I’m going to throw out one more idea: Blame the Republicans. Democrats have been trying to to advance domestic renewable energy production (wind, solar, etc.) for at least two decades. Republicans have been fighting against clean energy and decreasing automobile fuel economy standards. Dear Voter - If you’re pissed that you still have a gas powered car that gets shitty mileage, blame the Republicans.
Big splashy announcements about Executive Orders that address inflation (and that actually help) would be advantageous.
It takes, on average, four weeks from the time that crude arrives at the refinery to you pumping gas into your car. But the moment an oil price hike occurs, gas prices go up. Seems everyone in the chain raises the price to reflect the new cost immediately, though the gas you’re pumping was refined from lower cost oil. You can bet, by the way, that the same process does not happen when oil prices drop. This is pure price gouging. An EO to halt this practice would mean real savings. Let the oil companies sue - where do you think public opinion would be?
Consider price controls, even modest ones, for groceries. Some controls on rent. Completely unfettered rent increases are artificially pushing up housing prices, and churning the market.
These ideas are drastic. They have to be temporary. But price increases are being driven at least in part by elements of panic and elements of profiteering. We need to cool this off. We also need to do something for the consumer. We also need to get Dems re-elected.
Gas prices won’t affect my family that much in the short term… but I am worried about how it is going to impact my tourism-adjacent small business. Fuel price hikes generally mean a downturn in that sector, and after the last 2 years, I am not sure how many of us can sustain that impact. I welcome anything to increase people’s optimism about travel.
Thanks as always for succinct facts and punchy talking points for family gatherings. I appreciate your skills. Definitely worth (at least) my seven bucks a month.
I think these are great ideas. I especially liked the idea of having Congressional hearings. We could put executives in a position to have to refute a lot of the lies being perpetuated by the GOP, such as the real impact of federal leases (given the unused leases they are sitting on); Keystone pipeline timing and effect; issues with ramping up from the pandemic and huge profits. This could generate some media and produce sound bites for ads. Additionally, while the tax holiday would have minimal impact, at least the administration could say they were doing everything possible.
Careful with the standard "blame the big bad oil company" talking points. We want voters in many of the oil producing states to vote Democratic, especially Texas. Many 1,000s of workers in the oil industry are happy to have their jobs returning after the crash in oil prices in 2020 when wells were shut in and rigs left idle by many small businesses as well as the big companies. With oil prices going up in 2021 as demand recovered and now the Russia sanctions, production will increase in the short term. Isn't that what we are concerned about, meaning the time to the mid-term elections? Oil prices are set globally, and the fear of less available oil and gas from Russia drove up futures prices in last few weeks. The positive is that higher fossil fuel prices make alternative fuel sources more cost competitive including EVs. So in the search for someone to blame, let's blame Putin and give consumers a tax break for pandemic, supply chain, and gasoline price increases.
I’m going to throw out one more idea: Blame the Republicans. Democrats have been trying to to advance domestic renewable energy production (wind, solar, etc.) for at least two decades. Republicans have been fighting against clean energy and decreasing automobile fuel economy standards. Dear Voter - If you’re pissed that you still have a gas powered car that gets shitty mileage, blame the Republicans.
Big splashy announcements about Executive Orders that address inflation (and that actually help) would be advantageous.
It takes, on average, four weeks from the time that crude arrives at the refinery to you pumping gas into your car. But the moment an oil price hike occurs, gas prices go up. Seems everyone in the chain raises the price to reflect the new cost immediately, though the gas you’re pumping was refined from lower cost oil. You can bet, by the way, that the same process does not happen when oil prices drop. This is pure price gouging. An EO to halt this practice would mean real savings. Let the oil companies sue - where do you think public opinion would be?
Consider price controls, even modest ones, for groceries. Some controls on rent. Completely unfettered rent increases are artificially pushing up housing prices, and churning the market.
These ideas are drastic. They have to be temporary. But price increases are being driven at least in part by elements of panic and elements of profiteering. We need to cool this off. We also need to do something for the consumer. We also need to get Dems re-elected.
Gas prices won’t affect my family that much in the short term… but I am worried about how it is going to impact my tourism-adjacent small business. Fuel price hikes generally mean a downturn in that sector, and after the last 2 years, I am not sure how many of us can sustain that impact. I welcome anything to increase people’s optimism about travel.
Thanks as always for succinct facts and punchy talking points for family gatherings. I appreciate your skills. Definitely worth (at least) my seven bucks a month.
I think these are great ideas. I especially liked the idea of having Congressional hearings. We could put executives in a position to have to refute a lot of the lies being perpetuated by the GOP, such as the real impact of federal leases (given the unused leases they are sitting on); Keystone pipeline timing and effect; issues with ramping up from the pandemic and huge profits. This could generate some media and produce sound bites for ads. Additionally, while the tax holiday would have minimal impact, at least the administration could say they were doing everything possible.
Careful with the standard "blame the big bad oil company" talking points. We want voters in many of the oil producing states to vote Democratic, especially Texas. Many 1,000s of workers in the oil industry are happy to have their jobs returning after the crash in oil prices in 2020 when wells were shut in and rigs left idle by many small businesses as well as the big companies. With oil prices going up in 2021 as demand recovered and now the Russia sanctions, production will increase in the short term. Isn't that what we are concerned about, meaning the time to the mid-term elections? Oil prices are set globally, and the fear of less available oil and gas from Russia drove up futures prices in last few weeks. The positive is that higher fossil fuel prices make alternative fuel sources more cost competitive including EVs. So in the search for someone to blame, let's blame Putin and give consumers a tax break for pandemic, supply chain, and gasoline price increases.