On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” CNN Chief Business Correspondent and host Christine Romans reacted to President Joe Biden blaming gas stations for high gas prices by pointing out that it’s common for there to be short-term mismatches between oil prices and gas prices, many gas stations are small, independently-owned businesses, and make more profit on things like food than on gas.
Romans said, “[L]ook, it’s called rockets and feathers, right? The price goes up like a rocket and it falls slowly like a feather, and we see that often. Over time, when you look at gas and oil prices, they move together, but in very short periods, there can be this dislocation and that’s what we’re feeling here right now.”
After quoting criticism from the oil industry, Romans added, “The President was talking about the people who sell the gas, the — 145,000 gas stations are independently owned, they’re small businesses, essentially. And they have higher margins on their candy bars that they sell than they do on their gas. So, it’s a very, very big, global, complicated picture here.”
She further stated, “[T]he President is right that oil prices are down $15 a barrel, but gas prices are down only a penny. On its surface, it looks like someone’s making a killing there, and it’s not the American consumer. It’s just more complicated than that. It really is.”
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