Thank you President Biden.
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I wonder how many âI did thatâ stickers are still adorning gas pumps?
Still quite a few in my area. Gas prices were under $2 per gallon when we were energy independent under President Trump.
There are still quite a few in my area too. Lets not get ahead of ourselves, gas is still more expensive than it was on Trumps last day in office not that its Bidenâs fault.
I filled up for under $4 per gallon for the first time in I donât even know how long yesterday.
I discard every one I find. Not because Iâm a Biden fan, but simply because its inaccurate and furthers the false narrative. Its propaganda
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People bitch about Biden increasing gas prices, while ignoring the fact that Big Oil is posting record profits quarter after quarter.
Inflation was 14% from 2020 to 2022, but corporate profits increased by 75% in that same timeframe. If inflation was caused by something other than price gouging - like materials and supply chain - corporate profits would have been constant.
Itâs not rocket surgery.
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I donât begrudge people for trying and wanting to become rich.
I donât begrudge people for trying to make the best life for themselves that they can.
I begrudge people for doing it at the expense of others.
When we live in a country where the rich continue to get richer and richer because they make life harder and more expensive for the less fortunate is when I have a problem.
I am a basic normal guy who dropped out of college and has worked long and hard my entire life. I have made basically $30-70K per year depending on my various jobs.
I donât have any addictions or expensive tastes that take my money. Iâm sure I could eat cheaper and cut my budget down to misery level, but Iâm not extravagant.
I work a full time job, a part time job delivering pizzas, door dash when I can, and donate (sell) blood plasma twice per week.
I live with my wife and 2 adult daughters who also work and pay rent.
We live paycheck to paycheck never having any savings at the end of the month.
If a person works a full time job and has no bad habits wasting his/her money, then he/she should be able to live on the income.
The government has failed the people when rent/mortgage, gas, groceries, insurance and basic living expenses exceed what an average person makes.
Government that panders to the rich âprotectingâ their money and lifestyle while the less fortunate pay higher and higher percentages of what they have just to live is the enemy of the people.
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Yeah, Big Oil should have declined to sell their product. That would have kept prices low.
Maybe they could sell their product at not hyper profit margins. We donât have a choice with buying gas, most people have to. So Big Oil capitalizing on that is not too many steps down from healthcare price gouging. I get that it costs money to produce gasoline but come on, oil companies make money hand over fist and donât pay taxes. Theyâre predators and welfare queens at the same time.
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The price of oil is an index price set by the global market. Thereâs no price fixing or gouging.
Now the price of eggs, for example, is a different matter:
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Greedflation.
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Right. Just like everything sold at auction, they should say âwhoa, thatâs too much. Our shareholders donât need that much. Stop the biddingâ.
And out of curiosity, where do you think that money made hand over fist goes?
The price of crude oil and the price of gasoline are two different things.
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The revenue that companies bring in is not the problem in itself.
Its what they do with the money thatâs the problem.
In 2022 the average CEO of the 350 largest publicly owned companies made 344.3 Ă the salary of the average worker.
In 1990 it was 77.3 Ă
Average CEO compensation has gone up 1460% since 1978. The average wage index has gone up 6.04% in the same time period.
Prices of products go up. Company revenue goes up and the money is funneled into the stock holders and ruling class and the average worker sees very little of it.
Yet costs to live continue to rise.
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Right, because the government controls the means of fuel production
To me, the most irritating bullshit regarding oil is the time honored argument that the USA needs to increase production to become energy independent. We are frequently blasted with this argument, and it is never questioned by the media. The oil extracted in the USA is not the property of Americans in the USA, it is basically owned by the company extracting it.
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But oil companies have to pay for the rights to extract the oil. They have to pay for both mineral rights and access on the surface to produce. Once they get the oil and pay off the other interests, yes, itâs basically theirs and can sell it to whimever they wish. Thatâs true for pretty much any commodity.
I understand, and my remark wasnât against oil companies per se, it was against a bullshit argument often made for their benefit, and oddly embraced by much of the public.
There is the fundamental assumption by the public that they, at a minimum, get first dibs on American oil. Thatâs the disconnect. And I donât necessarily agree that the argument benefits oil companies. Perhaps it deflects some of the outrage, I guess.
Where does crypto currency come into the picture?
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