If there is one thing on which all of the GOP presidential candidates can agree, it is the cure for inflation: drill, baby, drill! If we put an end to the onerous Biden restrictions on drilling, the price of gas will drop immediately, and the overall inflation rate will follow. It’s a sure winner!
Leaving aside the ghastly environmental consequences of this approach, here are the pertinent facts:
- As everyone knows, the price of gas is not currently soaring into the stratosphere. In fact, in spite of unfavorable geopolitical developments, it is actually falling at the present time.
- Notwithstanding that, the record shows that gas is more expensive today than at most times during the past decade, including just before the beginning of the pandemic, when GDP growth was similar to what it is today.
- But the notion that restrictions imposed by Biden on drilling have reduced domestic production is not borne out by the facts. American oil production has recently hit record highs.
The bottom line here is that gas prices rise and fall for a variety of reasons that have little to do with Biden or any other president. It is stupid to either give him credit for falling prices or to blame him for price increases. That won’t stop the GOP from trying, of course.