Dems are mad that American companies are producing fuel, but also mad they aren't producing *enough* fuel.
Wall Street Journal (10/30/22) editorial: "If Democrats lose next week’s election, one reason will be soaring energy prices. The lesson that an electoral defeat should drive home is that this is the result of their own policies. Consider President Biden’s outrage Friday over last week’s robust earnings reports for oil and gas companies. Six of the largest “made $70 billion in profit in one quarter,” he said at a fundraiser. These 'excess profits are going back to their shareholders and their executives instead of going to lower prices at the pump.' The President who has done everything in his power to limit U.S. oil investment is now furious that he succeeded. Mr. Biden doesn’t seem to believe oil companies should be allowed to make a profit or even cover marginal costs. “We need to keep making progress by having energy companies bring down the cost of a gallon of gas to reflect what they pay for a barrel of oil,” he said. Anything more is 'excess' profit. Keep in mind that oil majors’ current profits follow steep losses in the pandemic. As oil prices plunged amid lockdowns, companies and OPEC nations pared investment and shut in wells. Demand for oil then bounced back much quicker than supply, which has driven up prices—and profits. That’s Econ 101. Mr. Biden is miffed in particular that companies are returning cash to shareholders rather than increasing supply. 'You should be using these record-breaking profits to increase production and refining,' he said this month. But the progressive climate lobby and his own Administration’s climate policies have been urging the opposite."
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"Despite soaring energy costs, the administration refuses to rethink its agenda. This year’s Leasing Proposed Program puts forward a notion never before seriously contemplated by any president: an offshore oil and gas lease plan with zero lease sales."
– Katie Tubb, Heritage Foundation
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