While the political world has been focused on the Manhattan circus for the past few days, the news has provided cover for another disastrous failure of the Biden administration.
Earlier this week, the country of Saudi Arabia said it is cutting oil production, a move which will inevitably drive up the price of energy around the globe and lead to further gasoline price increases domestically.
Back in October, there were reports floating around of Biden begging the Saudis to wait until after the 2022 midterms to cut production. Biden, unable to buy any more time, has once again left America in a weakened position on the world stage and left our worst adversaries in charge of our energy future.
On Monday of this week, Saudi Arabia announced cuts in production, a move that came as a “surprise” to the rarely-vigilant White House:
Major oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia said they’re cutting supplies of crude — again. This time, the decision was a surprise and is underlining worries about where the global economy might be headed.
Russia is joining in by extending its own cuts for the rest of the year. In theory, less oil flowing to refineries should mean higher gasoline prices for drivers and could boost the inflation hitting the U.S. and Europe. And that may also help Russia weather Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine at the expense of the U.S.
The decision by oil producers, many of them in the OPEC oil cartel, to cut production by more than 1 million barrels a day comes after prices for international benchmark crude slumped amid a slowing global economy that needs less fuel for travel and industry.
The net result will be a boon to countries like Russia which will reap higher profits as the price of oil shoots skyward.
In other words, Biden has put the OPEC cartel in charge of America’s energy policies leaving Russia as one of the largest beneficiaries. It’s a position of weakness and, quite frankly, insanity, but it speaks to how indebted liberals are to the concept of the Green New Deal and forcing the destruction of America’s oil and gas industry.
At the same time, while the Biden administration pushes plans to install electric vehicle charging stations and further cuts our own domestic oil production, the bad actors of the world are filling the void left by America’s once-dominant position on the global energy market.
Americans, as usual, will pay the price for what can only be described as a “disaster” against the domestic economy:
Prices have already spiked 6%, which means more pain at the pump and elsewhere for Americans.
Gas prices will climb, as will energy bills for businesses (like grocery stores and other crucial firms), which will also get passed along to consumers.
Just as inflation had cooled a bit, in other words, Biden’s policy failures at home and abroad guarantee it will heat up again.
Vowing to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah,” he blew up relations with the Kingdom on his way to the White House, leaving zero leverage over their calls on energy.
Recall Biden’s humiliating trip there last summer, where he begged for a production hike and got nothing but that October cutdown, a clear rebuke.
Has there been a worse example in modern politics of a president mishandling foreign policy and foreign relations to this extent?
It’s been demonstrably the wrong move at every turn. The laser focus on placating left-wing environmentalists at the expense of a robust domestic energy policy has left America crippled when it comes to leverage or influence around the world.
The global economy still runs on oil and it will for decades to come. Biden has taken America off the playing field leaving only the worst of the worst in charge of energy production.
Instead of a pivot toward a reasonable and sane domestic energy plan, the Biden administration remains firmly planted in the “green economy” fantasy land where electric vehicle charging stations will solve the nation’s problems.
Gasoline is once again heading toward topping over $4 per gallon, a move that will likely re-ignite the recently cooling inflation indexes.
This administration can’t get out of its own way.
