Keystone Today

Gas prices continue to be a problem all around the world and in the U.S., prices are still close to $5 per gallon without much of an end in sight.

On July 2, President Joe Biden published a tweet urging gas stations to bring down the cost of gas at the pump.

"My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril,” President Biden tweeted. “Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

Chen Weihua, a China Daily EU Bureau Chief/columnist, tweeted back saying, “Now US President finally realized that capitalism is all about exploitation. He didn’t believe this before.”

While Biden has shown his concern, and is working to bring down gas prices, the Wall Street Journal wrote a scathing response to Biden’s views, saying in an opinion piece published by the Editorial Board, “the president doesn’t appear to know anything about how the private economy works.”

The opinion piece, titled Bidenomics 101, added, “It’s embarrassing for the leader of the free world to sound like he’s channeling Hugo Chavez.”

According to the Wall Street Journal piece, Biden’s blaming of oil companies for high gas prices shows that he does not have an understanding of the nation’s private economy. It points out that large refineries own a small portion go gas stations in the country. The piece also noted that Americans are paying an average of $744 more on gasoline this year compared to 2021.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said that the president’s tweet “betrayed a willful ignorance about the private economy” since large oil refiners own 5% or less of all gas stations across the U.S. More than 60% of the stores are operated by families, and the rest are independently owned and operated by chain stores or grocery stores.

The Editorial Board added that most gas stations only make a few cents per gallon of profit on gas, and most of how they stay afloat is through food and cigarette sales. The report added that if retailers were to sell fuel at cost they would risk going out of business.

Due to low profit margins, many refiners left the retail business in the 2000s. The Energy Information Administration said that distribution and marketing made up only 5% of the price of gasoline in May, which is 22 cents per gallon. This covers the costs of labor, freight, utilities, real estate and credit card fees, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Editorial Board adds that this tweet was nothing new from President Biden, as he has accused oil and gas companies of price gouging and demanded an increase in production even while being threatened to be put out of business. The opinion piece said that Biden is ignorant that “businesses make long-term decisions based on demand expectations and policy signals.

According to AAA, the average price of gas in the U.S. on July 6 was $4.779, and in Pennsylvania it was $4.871. In Pennsylvania, the price has gone down slightly over the past month, but it is still astronomically higher than last year when it was $3.208.