Gaslighting On Gas Prices: How do politicians get away with blaming others?

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cancel2 2022

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How indeed? And what's more how stupid do you have to be to believe the likes of Biden or Newsom? Luckily there are genuine people like Michael Shellenberger to expose them and their chicanery.

In response to $6 per gallon gasoline prices, which are nearly 70% higher than the $3.81 national average, California Governor Gavin Newsom will convene a special session of the state legislature in December to enact a “windfall profits tax” on oil companies that he said are price gouging.

“Crude oil prices are down but oil and gas companies have jacked up prices at the pump in California,” said Newsom. “This doesn’t add up. We’re not going to stand by while greedy oil companies fleece Californians.” [bold, links added]


But there is no evidence of illegal price setting, and a new tax on oil companies would increase prices further.

Last week, a federal judge in San Diego issued a 103-page ruling dismissing a class-action lawsuit that claimed traders at oil companies had colluded to keep prices high. The scope of the case was massive and spanned seven years of litigation.

As for a new tax, a 2006 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found that a new windfall profit tax on oil companies, which had been in place in the 1980s, would have “adverse economic effects,” including higher prices, lower domestic production, and increased foreign imports.

The San Diego judge did find that oil companies had coordinated refinery operations, and it may be appropriate for governments to impose a tax on a company when it is engaged in monopolistic or cartel behavior.

But the San Diego judge found no evidence that oil refiners deliberately created shortages to raise prices.

“Antitrust wrongdoing consists of concerted action pursuant to an illegal agreement, not independent profit-maximizing actions based on market conditions,” she wrote.

And anti-trust regulations are well-enforced. “They definitely cannot talk to each other about their production time,” said UC Berkeley energy economist, Severin Borenstein. “That would be a pretty clear antitrust violation.”

The underlying problem is that California has reduced the capacity of its oil refineries as part of its push to phase out internal combustion engines.

“California policymakers have knowingly adopted policies with the expressed intent of eliminating the refinery sector,” wrote the vice president of California refinery, Valero, in a letter
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People increasingly believe what they are told to believe without attempting to learn what the reality is and without thinking for themselves.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
People increasingly believe what they are told to believe without attempting to learn what the reality is and without thinking for themselves.
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I haven't banned anyone but few replies thus far, I can only surmise that even the Left know the truth now.

Here is some food for thought, Biden and Newsom's claims about oil-industry profiteering ring hollow. When they said, for instance, that “Exxon made more money than God,” they neglected to mention that the company had actually lost $22 billion in 2020. Such amnesia is rife on the Left.
 
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A big part of the high price of gasoline in the West is that California has all but declared war on oil production and the refineries within that state. The Leftist government there has imposed tougher pollution standards than federally required. There is a carbon tax and cap and trade program that raises costs without doing anything to improve production.

The cost of operating these refineries is getting to the point where some are shutting down and others are considering it. Marathon oil has ended California production. Others, like Exxon Torrance CA, has reduced production to avoid onerous taxes the state imposes. The result is that oil prices rise and not just in California but in many adjoining states. All of this because California is acting like a bully and dictatorship.

Now, with gas in that state at $6 + a gallon, Gavin Newsome is trying to claim it isn't his or the Democrat's fault but rather the market itself.
 
Primavera said:
I haven't banned anyone but few replies thus far, I can only surmise that even the Left know the truth now.

Here is some food for thought, Biden and Newsom's claims about oil-industry profiteering ring hollow. When they said, for instance, that “Exxon made more money than God,” they neglected to mention that the company had actually lost $22 billion in 2020. Such amnesia is rife on the Left.
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No....they choose to live in fantasy.
 
talk about gaslighting

first it was 'putins price hike', which was thoroughly debunked

then it was trying to show that the biden admin was NOT hindering more drilling, which was debunked

now it's windfall profits of war ROFL...........I look forward to this being fleshed out
 
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