As Russia proceeds with what appears to be a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the Biden administration has been bracing Americans for impending economic suffering due to rising energy costs and continued record inflation.
There’s no escaping the fact that America was already in a weak position thanks to Biden’s anti-capitalist energy policies which have kneecapped domestic oil production and driven up costs at the gas pump.
As Politico notes, Biden is warning Americans about the upcoming resulting price shocks from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and there’s not much he’s willing to do about it:
President Joe Biden has few options for keeping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from inflicting pain for Americans at the pump.
The actions he has taken so far, such as releasing tens of millions of barrels of oil from federal emergency reserves, have done little to bring down prices. And other options available to him, including suspending the federal gasoline tax, face major hurdles in Congress.
“The Biden administration has learned by now after this winter crash course in how oil and gas markets work that there are no easy short-term solutions to rising gasoline prices,” said Bob McNally, president of research firm Rapidan Energy and a former National Security Council energy adviser during the George W. Bush administration.
Where has Joe Biden been for the past five decades? America is at its worst when it’s reliant on foreign oil. Our economy gets crushed as bad actors in OPEC decide on production levels and control the world energy market.
Why on earth would Biden have entered office with a goal of weakening America in terms of domestic oil production? The result can only be blamed on incompetence or an intention to drive up the price of fossil fuels with the goal of pushing electric vehicles and green energy alternatives. Those options are expensive, but they won’t look as expensive if oil starts cresting well over $120 a barrel.
The current mix of domestic issues, a soft economy, ongoing Covid battles, and an impending election puts Biden in the delicate position of dealing with a hostile foreign adversary from a posture of weakness. It’s the American people and those of Europe, Ukraine, and Russia, that will get crushed. The oligarchs, the political class, and the ruling class like Joe Biden won’t be harmed by rising costs and soaring fuel around the globe.
As it stands now, the United States is at a point in history where our energy market is being driven by a lesser of two evils, Russia and/or Iran:
Market analysts said it remained to be seen whether the worst-case scenario — Russia cutting off flows of crude oil or natural gas — would come to pass, or whether new developments in Iran could restart the flow of crude there. Putin sought to assure European energy markets early on Tuesday, telling an audience in Doha, Qatar, that Moscow had no intention of halting its gas shipments.
Russia could start cutting off fuel lines and truly cause havoc in Europe and the United States by driving down supply and driving up costs. If Iran decides to help out and increase production, then great, maybe they can offset the Russian supply cuts. That particular situation, which Joe Biden has put us in, is untenable and unconscionable.
We could be looking at double-digit inflation not that far off in the future:
The war in Europe – which has shattered nearly three decades of peace on the continent – could ultimately cause oil prices to surge as much as 20% to $120 a barrel, according to RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas. Should that happen, consumer prices in the U.S. would surge above 10% on an annual basis, the economist said, the highest since October 1981.
Where do we go from here? Biden will address the nation on Thursday to lay out a course of sanctions against Russia moving forward, according to reports.
