I likely gave a bad response to someone who was hoping Trump would make gas prices drop below $2.

But then someone later commented the 2nd image. Which feels very off. I wanted to respond but didn’t quite know how to put it into words. Any help? Or am I totally off base?

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1gldlga

by Aust191

11 comments

  1. You are correct. Oil is a world commodity, the US has very little impact on the price. There will be leopards eating faces for the foreseeable future.

  2. Anyone who says Presidents dont have any sway over the economy or market are just plain wrong. Policy decisions 100% impact both, yet they only take credit when both are moving in positive directions.

  3. Presidents can absolutely affect oil prices in short runs. For instance, the US oil industry was geared up to ramp production back up to pre-Covid levels by November 2020. They held back a little after Biden was elected (especially since he campaigned on throttling the industry), and then got even more cautious after he closed the XL pipeline and denied the drilling permits in Alaska.

    This actually was a benefit to the industry, as they started fielding new technologies that were more efficient without costing as much, and then Biden reversed his position and started issuing permits like candy on Halloween, but prices were held higher for a while due to these actions. Then unfettered drilling coupled with the technology advances caused by the beginning austerity led to a massive boost in production, allowing prices to drop. Since so much is traded in futures speculation, rhetoric and executive actions can shift prices.

  4. The US government has very little impact on pricing of oil because our oil makes up a small part of the world oil market. If it would be profitable for companies to drill more oil then they would do it. The government doesn’t force the companies to sell at a specific price, they decide the price and how much to drill.

  8. You are correct and the person who responded to you really isn’t worth responding back to. They have no idea what they’re talking about.

  9. People forget about Donald Trump calling the Saudis and telling them to raise prices.

  10. We shop for electric rates in my state. Locked in .929 for 3 years during Covid. Demand for power was down so prices reflected that.

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