On Gas Prices and Partisan Politics

Thursday, March 10, 2022

I'm getting pretty tired of hearing all the bitching about high gas prices. Not because people are bitching, though - higher gas prices are a burden for folks who don't make a ton of money. I've been in that economic bracket, and it sucks, big time, especially when wages haven't kept up with inflations since what? The late 70's?

No, I'm tired of it because (AS USUAL) it's become a partisan talking point which ignores all the facts in service to party talking points. So I did some research, and here are the results. Take it, leave it, stick your fingers in your ears and sing "Lalalalala" all day, I don't care. But the next time this silliness comes up, I'm referring the purveyor to this blog post.
  • The price of gasoline is not controlled by the President - ANY President, regardless of party. If it was, the United States really would be a socialist nation, because private enterprise would all be nationalized and operated by the government. But our government doesn't have that power, regardless of the way the right flings the word "socialist" around without actually knowing what it means. 
  • According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the top five sources of U.S. petroleum imports were from: 
    • Canada - 52%
    • Mexico - 11%
    • Russia - 7%
    • Saudi Arabia - 7%
    • Colombia: 4%
  • According tot he U.S. Energy Information Administration, the top five sources of U.S. crude oil imports by share of total crude oil imports in 2020 were:
    • Canada - 61%
    • Mexico - 11%
    • Saudi Arabia - 8%
    • Colombia - 4%
    • Iraq - 3%
  • Based on these facts, it seems pretty evident that the bad guy in this scenario is - surprise, surprise - BIG OIL. Consider:
    • Exxon, Shell, BP, and Chevron have their highest profits in seven years, over $75B. Yes, that's billion with a "B."
    • Exxon, Chevron, and Conoco are using 40% of these massive profits to execute stock buybacks instead of lowering gas prices. 
    • These companies are laughing all the way to bank (or the Cayman Islands, same-same) while Americans struggle to fill their tanks. This is what they've always done, and will continue to do, because they're rewarded for this behavior beyond the dreams of avarice. 
  • The Keystone Pipeline is not a factor in gas prices, regardless of what Tucker the Entertainer tells you. 
    • The Keystone Pipeline is complete. It currently carries 540K barrels of oil per day.
    • The Keystone Pipeline only carries "tar sands oil," not crude oil, which isn't used to make gasoline. 
    • The Keystone Pipeline is owned by a Canadian company and comes from Canada. This makes it an import.  
    • The extension of this pipeline (Keystone XL) has been cancelled by the private Canadian company who owns the pipeline. The US government did not force them to do this, they examined the cost-benefit analysis and made a decision base on profitability, which is what private companies do. If we lived in a socialist state, then the president could take control of these lands and nationalize oil production/distribution. But again, we don't, so you can't blame the President (regardless of political party) for failing to do so. Unless socialism suddenly isn't destroying America, in which case the Right has some explaining to do.
I'm in no way saying Russia's invasion of Ukraine has not had an impact on oil prices. But in this case, I don't think it's an entirely a case of "supply and demand." I think it's a case of "Oil executives can never have enough money, regardless of how much they get." 

But as usual, mass media and partisan talking-heads and politicians are trying to make it out like it's Biden's fault, or Trump's fault, or anyone's fault except our own corrupt system. Imagine what we could accomplish if we started holding the right people accountable. Just imagine. 
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ETA: My friend Alex reminds me that this "we should be energy independent!" trope is going around again. Except we don't WANT to be energy independent because we still want to drive huge, low-MPG vehicles, and support fossil fuels, and fail to support renewables. If we want energy independence, then we have to actually, you know, DO something about it beyond bitching. 

1 comments:

mom in northern said...

Then there is the issue of how so you get the electricity to support EV’s. Electricity is a secondary source of power. Then there is the problem of charging stations and the batteries capacity. We are in the same situation we faced when we made the move from horses to the model “T”. Done.