Putin! Price gouging! Excess profit! Politicians blame the wrong things for record gas prices. Politicians say higher prices are caused by “corporate greed.” Nonsense. Greed is a constant. Companies are always greedy. They were just as greedy when prices dropped. “If big oil could raise prices anytime they wanted … then why were they so cheap in 2020?” asks Ben Lieberman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
He points out that the record price “all comes down to cutting back on supplies.” Exactly.
Prices change because of supply and demand. Politicians, pushed by environmental activists, have restricted oil production.