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Rising gas prices aren’t the ‘Putin price hike.’ They’re the ‘Biden weakness tax.’
American Enterprise Institute ^ | March 11, 2022 | Marc A. Thiessen

Posted on 03/11/2022 2:52:27 PM PST by billorites

President Biden had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into banning Russian oil imports. Even then, he still fell short — imposing a “ban” that restricts US imports, rather than “sanctions” to restrict Russian exports to the entire world. Big difference. And it came only after companies began self-sanctioning — divesting Russian energy. Biden simply made virtue out of necessity.

But as reluctant as he was to ban Russian oil, it took Biden no time at all to start blaming Russia for rising gasoline prices. “Since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin began his military buildup at Ukrainian borders . . . the price of gas at the pump in America went up 75 cents,” Biden said Tuesday in his announcement of the oil ban. When asked what he could do about rising prices, he replied, “Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible.” The White House even came up with a slogan — “Putin price hike” — and tried to make it trend as a hashtag. “This is the #PutinPriceHike in action,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.

This is disgusting. Biden is refusing to send Polish MiG fighter jets to Ukraine to try to stop Russia from carrying out atrocities such as the bombing Wednesday of a maternity hospital. But he is willing to take political advantage of the suffering of the Ukrainian people, and use it as political cover for his massive domestic policy failures.

Biden blames Russia for a 75-cent rise in gas prices. But the price has risen $1.85 since he took office. The week before Biden’s inauguration, the price of a gallon of regular gas in the United States was $2.46; at this writing it is $4.32. Before the war in Ukraine, Biden presided over the largest year-over-year price rise in at least 30 years.

What drove those record price spikes? We can start with Biden’s war on fossil fuels. Upon taking office, Biden implemented a policy of energy disarmament. He rejoined the Paris climate agreement, canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, suspended all oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and began working on his pledge to ban all “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.” He came into office having promised that his administration would “end fossil fuel.” When you announce your intention to tax and regulate the fossil fuel industry out of existence, investors and workers listen. The results are less production — and higher prices.

Then there is his American Rescue Plan — the $1.9 trillion social spending boondoggle disguised as “pandemic relief.” It shoveled so much money into the economy that the demand side overheated while the supply side could not keep up — unleashing a supply-chain crisis, the worst inflation in 40 years and a record labor shortage, with more than 11 million unfilled jobs. The economic headwinds Biden unleashed have hit the oil and gas industry as hard as every other business in America. It’s hard to drill for oil and gas when you can’t find workers.

Biden’s defenders say it is unfair to blame him because gas prices were artificially low when he took office last year because of the pandemic. Sorry, when the first confirmed covid case hit our shores in January 2020, gas was $2.59 a gallon — not much more than when Biden took office. It never rose above $3.04 during all of Donald Trump’s presidency.Biden broke that threshold in four months — long before Putin invaded Ukraine.

So, the prewar rise in gas prices is the tax we pay for Biden’s disastrous climate and social welfare policies. And the rest? Instead of the “Putin price hike,” his administration should call it the “Biden weakness tax.” It is no coincidence that Putin invaded Ukraine just months after Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which projected weakness on the world stage. Putin took his measure of Biden and did not believe his threats to impose severe consequences on Russia if it invaded Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that if we had imposed crippling sanctions earlier, Putin would not have invaded. “If you had started sanctions months ago, there would not have been war,” he told members of Congress last week. Rising gas prices are the price we pay for a failure of deterrence — a failure driven by Biden’s weakness.

Biden has still not learned from his mistakes. Even Elon Musk — the founder of the world’s most famous electric car company — says we need to drill for more oil and gas at home. But Biden has not announced any plan to increase domestic production. Instead, he is considering asking Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia to increase their production to replace Russian oil. Why would he want to give energy jobs to people in Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia rather than workers in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska? Why would he replace our dependence on one rogue regime with dependence on two others (Iran and Venezuela)?

Biden needs to tell his party’s climate radicals that the war on fossil fuels will have to wait until we stop Putin’s war on Ukraine. Instead, he cynically is using Putin’s war, and Ukraine’s suffering, to deflect blame for his disastrous policies at home and abroad. That is a disgrace.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biden; bidengascrisis; bidenvoters; bidenweaknesstax; gasprices; puppetpricehike; puppetpricehikes
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1 posted on 03/11/2022 2:52:27 PM PST by billorites
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To: billorites

If oil prices were still negative or under $30, Putin wouldn’t had anyone to sell his oil to, except the Chinese, whose economy we could also crash. That was under Trump. And, Trump would have actually attacked the Russians if they crossed into Ukrainian territory.


2 posted on 03/11/2022 2:56:02 PM PST by Thunder90 (All posts soley represent my own opinion.)
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To: billorites

The last time we had this level of inflation was 40 years ago, and the Fed discount rate was close to 20%.

This country does not have serious leadership.

May Day. May Day. May Day.


3 posted on 03/11/2022 3:02:57 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money)
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To: billorites

I get it now. The insane media orgasm over Ukraine is to focus the anger at Putin and away from biden’ s failures.


4 posted on 03/11/2022 3:09:48 PM PST by I want the USA back (Government is to be feared much more than the chicom virus.)
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To: billorites

borrow & spend liberalism has been proven to be a bigger failure than tax & spend liberalism was. Needless borrow & spend stimulus in 2008 did nothing except keep the price of gas from falling to $1.50 to keep us OUT of recession, instead driving up gas price to $4 & causing a crash. The housing market was not the problem, nor was the bond market the problem. Democrats claimed their 2008 election-buying stimulus checks would avert a Bush recession (Federal Reserve had raised its funds rate over 400% between 2004 & 2006 to put the brakes on the Bush recovery “to slow the economy THRU HOUSING to keep wages from rising”, (ie reduce demand for labor) said Bernanke in summer of 2006.....so Bush did not cause a slowdown & the slowdown was intentionally caused by the Fed policy. Democrat stimulus combined with Fed reversing & slashing rates in 2008, led to a surge in gas prices and crashing consumer confidence & spending, when the unemployment rate rose to 7.5%. But by the time Obama took office in 2009, the price of gas was $1.85 and the recession was over much earlier than expected.....except that Obama—instead of keeping his promise to raise taxes and cut spending...did the exact opposite after the Fed had cut to 0% in late 2008........which with falling gas prices, was all the stimulus Obama needed....but when combined with Fed’s QE2 -—Obama’s $1trillion shovel ready jobs bill and Obamacare did nothing but cause gas and food prices to double while the Fed was claiming there was zero inflation, because “core” inflation excludes food & energy prices people pay often, but overweights the price of homes—which is not a consumer price at all.......it wasn’t until late 2013 with austerity budgets and the end of QE2 that the economy actually recovered from recession caused by the Fed and Democrats. The bailouts were completely unnecessary


5 posted on 03/11/2022 3:10:03 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Under Carter-—PRIME rate was 22%.


6 posted on 03/11/2022 3:14:18 PM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: billorites

The other day I was putting gas into my car when I noticed how several stickers where Biden points and says “I did that” had been removed.

Now … why would someone remove them? Heh … heh….


7 posted on 03/11/2022 3:15:52 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Rurudyne

Now … why would someone remove them? Heh … heh….


Recycled and sold on the secondary market?


8 posted on 03/11/2022 3:21:13 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: I want the USA back
"I get it now. The insane media orgasm over Ukraine is to focus the anger at Putin and away from biden’ s failures."

The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody
had decided not to see.
--Ayn Rand

9 posted on 03/11/2022 3:21:31 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a Simple Manner for a Happy Life :o)
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To: billorites
The next phase for gas station stickers
10 posted on 03/11/2022 3:22:05 PM PST by mewzilla (We need to repeal RCV wherever it's in use and go back to dumb voting machines.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

Seriously, if I was the store operator, I would take them off and put them on the counter for resale.


11 posted on 03/11/2022 3:22:41 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: billorites

These scumbags will stop at nothing, its the oil companies because they have the leases and don’t want to drill, its Russia, cant wait to put these pri## in trial


12 posted on 03/11/2022 3:24:32 PM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: Thunder90

Everyday I miss Trump.


13 posted on 03/11/2022 3:30:34 PM PST by rrrod (6)
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To: mewzilla
This needs to be made into a sticker, too...

Friday Funnies You will only be happy if you just relax and believe what you are told. Robert W Malone MD, MS

See today's. It's gas, CDC, and muzzle related...

14 posted on 03/11/2022 3:35:37 PM PST by mewzilla (We need to repeal RCV wherever it's in use and go back to dumb voting machines.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

I was thinking they (as Biden supporters) felt mocked and offended.


15 posted on 03/11/2022 3:36:59 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: billorites

Who do you despise more? Putin or Fauci?


16 posted on 03/11/2022 4:16:08 PM PST by artichokegrower (I )
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To: artichokegrower

Who do you despise more? Putin or Fauci?

Yes!


17 posted on 03/11/2022 4:18:11 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: billorites

More like the obama/jarret/rice I hate the USA fee


18 posted on 03/11/2022 5:41:20 PM PST by Pollard (PureBlood -- https://youtube.com/watch?v=VXm0fkDituE)
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To: billorites

19 posted on 03/11/2022 7:20:15 PM PST by for-q-clinton (Cancel Culture IS fascism...Let's start calling it that!)
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To: billorites

20 posted on 03/12/2022 3:30:35 AM PST by caww ( )
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