This just in: The president of the United States does not control gas prices.

I recall when George W. was president and gas prices shot up for some reason. Fox news spent a lot of time telling us that the president doesn’t control gas prices. A couple of years, later, Obama was president and gas prices spiked. Fox then spent a lot of time telling us it was Obama’s fault.

What is really happening here?

When the price of oil goes up, the price of gas goes up. Makes sense. The price of oil goes up when the demand rises faster than the supply. In short, oil becomes more scarce and thus, it becomes more expensive. OPEC bases its entire output on this idea. They cut back on supply until the price goes up to where they want it to be.

Also, uncertainty in the market can make people behave as if oil is in short supply because they believe it will be in the future. This is why wars involving oil producing countries causes prices to go up. We fear that the war will slow production and thus, lower the global supply.

So, where does the president come into play?

The short answer is “Nowhere.”

The president does not create demand; the consumer does.

The president does not tell private oil companies how much oil to produce. Right now there are thousands of drilling permits issued by the government that are not being used because the oil companies don’t feel it is profitable to do so.

None of this is a secret. In fact, this is something you would learn in the first couple of hours of a Economics 101 class.

Republicans said, “Don’t take oil from Russia.” They are basically joining support for Ukraine, albeit, a little late. They don’t mention that we sell more oil to Russia than we import. In short, if there was no war, cutting off Russian oil would have virtually no impact on gas prices.

Today, Republicans, who are historically terrible at economics, are claiming that the president is raising gas prices. These people, and those that nod along with this statement, are either stupid or believe that you are stupid.

Don’t be stupid.

Here is a music video…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim