Soaring gas prices hit a new high on Wednesday, maintaining an upward trend post-Memorial Day with records increasing beyond the traditional spring peak.
According to AAA travel agency, the nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $4.67 in a five-cent jump from Tuesday. The cost of diesel remained high at $5.28 per gallon.
Speaking in Japan last week, President Joe Biden declared the rising gas prices to be “an incredible transition.”
“When it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels,” Biden said.
Meanwhile, Americans are coping with inflation rising at its fastest pace in four decades. Data from the Department of Labor show prices on its all-items index up 8.3 percent year-over-year with energy prices soaring more than 30. The high fuel prices only exacerbate inflation, driving up the costs of manufacturing and transportation in addition to the dollar amounts Americans are facing at the pump.
According to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index’s latest update on Tuesday, Americans haven’t felt more pessimistic about the nation’s economy since 2009.
Despite the ongoing turbulence, Biden has continued to hamper domestic oil and gas production with a cascade of new taxes and regulations as the administration promotes high-end electric vehicles to circumvent gas prices. According to Kelley Blue Book in December, however, the average transaction price of an electric vehicle is north of $56,400, which is $5,000 more than an entry-level luxury car.
To suppress gas prices ahead of the fall midterms, which is already a traditionally hostile cycle to the party in the White House, Biden ordered the “unprecedented” release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for 180 days. The release began on May 15 and will run through November. But the oil amounts to only a fraction of U.S. daily consumption, which the Energy Information Administration places at 20 million barrels, and prices keep skyrocketing.
Source: The Federalist
