The Real Reason for the Increase in Gas Prices

Since the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency, people have complained about rising gas prices with Republicans leading the charge. With Christmas around the corner, Americans from across the country will travel home to their families for he holidays, which means more people at the gas pump and rising discontent for Biden’s policies.

Many people believe that Biden’s new laws and regulations implemented in his ten-month presidency is the cause of gas prices. A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found that Biden’s overall approval rating was only 41% and, when it comes his handling economy, he received a dismal 39% approval rating.

However, is Biden to blame for these rising gas prices?

In the past year, gas prices increased by about 88 cents per gallon, costing an additional 120 billion dollars to for US consumers annually. According to a Washington Post article, the real reason for the increase in gas prices is the lack of supply of crude oil: the oil used for gasoline. 

So why is crude oil so hard to find now? Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the gasoline demand had gone down significantly because people were not traveling as much. Now, the demand is surpassing normal rates, making it increasingly difficult for production to meet unprecedented demand. Therefore, the average price of oil increased to the sudden increase in value, making gasoline more expensive for the common American.

So what is Biden’s plan? On Tuesday, November 23, Biden announced that he will release the most amount of oil released in US history, 50 million barrels of oil, from emergency oil reserves to lower gas prices and increase accessibility of gas.

Biden also announced that this effort would be in coordination with other countries, such as India, China, and Japan, and would presumably maximize the effect of this release. 

Finally, Biden remarked that as oil is a nonrenewable source, the US cannot continue to consume large amounts of it for our everyday use. He promised that he would “lead by example” by switching to cleaner energy use in the future, which is a pivotal aspect to his climate change policies.

Hopefully, this international attention will allow necessary supply to meet rising demands and put to rest growing resentment for an administration attempting to solve a problem, not exacerbate it.