The White House has crossed swords with the US Oil & Gas Association after President Joe Biden tweeted that oil companies should “simply bring down the price you are charging at the pump”.
The US Oil & Gas Association responded on twitter by saying: “Working on it Mr. President. In the meantime – have a Happy 4th and please make sure the WH intern who posted this tweet registers for ECON 101 for the fall semester”.
The full tweet released on behalf of the President read as follows: “My message to companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: This is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”
Gas prices in the USA have soared to an average of US$4.80 with Californian’s paying US$6.20 per gallon.
Biden recently attempted to implement a 90-day gas tax holiday to soften consumers’ pain at the pumps, but this was rejected by Democrats and never saw the light of day.
Biden’s critics have blamed the White House for the soaring costs of energy in the USA and cited a quote he made while campaigning for office in 2019 during the Presidential Debate, when he was asked: “Three consecutive American presidents have enjoyed stints of explosive economic growth due to a boom in oil and natural gas production. As president, would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth, even knowing potentially that it could displace thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers in the interest of transitioning to that greener ecomony.”
Biden replied, “The answer is yes” and then cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. Keystone would have had the capacity to deliver 870,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to Texas refineries. He also stopped oil and gas leases on federal lands. In more recent times Biden has blamed high gas prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin and welcomed the spike as part of an “incredible transition to a green economy”. Now he is blaming energy producers and gas station owners for a situation that has soared inflation and put the US economy on the brink of a recession.
