Originally published June 8, 2022
https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/6748-biden-s-price-hike
A furniture manufacturer depends on the steady supply of lumber to ensure cost-efficient products. The lumber market, which is heavily regulated by the federal government, depends on a friendly environment to determine prices not only today, but for the next 5 to 10 years.
There’s a growing contingent of political activists who hate wooden furniture. They protest the lumber industry, the government for allowing trees to be cut down, and they have the power of the media, Hollywood, the United Nations and many politicians on their side. Their leadership wins Academy Awards, makes hundreds of millions of dollars, and is named Time’s Person of the Year.
Meanwhile, furniture still needs to be made. Non-wooden furniture exists, but it doesn’t work as well. It’s far more expensive, doesn’t last as long, and is simply not a viable alternative for wooden furniture. Due to supply chain issues, a new railroad is being built to transport large quantities of lumber quickly from Canada instead of trickling in one truck at a time. Permits have been granted to mill timber from federal lands, and exploration of new sources of lumber is encouraged by Washington. All of this results in reduced prices, which allows everyone to buy quality furniture without worrying about the budget.
Suddenly, a new President comes in, cancels the railroad project, cancels the permits, cancels the exploration, and does everything the anti-lumber activists want. The furniture manufacturers are spooked, and they need to ensure that they have a supply of lumber to last them for as long as possible. Since the demand is high, and the supply is now completely questionable, the lumber prices soar to record highs. Meanwhile, the media claim it wasn’t the President’s fault; in fact, it’s the fault of a war on the other side of the world, because we get 5% of our lumber from them.
Spelled out this way, it’s clear that the gas prices, which are nearing $5 per gallon nationwide, are clearly Biden’s doing. To pretend otherwise is to ignore all the facts and simply hold water for this failing administration. Perhaps you can attribute a small percentage to other factors, but the price at the pump would not have doubled in the past year had Biden not been so hostile to the oil industry.
It’s not hard to imagine that high gas prices are a feature of the Biden administration policy, not a bug. How many times from how many admin members do we hear that gas is free if you just buy an electric car? Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and former Press Secretary Jen Psaki all touted the glory of spending $80,000 on an EV to people who can’t afford to put $80 in their gas tank. At the same time, Biden himself is bragging that, “[when] it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, G-d willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over.”
While Biden claims that getting the gas prices under control is a “top priority,” his actions speak otherwise. Everything that can be done to make this crisis worse is being done. This is the same mentality that raises taxes on cigarettes to get people to stop smoking and taxes large sodas to get people to stop consuming it. They are accustomed to using your wallet to incentivize, or disincentivize, certain behaviors. Is it farfetched to say they would do the same for gas prices when they explicitly claim that they want to be carbon-free in eight years?
In August 2021, Biden signed an Executive Order outlining a goal to make half of all cars in the United States electric by 2030. That is not going to happen if gas is $2 a barrel. Part of the infrastructure deal that Biden put together calls out energy efficient homes that require less oil and gas to heat in the winter and less air conditioning to cool in the summer. That’s not going to happen if your energy bills don’t hurt every month.
Some may say, “well, this is a good thing. People need incentives to get with the program.” Tell that to the single mom who can’t fill up her gas tank. Tell that to the kids who are shivering because heating the house is too expensive. We’ve become too familiar with policymakers using the American people as guinea pigs in their experiments to drag us into their utopian vision of the future. It’s only made life harder.
When you go to the polls this November, they want voters to think about guns and abortion. Instead, think about the gas you pump, the bills you pay, and the budgets you need to modify – all because Biden wanted to impress Greta Thunberg and Leonardo DiCaprio.
