Biden's Energy Crisis

The White House announced today that it is releasing one million barrels of oil a day for the next six months from the strategic petroleum reserve. Biden knows that your growing pain at the pump is going to be a huge pain for his party at the ballot box this November.

Today's move may help to lower gas prices somewhat in the short-term, and it clearly recognizes the need/demand for oil. The problem is that Biden has been strangling supply by waging war against the American energy industry since Day One of his administration when he killed the Keystone XL pipeline. Way to go, Joe!

But there's another problem that highlights how poorly the left understands fundamental economics. This huge release of oil actually decreases drilling/supply. 

When an oil company spends money to sink a well, it is making a bet that they can make a profit when that oil hits the market months down the road. 

But by artificially manipulating the market, Biden is making it harder for drillers to project what their profits, if any, might be. In other words, the private drillers are competing against the government's reserve releases. 

So, there's little incentive for energy companies to try to produce more now. They'd be better off waiting until the excess government oil is off the market in six months.

Commentators on the left-leaning financial network CNBC said today that while Biden's massive release of oil from the strategic reserve will help lower gas prices in the short-term, it will make things worse in the long-term.

In making his announcement today, Biden said he would protect the country from Vladimir Putin's price hike. Only 6% of Americans blame Putin for high gas prices. Most blame Biden. 

Biden said he would make the country energy independent. We were energy independent under Donald Trump, and it could be again if Biden reverses his anti-energy policies. But he won't.

His new budget assumes there will be no new drilling leases through 2023, and his left-wing allies are pressuring banks to stop making loans to energy companies. 

Biden also said we need to be unified as a nation in the face of this crisis. Well, he just got back from Europe where he attacked half of the country and the previous president on foreign soil. 

Faced with a crisis of their own making, liberals are panicking and their solution is to put the country in greater danger. 

How so? Well, the strategic petroleum reserve is meant for national emergencies. It's not a piggy bank to be raided whenever it is politically expedient to do so. It is a national security resource. 

When President Trump tried to ensure the reserve was full, progressive politicians, trying to "stick it" to the energy industry, stopped him. Now they're draining it.

The next few years could be a time of great national security danger for the United States. We don't know what will happen between Russia and Ukraine, or what North Korea, Iran or communist China might do in the next few years. 

But Biden is only concerned about the great political danger his party is facing in the next few months.