In more normal times, an annual inflation rate of 8.5 percent would be catastrophic news. Right now, it might be greeted with sighs of relief. That rate, reported Wednesday morning by the federal Department of Labor in its consumer price index data for the month of July, is still miles above the Federal Reserve’s target […]
Last year, the Petaluma, California, city council banned the construction of new gas stations. Four other California cities have followed suit, and Los Angeles City Council member Paul Koretz wants that city to be next. He noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed banning the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035. “Given […]
Although gasoline prices have moderated slightly, President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders continue to level their usual attacks on the nation’s oil companies. They’re blaming corporate “greed” for the nearly $5-a-gallon prices that drivers must endure nationally, and proposing a host of predictable government “solutions.” In a letter to oil companies last month, Biden blamed Russian despot Vladimir […]
Prices were 9.1 percent higher in June than a year before, exceeding expectations and surging to a 41-year high. Department of Labor data released Wednesday morning showed that inflation picked up speed in June, rather than slowing. Prices rose by 1.3 percent during the month, up from a 1 percent increase in May. A sharp […]
When President Joe Biden chastises oil companies for profiteering, he evokes a J.R. Ewing–style caricature of a greasy, greedy executive sneering in a giant Stetson. Satisfying as it may be, this narrative is unmoored from economic reality. As with any other commodity, oil producers are price takers, not price makers; oil and gas shortages inevitably […]