President Joe Biden has labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a despot and has continually blamed his foreign counterpart for American economic woes so frequently dubbed “Putin’s price hike.”
But, while Russia’s economy flourishes despite the “strongest economic sanctions” imposed by the global community, Biden is threatening to force oil companies into bailing out his failed agenda.
The president raised the favored scapegoat of the progressives when he railed against greedy corporations with “historically high profit margins” in a letter issued Wednesday to the heads of seven oil companies. Biden coupled these claims with his usual blame against Putin as justification for impending “emergency authorities” if his demands weren’t met.
Addressed to Marathon, Petroleum Corp, Valero Energy Corp, Phillips 66, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell executives, Biden wrote “There is no question that Vladimir Putin is principally responsible for the intense financial pain the American people and their families are bearing. But amid a war that has raised gasoline prices more than $1.70 per gallon, historically high refinery profit margins are worsening that pain.”
The president’s letter went on, “Your companies and others have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined product you are producing. My administration is prepared to use all reasonable and appropriate Federal Government tools and emergency authorities to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term, and to ensure that every region of this country is appropriately supplied.”
In other words, Biden is prepared to embrace a central tenet of Communism and seize the means of production to resolve the problems that he has exacerbated. When he pushed for sanctions barring U.S. imports of Russian oil he stated, “This is a step that we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin. But there will be costs as well here in the United States.”
Meanwhile, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) is reporting that between the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 to June 3, the warring nation’s energy producers have earned about $97 billion, a record in fossil fuel exports. So with the increase of $1.70 per gallon as the president pointed out, and inflation at 8.6 percent, it appears that Americans are bearing the brunt of Biden’s sanctions.
Furthermore, the president has remained deaf to calls for action, including from the American Petroleum Institute (API) which submitted a list of “ten immediate steps” for the “administration and/or Congress” to take a day before Biden pointed the blame at the producers.
API’s CEO Mike Sommers wrote, “While members of your administration have recently discussed the need for additional supplies to solve the energy crisis, your administration has restricted oil and natural gas development, canceled energy infrastructure project, imposed regulatory uncertainty, and proposed new tax increases on American oil and gas producers competing globally. Respectfully, the American people need a different direction to solve this crisis.”
Instead of impotently writing letters, President Biden should reverse his *policies* that have driven up the price of gas. pic.twitter.com/jIsDFmWG2J
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 15, 2022
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) emphasized API’s point, succinctly tweeting, “Instead of impotently writing letters, President Biden should reverse his *policies* that have driven up the price of gas.”
However, as many have surmised based on the response from the administration to rising inflation, the failure of the American economy is not a bug, it is a feature. Biden will hold fast to his policies because he wants to “Build Back Better.” Unfortunately, what he is aiming to build toward is not a free market system.
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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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