The President of the United States Does NOT Control the Price of Gasoline
The other day, I posted something on my personal social media page about the rising price of gasoline. Someone who is my friend on Facebook was quick to reply in the traditional neo-Republican, Trump supporting fashion. "That's what we get for electing Joe Biden to office."
He then went on to tell me if Trump was president, I'd be posting blaming Trump for the rise in the price of gasoline.
Before I continue, I'd like to clear up a few things. I am not a Democrat. I am also not a Republican. I refuse to let myself be boxed in to a fixed set of political ideologies. As I have grown older, my political views have changed on many different topics. That said, I believe some planks of the Democratic platform are valid, and I believe some planks of the original Republican platform are valid.
Second, I firmly believe the new Trump Republican party is not the true Republican party. These neo-Republicans are subscribing to a cult-like ideology. The problem is, the cult leader is making the ideology up as he goes along. His style of making up his own facts and demagoguery has created a cabal of mindless supporters who will believe anything he says.
And that's the reason why I dislike Trump. I don't dislike him because he pretends to be a Republican. I don't dislike him because I'm a Liberal, or a Democrat, and I am most definitely not a Socialist or whatever a Democratic Socialist is. His presidency was based on ruling the country by filling people with hate and fear.
There have been Democrats and Republicans since the days of the Civil War. Governing has always been about compromise. It was never about stonewalling the other party's choices. It wasn't until President Obama was elected when Republicans were invaded by the radical Tea Party movement when the fault line between Republicans and Democrats began to widen significantly. Now, it seems the government has ground to a halt because Democrats don't want to work with Republicans and Republicans don't want to work with Democrats.
Bipartisanship, for the time being, appears to be dead.
It seems there are two Americas rising. But that's a subject for a different article. Let's return to the original subject.
There are different factors that affect the rising price of gasoline, none of which are controlled by the President of the United States.
First off, gas prices had been low the past year and a half because of decreased demand. People across the country were staying at home and not traveling. They weren't flying or driving. The pandemic kept people from consuming as much gasoline as they normally would have.
Supply and demand kept prices low. Now, with people heading back to work and people starting to go on road trips in conjunction with politicians like the governor of Texas "opening the state" and removing restrictions, the demand for gas has increased. It's simple — more people are starting to drive again. Three friends I know have taken their families on road trips to the Las Vegas area. One of my cousins drove down to the Island from New Mexico for the Fourth of July.
When you combine the increase in demand with recent weather anomalies, that also increases the price. The crippling winter storm from earlier in the year decreased the ability for refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast to operate at full capacity. The winter storm caused a decrease in refunery operations by nearly 30%.
Even if you choose not to take the price of a barrel of crude oil into consideration, if you can't turn the oil into gasoline, the price is going to go up. That said, the increase in the price of oil is directly related to the increase in the price of gasoline. Crude oil is pumped out of the ground in Venezuela, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Canada, and Russia. The President of the United States does not control OPEC. The President of the United States does not control the international oil market. OPEC and places like Russia (not on the United States' Christmas card list, last time I checked) have chosen to decrease oil production. As a result, the price of a barrel of oil has increased and as a result of that, the price of gasoline has increased. Again, think of it this way: if you own a hamburger stand, and the price of beef increased, as it has been, it's going to cost you more to make a hamburger. Therefore, a hamburger is going to cost the customer more.
I am not justifying the increase in prices. But the simple fact is everything in this world, and I do mean everything, revolves around the maximization of profit. Put another way, it's all about the money. My point is to prove the president, regardless of who sits behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, does not control the price of gasoline.
Now, if oil companies and refineries would want to keep prices low, they'd realize the summer months, coupled with hurricane season, mean inceeased demand. They could produce more oil and refine more gas and keeo it in reserve for the summer. But that would mean gas prices would remain low, and that would hurt Chevron, and ExxonMobil, and Valero, and BP's bottom lines.
Just like power companies know the summer and winter are peak energy usage times, but instead of making sure they have enough power in reserve, they resort to forced outages and limits on consumption to keep those energy prices high. But alas, this is a topic for yet another article.
And as I mentioned before, gas prices will probably keep on rising. As I write this, tropical storm Elsa is preparing to make landfall on the Florida coast. Meteorologists predict another busy hurricane season. Hurricane season means refineries along the Texas and Louisiana coasts could shut down for safety reasons.
Another reason why gas prices have increased is the lack of tanker truck drivers. According to information released by the American long haul trucking industry, petroleum and gasoline companies are having a difficult time finding experienced truck drivers to deliver the fuel from pipeline nodes to refineries and to gas stations. This is also a factor that has affected prices.
More reasons outside the president's control are the ceaseless attacks internal cyber-criminals and hackers have unleashed on American companies. Russian hackers caused the shutdown of a critical pipeline along the East Coast. Then the wonderful world of social media began spreading false stories that caused a run on gas stations in Texas (not on the East Coast, by the way), causing prices to jump as well.
The only way the president could possibly cause the price of gas to change would be if he decided to release fuel from our Strategic Petroleum Reserves, or if he would persuade Congress to introduce legislation increasing, or decreasing, the tax placed on petroleum products. To date, President Biden has done neither.
I have no problem with people criticizing the president. However, in this case, the president is not the culprit of the rising gas prices, no matter what a meme might tell you on social media.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again; don't believe everything you see on your Facebook news feed.
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