Scott Trimingham: Skyrocketing Gas Prices are Due to the "Oilgarchs"
November 6, 2022
By Scott Trimingham
I’ll get right to it. It looks like we’ve found ourselves in a big war with the folks who have been providing us energy – particularly fossil fuels. You know, it’s funny that we can recognize oligarchs in other countries by targeting their yachts and assets, but not in our own. Anyway, they know the value of their product is on the wane, and so is their influence. So, this is why these oligarchs are flexing their political and financial muscles now, before they become irrelevant.
For example, Vladimir Putin, who transformed Russia’s economy to rely on fossil fuels, thought he could use his fortune from oil and gas to fund his war and simultaneously use his supply as blackmail to Europe as part of his war in Ukraine.
The Saudis are demonstrating their alarming strength of controlling the world economy by reducing production, thus putting their thumbs on the scale of the laws of supply and demand. You see, OPEC learned in the 70’s that they could make more profit by reducing their production, which showed them they could pump less and profit even more. There was a recession then, too, if I recall.
Domestically, it appears that “our” own domestic oil companies – who have been making historically record profits – have decided to flex their political and financial muscles by using the same strategy. They know that by reducing production and thereby raising the price of gas it raises the prices of virtually everything because much of our economy is petroleum based – from plastics to fertilizer, from gas to diesel – we grow, make, and ship just about everything with petroleum products. So, lo and behold, during a time of war, when gas prices and gas profits are accelerating, we have inflation.
The oil corporations not only profit from raising gas prices, it also causes inflation which is both a demonstration of their power to other oligarchs and also gives their political arm, the GOP (which I believe stands for Gas, Oil, Petroleum), something to blame on democrats. Republicans are grateful to have this issue because they have been struggling with their announced policies of ending Medicare, Social Security and abortion rights while giving local politicians no access to the first two and considerable power in the third.
Record oil company profits through supply manipulation – skyrocketing gas prices are the responsibility of the so-called “oiligarchs” who fund GOP politicians, be they foreign or domestic. Folks, I’m old enough to remember when it was illegal to bribe a politician, and I hope that’s true again someday.
Anyway, if we really want to address the issue of our own destiny, then we had better begin viewing energy as a crucial utility and consider nationalizing our domestic oil production in the interests of national security. Energy produced in this country must stay in this country so we will not be at the whims of global prices. We will be energy independent from both other countries and from the handful of current oligarchs who are ambivalent about our democracy.
When it comes to the national resource of oil we should be like Norway, not like the casino we are today run by Gotham-like billionaires in a new Gilded Age.
Scott “Gus” Trimingham writes about the environment and politics.
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