Why Gas Prices Are High

Last week I rode on the bus with an old man who blamed Biden for the high prices. I had been hearing enough of this, I pushed back. The old man went on about the world having enough oil and about some pipeline that was not built. I repeated what KH had told me about refineries being offline. The old man ignored me. I mentioned Putin's invasion of Ukraine and he did not believe that had anything to do with gas prices. The conversation died.

Over the weekend, I saw the link that took me to A fracking boom made the US the world's biggest oil producer. Now its end is pushing gas prices much higher.:

• The fracking boom was slowing before the pandemic as investors prioritized profits over growth.
• That attitude has kept production at pre-crisis levels and helped drive gas prices to record highs.

In case you are an American with historical amnesia, "before the pandemic" means Trump was President.

About those refineries, White House Eyes Restarting Idle Refineries to Tame Fuel Prices:

More than 1 million barrels a day of the country’s oil refining capacity — or about 5% overall — has shut since the beginning of the pandemic. Elsewhere in the world, capacity has shrunk by 2.13 million additional barrels a day, energy consultancy Turner, Mason & Co. estimates. And with no plans to bring new US plants online, even though refiners are reaping record profits, the supply squeeze is only going to get worse.

What we have is not a failure of President Biden but capitalism at its best.

Stop whining Americans. Do not feel alone. Stop your thumbsucking ways. Ride the bus. Walk more. Buy a bike.

sch