First let me thank you for saying, correctly,
continue to go up. The aforementioned Kool-Aid drinkers will conveniently forget to mention threethings, despite
Trump posting them:
1) Oil prices rose steadily from Jan 2017 to Jan 2020. When Trump was inaugurated--
"Whoa whoa whoa! You should say elected. Prices of oil surely changed because they knew Trump would take action!"
Hmm. Let's come back to that.
2) Then Trump tried to murder his own country, but despite his best efforts, millions upon millions of Americans instead chose to leave their job, were fired, or worked from home. Oil tanked, hardy har har, for two months. When they post memes, they typically refer to the lowest prices -- during the first major death wave of the pandemic Trump personally caused. So, yeah, "gee I'd love to see $1.50 gas and a mean tweet right now" fuck that shit.
3) Then around April, we saw a rise that has
technically slowed down.
Let's take a look at part 1 real quick. Jan 2017, oil was about $52.50 a barrel, and Jan 2020 it was about $57.50. That's roughly a 10% increase. Trump did this on purpose -- asking the Saudis to cut production, for example, when the Saudis and the Russians both opened the floodgates to fuck with prices. (Trump said nothing to the Russians and the Saudis didn't listen). He also spiked prices with Iran sanctions he didn't have to do. He put some on May-Nov 2018, when oil prices rose to their highest. Oh, he also put on a few Jan 13, 2021, just so we're clear.
Now, if I had taken that suggestion earlier, oil Nov 2015 was $45.66 and therefore Trump could be blamed for raising prices even
more. So I'm cool with that, if you are.
From their lowest point, April 2020, to Jan 2021, oil went from $16.55 a barrel to $52 even. That's right: Trump
tripled oil prices. Oil rose consistently about $2.75 per barrel a
month. Oh, and then those aforementioned Jan 13 2021 sanctions hit in, in Feb 2021 oil was $59.04 a barrel. Which, yes, is a much larger jump, and unless someone finds something specific that Biden signed, because I have something
Trump signed, I get to blame Trump for that jump, too.
Oil was, as mentioned, $59.04 Feb 2021 and is about $83.60 now. That's a climb of $2.40 a month. Yes, that's bad. Yes, that's
less than Trump did. Oh, and it's a lower percentage, too. Even if you started Jan 2021, which would be disingenuous, but even if you did, that's $2.63 a month and Biden still wins.
Trump never wanted low oil prices. He wanted his rich oil friends to get more rich selling expensive oil. Anyone saying "gee, I wish Trump was here to lower gas prices" is being willfully ignorant. Trump has a proven history of raising gas prices, did it intentionally, did it more often, and of course did it much more.
Want a more formal, professional examination?
Well, how about Forbes? They don't go for the jugular like I did, but they do say
(a) demand is rising because more people are going back to work, thanks of course to the spread of the vaccine
(b) supply is still low and fighting to catch up
(c) we had hurricanes
(d) this winter is forecast to be bad -- and Trump lies about this, but he couldn't control the weather either.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have my share of 20 million creatures to snipe.