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America’s hyper-inflationary climate isn’t entirely the fault of president Joe Biden – but Biden absolutely contributed to it with his reckless spending. And he is clearly the one getting blamed for it. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump – who along with other free-spending “Republicans” bears his fair share of the onus – is the one benefiting from Biden’s economic woes.
Prices are political, people. And right now, Biden is doing everything within his power to lower them – even if it means making shortsighted moves that could come back and bite our country in the long run.
The latest example? Further liquidation of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) – which exists “to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program.”
The SPR is “a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy.”
Or at least it is when it’s full …
Now? Not so much.
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Since Biden took office, the reserve has been drained to the tune of hundreds of millions of barrels. At last count, the SPR stood at 367 million barrels – equal to approximately two months of imports. That’s well below its peak of 727 million barrels under former president Barack Obama. When Biden took office, there were 638 million barrels.
Biden pledged to “refill” the reserve, but this week his energy department announced it was liquidating yet another 1 million barrels from federal stockpiles in New Jersey and Maine. These stockpiles were created in the aftermath of super-storm Sandy to provide a buffer for consumers “in the event of a hurricane or other disruption until existing distribution infrastructure could return to full operation.”
Apparently this “buffer” – like the 45 percent of the SPR Biden has blown through over the last three-and-a-half years – is no longer necessary.
According to energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, Biden is “laser-focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season.”
“By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and Northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most,” Granholm said.
Trump responded to the news on his Truth Social page with a one word post: “Disgusting.”
As of this writing, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded across the country is $3.598 – approximately $0.69 above the ten-year average heading into Memorial Day weekend. No wonder Biden is releasing as much petrol as possible, right?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Why aren’t you covering Trump’s offer to the oil companies that if they gave him a billion dollars for his campaign, he’d let them do anything they wanted to do after he was elected. That seems to be a way bigger problem than Biden releasing oil reserves. What’s so bad about lowering the price of gasoline in the US to stop the constant gouging of the very same oil companies that Trump is courting and bribing to donate to his campaign?
What Wee Willie WON’T tell you is that Congress mandated these reserves, which have never been used, be closed.
Can’t let pesky things like facts get in the way of Will’s Biden hate boner.