Can Biden freeze gas prices???

[Cattledog]

As an act of National security.

[FoxNewsSucks]

1. Freeze prices, remove the oil company subsidies and tax credits.

Impose a windfall profit tax. Why should we pay such high prices so oil companies can make obscene profit, pay obscene executive salaries, and pay no income taxes? And why are we still giving them welfare?

If the public has to feel pain, then let some change and permanent good come of it.

[spooky3]

2. Some of those things require Congressional action. Nt

[inthewind21]

39. Congress

Would have to revamp the tax code and all subsidies. You think gas prices are high now.

How much would gas cost in US without subsidies?
Clean energy technologies have often been accused of not being able to be implemented without subsidies; however, no energy sector has ever been developed without subsidies. Without subsidies we would all be paying roughly $12.75 per gallon for gasoline.

https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs

[doc03]

3. Nixon did that we ended up with a shortage and odd and even days. nt

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. If I remember right,

those shortages and lines were caused by the Arab oil embargo. Inflation was a different problem.

[doc03]

9. Nixon had a nationwide wage and price freeze. It created shortages of everything. nt

[karynnj]

19. And Jimmy Carter, not Nixon was President

Nixon had wage price freezes, but they were clumsy and caused problems.

[bucolic_frolic]

24. Inflation was the result of decoupling the US dollar from the price of gold

OPEC correctly realized the dollar was falling in value, so they raised the price of oil by restricting supply. It didn't help that we had a less than adequate distribution system.

Nixon froze wages and prices Executive Order 11615 (pursuant to the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970) for 90 days, this was in 1971, way before OPEC got its act together. All the order did was delay inflation pressures until controls expired.

Oil price is a component of just about everything because there's an energy component in everything, from resources to factories and manufacture, to labor who drive and consume, to transportation and retail.

The 1970s was an oil shortage. There were no real shortages of much else. Today we have overcapacity but underutilized capacity amid supply chain concerns. Despite far less regulation and more excess capacity, supply of critical parts is creating shortages or at least stockouts.

[COL Mustard]

4. But if he's going to freeze it....

Freeze it at $1/gallon so he can take credit for those stickers and say "I did that"!

[SheltieLover]

8. Absolutely!

[tritsofme]

15. And all 3 people who filled up their tank that day would be ecstatic!

The other 97 who get nothing, probably not so much.

[WarGamer]

5. Nixon did it.

[NutmegYankee]

6. Bad idea.

That will lead to shortages and rationing. Better to ration by price than fix the price and have stations go dry.

[FBaggins]

10. Only if he wants to make things worse

As pretty much any economist will tell you.

[Amishman]

16. yup, you'll trade high prices for shortages

Better option is temporary suspension of gas taxes

[33taw]

20. The oil companies may just bump up the price and collect the taxes themselves.

[Amishman]

23. Still worth a try, and if that happens investigate and fine the heck out of them for gouging

Use the fine proceeds to mitigate the lost revenue, make sure the fines exceed the excess profits they raked in during the crisis

[33taw]

26. Maybe impose a windfall profit tax and cut the taxes.

The oil companies profits are obscene.

[Amishman]

30. I like this, with a caveat

Divert some of that windfall profit to a fund intended to stabilize domestic production when their is a negative price shock.

Until we get better battery technology and can accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels, it is important to maintain a fairly robust domestic industry.

[Botany]

11. No. The price of a gallon of gas is a fucntion of the price of barrel of oil which is a publicly ..

.. traded commodity.* However our good friends the Saudis have been less then helpful by
not increasing the supply of oil on the world market.


* Biden being responsible for the price of a gallon of gas is an empty republican talking point.

BTW if we really wanted to control cost on gas it would be to put solar panels on all homes and
then just plugging our cars into our homes.

[uponit7771]

21. Not any longer, BOC profit MARGINS increases speak of the disconnect

[Botany]

25. You are right I forgot to mention that oil companies are making money hand over fist.

n/t

[RobinA]

22. The Saudis

should be stoking the world's dependence on oil, not making it desirable to develop alternatives. It's a whole different world out there when/if the industrialized nations give up their dependence on the oil of despots.

[Botany]

28. The Saudis are not our friends.

end of story.

[uponit7771]

29. Saudis picked the wrong horse in this race and are tying their shit to Russia as we type. The ...

... assholes who hate freedom are in this shit together, its not going to last for their asses.

so pissed

[Botany]

32. MbS and Vlad having a laugh

[uponit7771]

34. +1, I bet MbS isn't laughing now as Putrid gets his ass kicked. There are some analyst now who

... think Putrid will lose the conventional war against UKR.

Its not the popular opinion but can you imagine what happens to the Russian army "mystic" if they do?!

Fuck democracy haters, there and here

[thatdemguy]

33. They played that bluff years ago and it did not work

At one point fracking in this country cost about 75 bucks a barrel for oil, SA then pushed oil ( thru opec ) down to around 50 bucks a barrel to try to stop us getting our own oil. What happened was the frackers found out how to do it cheaper and make money at around 50 bucks. That lead to boom of oil drilling and fracking in this country. Then SA had to cut back on what they produced ( again thru opec ) because they could not afford to support all their spending at 50 bucks a barrel, better to produce less and make more per barrel. I have read it costs SA about 15 bucks a barrel to get it out of the ground, plus more to get it here.

Figure 15 to get out of the ground, another 15 to get it here, profit on 50 bucks a barrel is 20, produce 1/2 as much but drive the price to 75 a barrel and they make 45 a barrel.

[MoonlitKnight]

12. The world is at war

The markets have priced in uncertainty. Just like they overreacted to the downside at the start of the pandemic (remember negative oil prices) they have overreacted to the high end.

What we can do very effectively if we choose is attack the demand side. Conservation. Drive less. Carpool. Combine shopping trips - consider shopping with neighbors. If OPEC sees demand falling they will react to reduce prices.

[tritsofme]

13. Only if you like massive shortages?

[Raven123]

14. Don't know, but wouldn't do it. Keep up the pressure on producers

[Binkie The Clown]

17. Freeze prices and supplies would dry up. Cheap gas that nobody can find doesn't help. nt

[karynnj]

18. He could impact the price paid as I think it includes taxes

The danger would be that once removed, like any tax revenue, it would be hard to get them back. Possibly the Congress could remove the federal tax when the cost is above some amount, maybe cpi adjusted. Then the tax would return as costs go back down.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

27. He could stop pushing a return to full-time work in the office.

[crickets]

35. Yep. That would ease the pressure on a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck. nt

[bluestarone]

31. If possible, i'd rather see, maybe $500 fuel cards?

Like a stimulus type card good ONLY for fuel? Maybe this could help for awhile.

[Spider Jerusalem]

36. I feel like anyone who bought a V-8 SUV deserves to suffer the consequences of their decision (n/t)

[LiberatedUSA]

37. Then we would repeat how that went in the 70s. N/t

[ForgedCrank]

38. It's possible using

the proper channels, but price controls almost always end in catastrophe.