A U.S. senator from Connecticut is falsely scapegoating oil companies for skyrocketing gas prices nationwide.
“Oil companies are exploiting Russia’s war in Ukraine to drive up gas prices to obscene levels. It’s time to end this corporate profiteering,” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Thursday. “We need a Big Oil Windfall Profits tax to take excess profits & deliver them to Americans getting stuck with the bill.”
Oil companies are exploiting Russia’s war in Ukraine to drive up gas prices to obscene levels. It’s time to end this corporate profiteering. We need a Big Oil Windfall Profits tax to take excess profits & deliver them to Americans getting stuck with the bill. pic.twitter.com/q7frtH8Rh2
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) March 31, 2022
Russia is an exporter of oil, though not a very large one.
It formerly supplied the United States with about three percent of its crude oil – three percent that was cut when economic sanctions were placed on the country.
But according to several sources, including far-left outlets like PolitiFact, suggesting that oil companies are taking advantage of the lower supply of oil and hiking prices, thus causing the spike in gas prices, is simply wrong.
Here’s what that outlet said:
Experts who study the price of oil and gas told PolitiFact that it takes more time for gas prices to respond to changes in crude oil costs — and noted that there are factors in 2022 that weren’t at play in 2008, which make direct comparisons misleading.
The numbers are also cherry-picked, and the difference in pricing between 2008 and 2022 isn’t as large as the post suggests.
That “fact check” came after President Joe Biden also suggested that oil companies were to blame for the spike in prices in March:
Oil prices are decreasing, gas prices should too.
Last time oil was $96 a barrel, gas was $3.62 a gallon. Now it’s $4.31.
Oil and gas companies shouldn’t pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans. pic.twitter.com/uLNGleWBly
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 16, 2022
Even Mother Jones, one of the furthest-left news outlets in the United States, ran a piece titled “Blame Big Oil for a Lot — But Not for Price Gouging at the Pump.”
Before he blamed oil companies for the spike in prices, Blumenthal blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for America’s gas price hike.
“Banning Russian oil is absolutely the right step, as I’ve repeatedly said. But let’s be clear about who’s to blame for spiraling gas prices — Putin,” he said. “His craven, barbaric invasion is a war of choice, unprovoked & unnecessary, that has disrupted world markets.”
Banning Russian oil is absolutely the right step, as I’ve repeatedly said. But let’s be clear about who’s to blame for spiraling gas prices—Putin. His craven, barbaric invasion is a war of choice, unprovoked & unnecessary, that has disrupted world markets.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) March 8, 2022
Asked about all of this, Blumenthal’s office did not return a comment request.
In reality, gas prices have risen sharply since Biden took office.
When Biden took office in January 2021, the average price for a gallon of gas in the United States was $2.42. Thursday, that number was $4.32.
In Connecticut, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $4.22.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Connecticut Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Richard Blumenthal” by Richard Blumenthal.
