USA Gasoline Price Skyrockets in Accordance with Democrat Energy Policy

 The USA average gasoline price from June 2020 to June 2022 is charted below:

For the last 6 months of 2020, the price of gasoline averaged about $2.20/gal.  The outcome of the 2020 election put the Democrats solidly in control of US energy policy.   The Democrats were really going to be able to pursue their long-stated goal of seeking the death of the American oil and gas industry, since they controlled the Presidency and both houses of the Congress.  The oil and gas industry had no choice but to respond with drastic investment caution as the Democrats canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline once again, canceled oil and gas leases, and put huge tracts of US land with great deposits of oil and gas off limits for development.  Over time, it also became clear that the government was canceling many other environmental permits actually needed to produce oil from existing oil leases and that it was generally preventing the building of new oil and gas pipelines.

Keeping oil and gas production in the US at a constant level requires a constant investment of effort and money.  This is even more true now that so much of our production is due to fracking.  The inevitable result of the Democrat anti-carbon fuel policies was that the US oil and gas industry was not willing to invest enough money to increase production enough to keep gasoline prices low.  The Democrats made it too hard to do so and any investment the oil and gas industry made was subject to later annihilation as the Democrats pursued their stated goal to kill the oil and gas industry.

The Democrats and the Federal Reserve also proceeded to flood the economy with new money.  The Treasury Department money presses printed money day and night, without pause.  The employees manning the presses and verifying the paper and ink ingredients were virtually flogged to print record amounts of new money.  Congress passed major spending bills and the Federal Reserve pursued its own money supply expansion policies.  The result was that the measure of the money supply called M2 increased rapidly from June 2021 to January 2022.  This generated a general price increase in almost all goods and services.  Oil and gas products could not be an exception.

Biden and the Democrats keep claiming these factors are not the cause of the gas price increases.  They say they were caused by increased demand as the economy recovered from Covid-19 and by Putin.  The economy was recovering, but the oil and gas industry had been readily able to supply an economy of equal size prior to the Covid-19 contraction.  Despite the Democrats, the oil and gas industry has steadily increased the number of active oil rigs since the minimum in the July to September 2020 period.  But, the number presently employed is still not as many as were employed prior to the Covid-19 downturn.  Democrat policies make banks and other lenders unwilling to lend money to the oil and gas industry and their own investors have reason to exercise extra caution in pursuing only the most lucrative projects with supporting infrastructure already in place.

As for Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that effect is responsible for the spike on the gas price curve, but note that there appears to be a rapid price increase before and after that spike that seems to be based at least mostly on other factors in play prior to the Russian invasion.

The increase in gasoline and diesel fuel prices are deleterious for our entire economy.  Add these to the high price increases in almost all goods and services, and many Americans are struggling to get by.  Americans with low incomes are hurting the most.  The Democrats say they care, but they do not care the least little bit.  They are determined to pursue their expensive oil and gas price policies with an aim to murder the oil and gas industry, no matter how many Americans are hurt.

After all, they claim it is because carbon dioxide emissions by man are an existential threat to the planet.  I have demolished that argument many times on this blog.  Others have also shown the catastrophic man-made global warming hypothesis to have failed in its scientific predictions.  On the basis of the scientific method, this Democrat argument holds no water, but they cling to it as though it is a religion.  It is a truth that people have chosen to annihilate millions of others due to their differing religions or lack thereof, so it is hardly surprising that Democrats of the catastrophic man-made global warming religion are very willing to do great harm to the standard of living of many, many of their fellow countrymen and of many in the developing world who desperately need the advantages of affordable oil and gas.

Those who hunger for ever-increasing power are willing to use that power brutally.  The Democrats are demonstrating that general truism by driving up the cost of our goods and services while leaving our incomes behind the curve.  This is just one more instance showing the foolishness of those many Americans deceived into believing the Democrats were the "kind" party.  Constant expressions of caring about others are a sign that someone is trying very hard to pull the wool over the eyes of the naïve.  This has been the one thing that Democrats have been very accomplished at doing.  Dealing with reality is another thing entirely.

Maryland Congressman Sarbanes' Vapid Energy Ideas

Having written a note to the Congressman who rules my incredibly highly gerrymandered Congressional District in the Socialist State of Maryland that I support a free oil and gas industry, I received this pablum reply:

November 21, 2013

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the oil and gas industry. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

It is my hope that our energy sector will innovate and adapt to the needs and opportunities of a clean energy future. I believe that if we rise up to meet the challenge of climate change, we can solve so many complicated problems that our country is facing. By developing a long-term and sustainable energy strategy, we can address economic, national security, and environmental policy priorities in one fell swoop. We can diversify our energy portfolio and end our dependence on energy sources from volatile parts of the world. By revolutionizing our energy industry and becoming an exporter of clean energy technologies, we will be able to maintain our competitive advantage as a nation and ensure a prosperous future for our children. Just as growth in information technology served as the driving force behind the economic boom of the 1990's, the development of clean energy technology and green jobs will spur tremendous growth and offer long-term relief to the American economy.

Marylanders know that preserving and protecting our environment can go hand in hand with economic growth. The Chesapeake Bay, one of our most treasured natural assets, is at the center of our regional economy. As a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, I will continue to support reasonable measures that give Americans more energy choices. I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind when voting on relevant federal legislation.

Again, thank you for your input on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me about any matter of importance to you in the future.

Sincerely,

John P. Sarbanes
Member of Congress

I am sure that John will not keep my thoughts in mind when he votes on issuing orders that will cause oil and gas prices to rise for entirely irrational reasons and force residential and business users of energy to pay these high prices in exchange for unreliable energy.  John is advocating the same use of so-called green energy that is causing Germany and Spain so many problems now.

He talks about a degree of energy independence which alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass have never delivered, but that the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing is substantially delivering with oil and gas today.  Maryland Gov. O'Malley has forced electric utilities to buy future wind and solar energy with the intent to pass the high costs onto Maryland users.  This is how John Sarbanes plans to address our economic problems at the national level also.

Ah, but these black and blue energy projects, called green by John, will produce jobs in Maryland!  Well, so far the only reason jobs are in Maryland is because a large fraction of the federal government employees, who suck in tax revenues from the entire nation, live in Maryland.  In addition, larger businesses in Maryland tend to be heavy government contractors in defense, medicine, and other R&D.  This is what really explains John Sarbanes' wish to have the government strongly take control of the energy sector and of energy use.  He knows that increased energy R&D funded by the government will disproportionately be contracted out to Maryland institutions and businesses.

This is badly needed in Maryland because between 2007 and 2012, there were 24 tax and fee increases in Maryland, which cost the economy $2.4 billion a year.  The Tax Foundation ranked Maryland number 41 for the worst state tax environment for businesses.  Maryland lost 6,500 small businesses with fewer than 100 employees between 2007 and 2012, while losing 40,000 jobs and 31,000 taxpaying households.  Imagine the conditions if Maryland were not so heavily funded by the federal government.

So, it is hardly surprising that a Democrat Representative is eager to damage the People of the USA in order to have Marylanders suck in their productive output through a straw from DC.

By the way John, climate change is one of the primary reasons a rational individual prizes our ability to use oil and gas.  Of course I say that understanding that it is natural forces, not man's emissions of CO2, that produced climate change in the past, does now, and will continue to in the foreseeable future.

With dumb fools like Barbara Mikulski and John Sarbanes and evil fools like Ben Cardin thinking themselves the Progressive Elite and better capable of making my life decisions for me than I am, you can see why I am an enemy of Big Government in a very concrete form.  This trio gets virtually everything wrong.  One would live a better and happier life by doing the opposite of what they want every Marylander to do in every case than one would following their preferences.  Yes, they are that wrongheaded.

Democrats Bludgeon Jobs in the Gulf and the Oil & Gas Industries

Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, says the government mandate against deep water wells in the Gulf of Mexico will cost 175,000 jobs each year until 2035.  The American Petroleum Institute represents 400 oil and gas companies.  The industry provides 9.2 million jobs and produces 7.5% of the U.S. GDP.  In June 2010, the number of Americans employed was down to a mere 140.0 million, so 9.2 million oil and gas provided jobs is 6.6% of the workforce.  Since these workers produce 7.5% of the GDP, they are clearly more productive than the average worker.  Other consequences of the Democrat vendetta against deep water oil and gas production are:

• A reduction of GDP by more than $20 billion per year.
• A cumulative GDP reduction of $500 billion by 2035.
• U.S. oil production reduced by 27%.
• Oil imports up by 19%.
• The cost to import oil to replace lost production through the end of 2011 will be $10 billion.
• The oil and gas industry is half of all Gulf of Mexico economic activity or $234 billion.  Companies hurt by the oil moratorium may be bankrupted or fail, causing jobs in the Gulf states to die.  Some companies will move away to other areas of the world.
• The Gulf of Mexico produces 30% of our domestic oil production and 12% of natural gas production.
• An oil rig platform provides up to 1,400 jobs with wages totaling $10 million per month.
• The 33 oil rig platforms pay out $300 million per month in pay.
• A 6-month moratorium on deep water drilling will cost 50,000 jobs and about $2 billion in lost wages related to the oil drilling platforms themselves.

But, you are not to worry.  If your job is lost, the Democrats are happy to make you a ward of the state.  They will extend your unemployment benefits and transfer wealth from private sector workers to you.  Of course, eventually, they tell you, you will have a green job in alternative energy.

Worry, if you are one of those just over half the population who pay income taxes, while struggling to retain your job in this largely government-induced recession.  Then even as your energy costs are driven higher by the Democrat unreasoning hatred for fossil energy, you will get to take on higher taxes, watch your assets further depreciate, worry about retaining your job in the ever more burdened private sector, and wonder how bad the future will be with fewer and fewer productive workers and more and more moochers.

Oh, on those green jobs, you will be better off investing in the Brooklyn Bridge.  It at least exists.  It even has a reason to exist.

Life goes on, but sometimes our government ensures it is a whole lot rougher than it needs to be!