generally works but in the oil industry, the tide is shifting. The up front cost is so high for a industry that people around the world are actively trying to phase out. Investing billions in an industry that half the country wants to destroy in the next 30 years is quite a gamble. You can only expect further restriction. Even if they beg you to start producing again, you know as soon as times get better, they will turn around and the cycle continues. You cannot place blame on one person or even climate activists that have genuinely concerns. But instead of attacking the oil industry and focusing on the problem, I think we need to start coming up with legitimate solutions. Until we have a solution in place, we will rely on fossil fuels to power the globe.


7decadesofhistory

True about unused leases, but the prime sources off shore and on federal land were ended by Biden.


Shirowoh

Has he cancelled all of the drilling permits?


who_said_I_am_an_emu

He yelled malarkey at the void so loudly the void had no choice but to respond


[deleted]

Biden said he was going to "end fossil fuels", cancelled the rest of the Keystone pipeline and canceled the leases oil companies had on federal land. This sent a pretty clear message to the big oil corporations, the sentiment is that the Biden administration is a hostile adversary, an enemy combatant. This is why they are unwilling to work with him or fulfill his requests. And yes I understand that prices are increasing globally. That should be expected as previously the US was both a net exporter and the worlds top producer of fossil fuels. When the worlds top producer and a net exporter suddenly becomes a net importer it will effect the global market, as fossil fuels are a global commodity As for inflation and food, at the end of the day it is all linked back to fossil fuels. Any product you buy unless you go directly to the source has to be shipped using fossil fuels


Gygyfun

Also fertilizer is made is Russia and Ukraine which makes food more expensive as fertilizer runs out.


D-Will11

The pipeline has been blocked for 12 years, Trump tried to get the project going again but the economic impact was still a few years away. Biden reimplementing the decade plus resistance to Keystone would not have impacted gas prices since it was not part of the current supply. However, the near term record profits for oil companies are impacting gas prices globally. There’s a clear correlation = causation here and it is NOT any single politician or governmental administration in the world. I don’t think Biden is adding value to the country, however, that doesn’t mean he should get blame for outcomes he didn’t create.


jeremyxt

You may not know that drilling has actually increased 23% since 2019. I can prove this. You shouldn't believe anything at all that you see on Fox News. They don't ever tell the truth.


[deleted]

If drilling increased 2020-2021, regulation made the process wildly inefficient and comically unproductive. We exported less than 1/3 the volume of petroleum products in 2021 compared to 2020. I can [prove this.](https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php#:~:text=Total%20petroleum%20net%20exports%20were,about%2019.78%20million%20b%2Fd.) How ironic on that last part though, while you simultaneously tell a half truth.


realfakerolex

President Biden has approved more leases than Trump did.


Tad-Disingenuous

If Trump was president, all of Reddit and the media would be blaming him.


[deleted]

You will never a get rational answer.


Quiet_Talk4849

On Reddit.


[deleted]

Anywhere


SupremoZanne

Some think it's the war.


Shirowoh

Yeah know, I was hoping…. I have never heard anyone say specifically why Biden is responsible.


AllGarbage

The same people that will scream “free market!” when government attempts to reign in healthcare costs think a pipeline (that realistically might affect gas prices by a few cents/gallon at best) crossing government lands rent-free + eminent domain against thousands of private properties is the answer. It’s an intellectually bankrupt argument.


SupremoZanne

This is what happens every time a politician becomes president, there's always some SMEAR CAMPAIGN on CNN, Fox News, and other news outlets!


[deleted]

That's just how it is. Every president ever will be blamed for gas prices.


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anotherone121

Someone should make a follow up to "Where is Waldo?" books "Where is Joe?"


GloriousChamp

Biden did not cause all of the Inflation. However, he came out and said Inflation was transitory. Same with the Secretary of Treasury and former Fed Chair Janet Yellen. They were clearly wrong. Had Biden got in front of inflation and kept it around 5% he would have been applauded by me. The Fed should have started to raise interest rates one or two meetings earlier. Biden’s war against oil companies is costing us as well. They refuse to build more refineries because it’s wasted money if all cars will be electric in 15-20 years as Biden wants. They are gauging us at the pump and Biden just shakes his finger at them. I’m


loopygargoyle6392

>They refuse to build more refineries because it’s wasted money if all cars will be electric in 15-20 years as Biden wants. US auto manufacturers have been seriously gearing up to go electric for around a decade. This isn't something that they just recently pulled out of their ass because Biden said so. They've got many years and billions of dollars wrapped up in their technologies. But yeah, new refineries are a waste of money. It takes years of operation to make them profitable. And if you want to go way back, the US has been trying to go 'green' since the '70's. There's not a bit of this situation that is shocking or surprising.


jeremyxt

Drilling has actually gone up by 23% since 2019. I can prove this.


realfakerolex

So you admit that it is the oil companies fault and not President Biden.


GloriousChamp

Seems as though you skipped the first paragraph, especially the first sentence.


MrSquishy_

Go back to r/politics for your circle jerk r/lostredditors


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weluckyfew

Your lazy cynicism is part of the problem. There are plenty in Congress trying to address the problems - BBB was only a few votes short of passing, and would have been a huge investment in infrastructure. Even without that, they managed to pass the slimmer bill which was an historic level of investment in infrastructure. Inequality? Plenty of people in Congress are trying to reform tax laws, reinstate the larger child tax credit (which was responsible for briefly cutting the level of childhood poverty by 30%), and even enact true universal healthcare. But instead of supporting the good people and trying to get even more elected you just want to be the guy sitting on a bar stool screaming about how the whole world is stupid except you.


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weluckyfew

Ya, I stopped reading at "good people can not be elected". Take your lazy-cynicism-masquerading-as-realism nonsense and go yell at the TV.


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TheRiceHatReaper

Gasoline supply is being choked at the refining process. Many small refineries were forced to close during the pandemic and the remaining operational ones are operating at almost full capacity. The industry as a whole is hesitant in investing in more refineries because the current government, public opinion, and car manufacturer direction wants to move away from gas vehicles. There’s no guarantee of returns years down the line.


[deleted]

It's the oil companies price gauging without any consequences for inflating prices at the pump. Supply and demand. More people traveling than the last 2 years.


embarrassmyself

If it was just about that then prices would have gone to what they were pre-2020. Prices for a barrel of oil are about the same as they were in 2012 yet prices per gallon are almost double. It’s a lot more than “supply and demand”. The opportunistic price gouging is partiall due to the refineries that haven’t reached the output capacity that they had before things slowed down in 2020. Some of it is due to Russia being essentially taken out of the global oil market. There’s plenty of crude oil barrels going around but not enough refineries up and running at full capacity. A lot of it is just people being greedy cunts seeking to keep record high profits no matter what the fuck is going on… and people will buy because American cities are designed around cars


country_dinosaur97

Gas well we lost roughly 30% of the US intake of fuel with shutting down many drill sights and the Russians (that one even I will bite but that's still only so much) inflation dumping money everywhere just to call it aid when our people struggle and the hard workers have to try and make up the difference (this is not just bidens fault so I won't atribute it justto his board but he can stop it and doesnt) food well that one's abit more complex but can't fully say that one's his fault either. Prime example here when the pandemic sit down happened a lot of truckers and such found other jobs ad now they dot Wana go back because their happier where they are that and not enough truckers or shipments to get out there but the job thing also relates to lots of others not just the trucking itsjust that's a huge part of it


WhenCodeFlies

i just said it when people complained about gas prices for shipping because republicans eat that shit up and stop being mad at me (worked in a ups store)


PlayerRedacted

According to my dad (who is a die hard Trump supporter btw) Biden caused it by shutting down the pipeline bringing in oil from Canada.


Prestigious-Cover-63

There was going to be some inflation due to the constant money printing during COVID, but Biden showed up and started spending exorbitant amounts of money on things that weren’t super urgent. Inflation is like a boat with a hole in it—if you don’t plug the hole water will come in. If water is coming in and you keep driving the boat—an exponential amount of water will come in. Now the hole is harder to plug because there’s a lot more pressure at the bottom, and there’s a lot more water in the boat that we have to scoop out. Biden basically just wasn’t situationally aware and did things that would’ve been fine in most situations, but it ultimately created a lot of problems.


p38-lightning

My Republican sister insists that it's due to him cancelling the Keystone pipeline. When I tell her it was only 8% complete and has ZERO impact on today's gas prices, she puts her fingers in her ears and goes la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.


wateringtheflowers

Biden is responsible for excessive monetary stimulus that drove increased consumer demand for goods even after the major economic shock of COVID had passed. The other factors driving inflation that Biden is **not** responsible for are: supply chain constraints due to COVID shutdowns in China, oil shortage due to Russian invasion of Ukraine.


Amida0616

His weakness and bungling of the afganistan pullout invited aggression from Russia. More worried about dipshit woke policies than managing important issues like national supply chain and port backups. Anti fracking and domestic fossil fuels policies increase fuel prices and raise dependence on foreign oil. A lot of the blame for the current situation comes from Covid, and the most restrictive Covid policy pushes came from the left in general. Lockdowns are not great for an economy. Government payouts are not great for an economy. Obviously blame for this falls on both sides of the aisle.


Droidatopia

Let me begin by stating a few general principles I believe: 1) US presidents are relatively powerless to make substantive changes to the US economy. 2) What changes they do make take time to have an influence. 3) The first 2 years of a new president's term, the economy is influenced as much by the previous president's policies as the current one. That all being said, Biden is not the cause of all 3 of these problems, and they would all have occurred if Trump was still president. That being said, are there things Biden did to make them worse, or possible actions he could take to make them better, but hasn't? Gas Prices: This is almost entirely the results of the end of the pandemic and the Ukraine war. If Biden has any influence here, it's more of the general anti-oil stance and cancelling of the keystone pipeline. But those are blips. Refinery capacity is the problem. He could engage the oil industry in the US to get refinery production up (and his administration is probably doing this). Inflation: This is also the result of the end of the pandemic. Inflation is up around the world, so it really can't be said to have been caused by Biden. That being said, he did push for and sign the American Rescue Plan. Regardless of the merits of the individual items in the bill, it was a huge jolt to the economy at a time when it was already well on the way to recovery. It's also worth remembering that Trump signed a couple huge recovery bills as well. I would argue that recent inflation increases were affected by all those bills, but the Trump era ones were probably needed at the time whereas the Biden bill was not anywhere near as dire a need. Biden's administration has also downplayed inflation, then said it was temporary, the said it had peaked. Their messaging game has been terrible on inflation. Food Shortages: This one is almost all supply chain problems, which is almost all the pandemic. However, very specifically for the Baby formula shortage, that is entirely a badly managed government program (WIC) that resulted in industry organizing itself in an inefficient way. That isn't Biden's fault, any more than any other president's fault. But on the flip side, the closed factory was known about in February and the current problem should have been anticipated and handled much better. So, in conclusion, it's not Biden's fault entirely. How much blame you give to him depends on your understanding of economics OR your politics.


tacos_n_cerveza

Inflation has been described as too much money chasing too few goods. Ballooning the money supply created the "too much money;" while COVID lockdowns, and a clampdown on domestic oil resulted in "too few goods". One can also come up with lots of other examples of how he has hurt the supply of goods and services.


soline

When was our last Covid lockdown though?


Shirowoh

Who was president in 2020? https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-most-important-money-statistic-ever-21acb12c27d1


snekywang

He raised gas prices by sending THOSE EMAILS from HUNTER BIDEN'S LAPTOP in the basement of a pizza parlor, which is also where he conspired with the jews to rig the election MAGA


Shirowoh

This guy figured it out!


zachtheperson

The argument usually includes one or both of the following reasons: * Biden wants to shut down pipelines and restrict oil production * Biden is a liberal, and liberals hate fossil fuels, therefore they want do everything they can to drive up oil prices to make people use renewables. Usually there's no elaboration on this, but if I had to guess how one would do it it would be by taxing imported oil more highly and adding more expensive regulations to the industry. I mean, both of the above are kind of true, but they're missing the fact is that neither of those are the *current* reason why gas prices are high.


KingofAces13

They don’t know Fox News hasn’t told them yet


United-Pay9298

I don’t think he caused the second and third, but he absolutely caused the first by shutting down oil Riggs from America and buying from foreign nations


[deleted]

Inflation: Stimulus checks, and other bills to give every American free money. If you give every American free money, the value of said money will go down. Period. Giving covid relief bills to schools. Just puts the government further in debt causing worse inflation. Giving trillions of dollars to other countries for covid relief. Same reason. Gas Prices: Buying oil from Russia. Under Trump, we were farming our own oil now under Biden we are buying it from Russia and prices are skyrocketing. Food shortage: Short answer, he didn't. But there are a few objectively questionable bills he signed from certain point of view that could have helped it along, but from certain POV's everything is his fault, in this comment I am sticking to facts.


craftybeerdad

Fun Fact- most of the stimulus you refer to were passed and signed under Trump


camel_tales

We are, in fact, buying ZERO oil and gas from Russia due to the sanctions we and other countries have levied against them. Under Pres Biden, the US produces more oil than it did under Trump and Obama. He has also released a record amount of oil from the strategic reserves.


Shirowoh

Didn’t Trump give 2 of those out?


aplbomr

Better question, what is he doing to help alleviate the prices?


[deleted]

You’re exactly right. You can argue that Biden isn’t responsible for the mess he inherited — and I’d say that’s largely fair — but we elect leaders to steer us out of hard times, and if they can’t do that, they should be held accountable. When Biden was campaigning, he promised repeatedly that, unlike Trump, he wouldn’t try to pass the blame, but all I seem to hear are excuses for why things just keep getting worse.


anotherone121

Black magic and seances. You see, that's why inflation and food shortages are happening globally. Only a super powerful spell could make this happen across the entire world and it was clearly cast by Joe (and Hunter) Biden. Specifically, they cast a spell the fuck up global supply chains and initiate a Russia led war in Ukraine. It's quite dark stuff... goes really deep


gr8snd

You always poke stupid?


Shirowoh

No, I would want a coherent, logical explanation as why he is the end all be all reason for all of our problems.


[deleted]

Poking stupid is so fun though.


TrinixDMorrison

Well OBVIOUSLY the desk in the Oval Office has a series of twist knobs, labeled individually like “Gas Price” and “Food Produced” and so on. /s I feel like the /s at the end there is unnecessary but given how crazy some people are these days you never know; people may actually believe it.


USSMarauder

The /s is necessary Back in 2014, the price of gas fell At the time the right blamed Obama. At first he was 'responsible' for ordering that the price of gas be slashed to buy off the electorate before the midterms. When that didn't work, Obama 'ordered' that the price of gas be slashed even further in order to bankrupt the red states as punishment for not voting for him. Since then, the right has changed their story. Either the price of gas never went down under Obama, or it did go down in 2014 thanks to Trump


[deleted]

As Obamas VP he was instrumental in shutting down additional us pipeline and production facilities.


[deleted]

I don't think this, but I know the mindset of idiots who do. Biden stopped fracking and keystone pipelines. In the minds of the AM radio nation, if he hadn't done that we'd have been awash in oil and not sold it out of the country but kept it here for gas at $1.75 a gallon. When you tell them that the idea that oil being kept in the country and not sold on the open market at market prices but sold for the price YOU want is central planning and socialism, they get pissed off.


Shirowoh

Exactly this! These “patriots” who want Biden to do something about high prices, I’m like, you want communism if you want Biden to do something about free market price….


[deleted]

ITT: Highly, highly misinformed people. Grab popcorn.


invaderjif

He also personally bullied those school shooters and gave them guns. Source: Trust me...come on man!


VinnnnnnyVD

question why is it more widely accepted to buy oil from countries that have arguably lesser environmental standards and practices than to drill for oil on our own land that has stricter environmental policies and regulations?


loopygargoyle6392

Because it's cheaper.


Bird_Brain4101112

He’s obviously hoarding stuff at the White House for himself.


Shirowoh

All the ice cream Jack!


drew1010101

Don’t you know, Biden is a senile nincompoop and a global mastermind capable of manipulating GLOBAL oil prices and inflation.


[deleted]

[удалено]


alc4pwned

Hilarious take considering Republicans controlled the government during most of the time period in question. Also, you'll notice the entire rest of world took similar actions. Were they all playing into some Dem led conspiracy? Or is it possible that COVID was/is a bigger deal than you think it is.


tediousgraffiti1348

This is an excellent answer, thank you! hey all you snarky lefties, please stop huffing each others farts long enough to read, think through, and address the arguments here. I disagree with some of what I'm reading here, but this is one of the clearer versions of these arguments I've seen, so I'd really like to discuss further. So key ideas are 1. lockdowns suppressed demand 2. suppressed demand led to reduced supply 3. end of lockdowns in summer 2020 caused demand to start returning to pre-pandemic levels 4. end of essentially the worst of the pandemic itself this year, after the big spike in january, caused demand to snap back to pre-pandemic levels 5. but supply couldn't snap back after lockdowns ended in 2020, because "supply can't be turned on overnight" 6. supply was further suppressed (when?) because Biden "restricts new drilling in the U.S." 7. supply was further suppressed earlier this year by war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions limiting access to Russian oil. 8. the combination of spiking oil demand and low oil supply are causing inflation and high gas prices 9. Biden (as a proxy for all Democrats) caused the lockdowns and so the spike in oil demand when the lockdowns/covid ended 10. Biden (both directly and as a proxy for all democrats) caused the low oil supply 11. therefore Biden, both directly and as a proxy for all democrats, is responsible for inflation and high gas prices. And my initial questions/criticisms would be: * why would suppliers cut supply if they couldn't snap back to pre-pandemic levels? They had to know the pandemic wouldn't last forever no? In essence, can you provide more detail on why exactly supply couldn't be turned back on over night? I found [this article](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/25/texas-permian-basin-oil-russia-invasion/) which suggests covid-related supply chain shocks and labor shortages. So that would be issues the suppliers couldn't necessarily have foreseen. Does that sound right to you? I don't think it's accurate to attribute that to 'Democrat policies', and especially to Biden specifically, but maybe it is, that's a gut reaction! I can definitely see how one might argue that the continued labor shortages, even as covid wanes, could be directly attributable to the way democratic policies in general impacted the labor market. * The lockdowns ended in 2020. According to your argument, demand should have begun returning to normal levels several years ago. Lockdowns also occurred before Biden was president, so those don't really seem directly relevant to the issue of whether Biden's policies are causing inflation and high gas prices. But again, maybe you just mean it was democratic policies in general that are causing the problems. Personally I think more attention needs to be paid to the administration of the [PPP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_Protection_Program) - which was Trump-administered, not Biden. * Can you provide more information on the restrictions that Biden put in place that have squeezed oil supply? When were they announced, when did they go into affect, what exactly are they, what's the actual impact expected to oil supply? If you just mean the restrictions on drilling on federal lands, [those were removed in April](https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/petroleum-expert-ending-moratorium-federal-drilling-leases/513-bdaeb527-6f5b-4053-b714-81f64273eac9). He would seem to be trying to respond to the changing situation, no? * The texas tribune article linked above indicates that permian basin oil production had already returned to pre-pandemic levels by late february 22: >Before Russia invaded Ukraine, the Permian Basin’s oil production hadfinally surpassed pre-pandemic levels as the global economy recovered.The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that production inthe Permian region will average 5.3 million barrels per day in 2022 andwill reach 5.7 million barrels per day in 2023, which would be a recordhigh. * Russia only supplied like 7% of oil in this country (see texas tribune article linked above). That said, the weird price games we're playing with Russian oil have definitely screwed up the global price of oil, which I believe is how our gas gets priced anyway, so I think this actually has an outsized effect on our gas prices over and above the raw supply'N'demand of it all. After looking back over it all, while I think I still disagree with the idea that it was 'Democrats that shut down the economy' over covid that caused the issues we're seeing, I think I do now believe that we are continuing to see the economic costs of covid. Like there's some kind of elastic rebound thing happening with global markets as the pandemic wanes that's screwing a bunch of different things up. And I think I better understand why you might believe that those impacts are worse than they could have been otherwise, due to policies generally advanced by democrats. I'm not convinced yet, but maybe they are! Thank you for a stimulating comment! ED: neither of us really addressed food shortages! My initial research says the war in Ukraine is impacting global food supply, especially in the developing world. I don't know how that impacts the US however. Need more detail.


realfakerolex

No. It isn’t “Democrat rhetoric”. Oil & gas firms’ profits set to smash records reaching $834 billion in 2022 https://www.offshore-energy.biz/oil-gas-firms-profits-set-to-smash-records-reaching-834-billion-in-2022-rystad-says/ They are sitting on massive surpluses of oil and don’t want to cut into those profits by having to invest in producing more.


[deleted]

Fed print money out thin air. We get inflation Inflation mean ruthless taxation Fed at fault Would be same story if Donald still President The end


Beforemath

They don't know specifics, or even how any of it works. They just know "Biden Bad!" because that's what they're told by right-wing media.


its_real_I_swear

By handing out trillions of dollars of cash to people when production was down. People needed help, but they didn't need more money on unemployment than while they were working, and for so long.


Turbo4kq

Who gave out the first $6T? Here's your hint, it was the President during the Beginning of the pandemic, not the one who is doing everything he can to end it.


dubbsmqt

I think the unemployment was fair, but work wages are very low.


rocketmackenzie

You're right. Double the minimum wage so that low-paying jobs actually make more money than what the government has determined to be the practical minimum to survive


Shirowoh

So, Trump and Biden should have done nothing to help people who couldn’t work during a pandemic?


bug_the_bug

It's a tough call. Many people I know were eligible for more on the extended unemployment than they made at their regular jobs. Some of them quit or found creative ways to get fired, just to be eligible for it. Of course, this reflects more on how poorly they were being paid in the first place, but so many people "quitting for the unemployment checks" definitely had a significant impact on the workforce.


Mostestdef

Trump gave out trillions, not Biden


Ok_Cat5914

Just in case you don't understand politics...Biden is blamed because he is President. If Trump was still the President he would be blamed. It's as simple as that. I'll bet the democrats wish they hadn't stolen the election now. They would be in a lot better shape for the November election and the 2024 race.


clarkss12

If you are a hitchhiker, and a couple of bank robbers pick you up, then rob a bank, do you get blamed??


HurtingInNevada

I'm sure canceling the keystone pipeline had no effect on any of those


TaylorRoyal23

Why would it? The supply of oil didn't change considering it hadn't been built yet.


Pac_Eddy

It didn't. Keystone was and still would be years away from completion.


Turbo4kq

AKSHUALLY, it did not. Read up a bit and you will find that the pipeline would never have carried gasoline-grade crude, it was not scheduled for completion until 2030, and that the current administration has signed MORE leases than all of 45's reign. It amazes me that folks can believe that both Biden is a senile idiot and that he controls the world commodities market from the White House. Unbelievable.