INTERNATIONAL: U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday has acknowledged his administration's international and domestic efforts to tackle inflation and high gasoline prices, promising Americans a dropped in prices at the pump 'before long.”
He says he wants to address another challenge that families are facing, and the one he is thinking they are most focused on right now, is high gas prices. This is one of the major problems, not just in the United States, but around the world.
The Democratic president has announced what he called the largest-ever release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost domestic supplies, in coordination with other countries. The White House is also probing possible illegal conduct by oil and gasoline companies that it says are keeping gas prices artificially high.
The fact is the price of oil is already dropping prior to Biden’s announcement.The price of gasoline in the wholesale market has fallen by about 10 percent over the last few weeks. Gas supply companies are paying less and making a lot more.
Disruptions related to the pandemic have caused challenges in the supply chain, which has sparked concern about shortages and contributed to higher prices. United States is experiencing the strongest economic recovery in the world, even after accounting for inflation, its economy is bigger.
Biden's administration along with the Federal Reserve had described sharp spikes in inflation earlier this year as transitory, but pressure for action has grown as the price surges have continued into the fall.
The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported earlier this month that U.S. consumer prices in October posted their biggest annual gain in 31 years, driven by large jumps in the cost of gasoline and other goods.
Biden has acknowledged the pain Americans were feeling, but said his administration was working to clear logjams in supply chains, speed up work at U.S. ports and work with retailers to ensure that store shelves were stocked in time for the winter holidays.
The White House on Tuesday announced plans to release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain to cool prices after producers in the OPEC+ group repeatedly ignored calls for more crude. Biden also took aim at companies that he said were making record profits while failing to pass savings along to consumers.
Biden last week has said there was mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies that is keeping fuel prices elevated, asking the Federal Trade Commission to dig deeper into possible "illegal conduct" in the market.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday also highlighted the administration's call for the Federal Maritime Commission to ensure free and fair competition and prevent "outsized profits" for ocean carriers, saying new data showed companies in that sector made nine times more in profits in the third quarter compared to last year.
