It’s been almost comical to see Republicans repeatedly fret about gas/oil prices, but then come up with no credible solutions to actually lower gas/oil prices. Their general “answers” all seem to revolve around the concept that if you give a huge industry everything they want, prices will magically lower themselves out of the goodness of their heart.
“Remove red tape!”
”What does that even mean?”
“Less regulations.”
“So just let oil and gas charge whatever they want to for a product the government has no oversight into? You realize countries with the lowest gas prices have state-owned oil companies don’t you?”
“Socialist!”
The answer of “give oil companies whatever they want” is—unsurprisingly—not a great outcome. It practically incentives them to keep prices artificially high to get things they want like drilling on federal lands or even more subsidies or a repeal of gas taxes. What about the next Summer? Or the next? If they know America will fold like a cheap hooker every time “pennies at the pump” become high, why on Earth would they keep consistently low oil/gas prices?
They make more money when gas prices are higher, so merely giving into all their wants and wishes and desires is like “we get to keep making record profits, and setting terms that would make those profits even greater? Sucker born every minute…” Maybe this is why the oil/gas lobby successfully convinced Trump to put pressure on OPEC (through Saudi Arabia) to lower gas refining capacity in 2019 out of fears gas prices would be “too low” and that would somehow hurt the economy.
Then there’s this other gem I’m seeing all the time: “stop hostility toward oil and gas.”
Which is the exact opposite of what needs to happen, and basically admits the country is being held hostage by a dying industry on their way out the door (the same way our policy towards Gaddafi or Hitler was quasi-appeasement…until it wasn’t). The only real, long-term solution to high gas prices is to make oil/gas irrelevant, and promote alternative energy at every turn. If we’re using solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, hydrogen, etc. power to fuels our cars and run our homes/offices, then I’m pretty sure Big Oil will find a quick way to lower prices on a commodity that’s become near-worthless.