The New York Times on Memorial Day weekend blamed American citizens for record-high gas prices, instead of President Biden’s war on American energy.
As gas prices reached another record on Saturday of $4.60 per gallon, up 45 cents from one month ago, according to AAA, many Americans are looking to enjoy their holiday weekend by getting out of town using a gas-powered vehicle. Yet the Times on Friday slammed American drivers for over-consuming gasoline.
“Motorists have not done much to burn a lot less gasoline,” the Times wrote in an article entitled, “Gas Prices Hit New Highs as Summer Driving Season Starts.”
The article praised high gas prices as a reason for drivers to purchase expensive electric vehicles, which it claimed would cause gas prices to fall. The article noted, however, that high gas prices have failed to drop because consumers have not made “big changes” by purchasing “more fuel-efficient” vehicles:
Oil industry executives have often said the cure for high prices is those very high prices. That’s because they force consumers to buy less fuel or switch to more fuel-efficient cars. But drivers do not seem to be cutting back or making other big changes — at least not yet.
Looking ahead, the Times added that gas prices may stabilize if Americans give up vacationing on summer road trips. “Analysts still expect a jump in gas sales during the summer but some drivers may change their plans should prices go much higher,” the article said, before praising drivers for not driving as much during the week. “There are tentative signs that gasoline demand may be flattening or even falling a little, at least during weekdays, according to energy analysts,” the article claimed.
According to polling, Biden’s high gas prices have impacted Americans’ commute to work. While about 85 percent of Americans commute to work by car, nearly one in three (30 percent) of Americans are driving less, a Morning Consult poll revealed. Fifty-seven percent of those Americans who are driving less did so because of the high price of gas. Thirty-three percent said they utilized their cars less because their routine was different. Fourteen percent cited “other” reasons.
While the Times blamed Americans for high gas prices that have impacted their lives, it omitted any mention of Biden’s war on American energy. Breitbart News reported how Biden has caused energy prices to spike:
Biden has waged war on both public and private financing of oil drilling while subsidizing green-new-deal-like energy plans. As a result, American oil production is down from 2019, the year before the pandemic. Hard numbers suggest 2022 oil production is 12 million barrels per day, or eight percent less than in 2019.
Biden has made it increasingly more difficult for oil companies to gain financing to drill on private lands. He has also halted new drilling on public lands and terminated the Keystone Pipeline project that would have transported vast amounts of oil to American refineries.
Biden and fellow Democrats have refused to take responsibility for the high gas prices, which have fueled inflation. What was once dubbed “transitory inflation” is now “Putin’s price hike.” Before that shift, CNN labeled inflation as “good,” while the Washington Post reframed inflation as the result of “corporate greed.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.