Recently, Newt Gingrich laid blame for rising gas prices at the feet of President Obama saying “The price of gasoline when Barack Obama became president was $1.89. All of this gigantic increase came from his policies.”
But the conservative
Wall Street Journal countered by saying:
“U.S. gasoline prices, like prices throughout the advanced economies, are determined by global market forces. It is hard to see how Mr. Obama’s policies can be blamed.”
"Mr. Gingrich ignores the basic fact about U.S. gas prices: They are largely fixed by the price of crude oil, which is determined by global supply and demand."
"When Mr. Obama was inaugurated, demand was weak due to the recession. But now it’s stronger, and thus the price is higher."
"What’s more, producing a lot of oil doesn’t lower the price of gasoline in your country. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Germans over the past three years have paid an average of $2.64 a gallon (excluding taxes), while Americans paid $2.69, even though the U.S. produced 5.4 million barrels of oil per day while Germany produced just 28,000."
In addition, the Koch Brothers funded
Cato Institute had this to say:
“Is President Obama responsible for spiraling price of gasoline? Republicans say yes, but the facts say no. Despite the popular perception of President Obama as anti-oil, domestic oil production is increasing for the first time since the Johnson administration…. Unfortunately, presidents get blamed for world market changes that occur during their time in office … but generally, they do not cause them."
