Within its first few months, the Biden Administration led an all-out assault on the oil and gas industry. While they approved Nord Stream 2 to line Putin’s pockets, they canceled the Keystone Pipeline here at home. The Biden administration moved quickly to reject new oil and gas leases while at the same time killing construction of more pipelines in America from death by inaction.
As America recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and demand for goods and services increases, Economics 101 teaches us that rising demand while limiting supply leads to higher prices. While at the mercy of the laws of supply and demand, President Biden is now begging American producers for their help in lowering gas prices while at the same time pleading with Arab nations in OPEC to increase oil production.
The Consumer Price Index just reached a thirteen-year high of 5.4 percent inflation – more alarming is the 40 percent year over year increase in energy prices felt at the gas pump and soon in home heating bills. In a flashback to the Jimmy Carter era of malaise, Democrats warn Americans to learn to live with less.
As cargo ships line up outside ports and supply chain disruptions are becoming the normal, wreaking havoc on commerce, Secretary Janet Yellen recently advised Americans to do their Christmas shopping now because toys may not be on the shelves in December.
As the cauldron of simmering economic woes boils, the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress are doing nothing to alleviate the problems and are instead pursuing policies that will only exacerbate them. After passing trillions of dollars in Covid relief, the Biden-Pelosi-Sanders’ legislative package includes trillions of additional dollars of taxpayer spending. This record spending will only add fuel to the inflation fire.
As cargo ships line up outside ports and supply chain disruptions are becoming the normal, wreaking havoc on commerce, Secretary Janet Yellen recently advised Americans to do their Christmas shopping now because toys may not be on the shelves in December.
As the cauldron of simmering economic woes boils, the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress are doing nothing to alleviate the problems and are instead pursuing policies that will only exacerbate them. After passing trillions of dollars in Covid relief, the Biden-Pelosi-Sanders’ legislative package includes trillions of additional dollars of taxpayer spending. This record spending will only add fuel to the inflation fire.
The rosy forecasts that inflation would be merely transitory have proven to be wishful thinking; trillions of dollars in spending coupled with artificially low-interest rates and massive quantitative easing leads to more than temporary inflation. The same Democrat economists now acknowledge inflation is here to stay, and Americans should brace themselves for 50 percent higher gas prices this winter.
As if that weren’t enough, Democrats are now seeking to penalize oil and gas production by eliminating tax credits and imposing new fees on all coal and natural gas utilities, which is fully 60 percent of America’s electricity generation. This increase will simply be passed along to consumers.
The best way to alleviate supply chain disruptions in the long term is to keep America competitive rather than to repeat the Obama-era policies that chased manufacturing overseas and left us reliant upon foreign countries. Yet President Biden, working alongside Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Bernie Sanders, has charged Congress with raising the corporate tax rate to be among the highest globally. The Trump-Pence tax cuts created seven million new jobs in three short years, but liberal leaders of the Democrat Party prefer punishing American companies and crushing employment here.
The Biden-Pelosi-Sanders agenda of unprecedented federal spending is fanning the flames of inflation while simultaneously cutting off domestic energy supply and raising taxes across the board. Democrats falsely assert that they will only raise taxes on American households earning more than $400,000; the reality is that blue-collar workers and middle-income families are most negatively impacted by increased grocery bills, rising prices at the pump, and higher home heating bills.
Recent news from Europe is a warning. German power plants shut this fall because green energy disciples in their government are tilting at windmills and shutting off fossil fuel supply. Britain anticipates rolling blackouts this winter with higher energy bills for unreliable heating.
America may not be far behind.
Read the original on The Washington Times.
