Cass RutledgeIf you have a car, then you most likely have been feeling some pain at the pump. At the time of writing, AAA says that a gallon of gasoline in Lafayette County costs $3.94, with the national average even higher at $4.24. These are the most expensive gas prices in history, not accounting for inflation. President Biden has deemed this rise in prices “Putin’s Price Hike,” but how much are Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine really to blame?
The White House’s claim that Putin is responsible for high gas prices could be believable if gas prices were not already way above normal before Russian soldiers ever set foot in Ukraine. In fact, Biden told the Federal Trade Commission to investigate high gas prices back in November 2021, long before Putin authorized an invasion into Ukraine. Yes, gas prices have increased because of Russia’s invasion, but it only exacerbated an already existing problem.
High gas prices are an inconvenience for any car owner, however, for many Americans, gas prices are the limiting factor in how much food is on the dinner table, if someone is able to pay their rent on time or if a kid gets the new shoes he desperately needs. Because nearly every good needs gas to be transported, the prices of nearly everything have gone up. Egg prices are up 13.1%, pork has risen 14.1% and chicken rose 10.3% over the past year. In February, as a result of the climbing gas prices and other factors, such as the supply chain crisis, the Consumer Price Index, which tracks average inflation, rose another 0.8%. That amount seems small but can have devastating impacts for low-income families. This was a pre-Russian invasion trend, and blaming it on Putin is deflecting from the real problem of 40-year high inflation.
While Americans are struggling to pay for things that just a few years ago would be affordable, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had a tone-deaf solution. If you cannot afford gas, just get an electric vehicle. Easy, right? An electric car costs tens of thousands of dollars, and when people cannot even afford a tank of gas, they will surely not be able to afford a brand new car. The disconnect between the Biden administration and the American reality is continuing to grow, and Americans are not clueless enough to forget how and when these price increases started.
President Biden has said he “can’t do much” about high gas prices and inflation, but that is not true. Currently, the president has halted new oil and gas leases and has refused to reverse his anti-energy policies. We do not need to rely on Russian oil to keep prices low; the answer is for President Biden to increase United States oil production to offset any lost oil imports from Russia. It is time to bring back energy independence. President Biden, for the sake of the American people that are hurting, it is time to unleash American energy.
Cass Rutledge is a freshman majoring in public policy leadership from Madison.
