Most lefties won’t get past the title of this essay.
By Joseph VonDoloski
As a social studies teacher I feel it is my duty to explain to Americans why gas is so expensive today.
Politicians and evening news broadcasts love to tell you that the war in Iran is the sole reason gas prices are sky-high. This is a massive misconception that completely ignores history. ( the only thing we learn from history??….)
The truth is, the United States doesn't even buy oil from Iran. The war only caused a crisis because past government policies had already pushed our fuel system to the absolute edge.
Let me explain and ask you to consider
When a barrel of crude oil costs $103 today, you pay about $4.35 a gallon at the pump [Fortune]. But 15 years ago, when a barrel of oil cost that exact same $105, gas was only $3.51 a gallon.
So WHY is gas so much more expensive now for the exact same barrel of oil?
The United States is actually the largest oil producer in the entire world, pumping out record-breaking amounts of raw crude oil. But raw oil straight out of the ground is useless—you can't dump it into your car's gas tank. It has to go to a refinery to be cooked and cleaned into gasoline and diesel.
The PROBLEM is that past government administrations fundamentally broke the refining industry.
Over the last 30 years, Washington politicians passed massive, expensive environmental rules. They didn't directly order refineries to close, but they made running them so expensive that smaller, independent factories couldn't afford to stay open and went out of business.
On top of that, the government started offering huge tax-credit bribes to big oil companies if they stopped making regular fuel and switched to green biofuels instead.
ARE YOU FOLLOWING?
Because past governments squeezed the industry from both sides, America lost dozens of processing plants. The current remaining refineries are completely redlined, running at 98% capacity with absolutely zero backup plan!!
We have all the raw oil we could ever need, but because past government policies choked off our ability to refine it, those few remaining factories can charge a massive scarcity premium just to turn that cheap oil into gas.
Here’s who to be upset with:
Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
• The Rule: He passed strict new anti-smog rules that forced factories to make special, complicated fuel mixes for big cities.
• What Happened: Changing the factories was way too expensive. Giant oil companies could afford it, but dozens of smaller, neighborhood gas factories couldn't afford the upgrades and had to close down forever.
George W. Bush (2001–2009)
• The Rule: He made a law forcing oil companies to mix billions of gallons of corn juice (ethanol) into regular gasoline.
• What Happened: Instead of spending money to build bigger, better oil factories, companies had to spend billions of dollars building special blending tanks and shipping networks just for corn ethanol.
Barack Obama (2009–2017)
• The Rule: He passed aggressive rules forcing factories to clean out almost all the sulfur from gasoline and track all their greenhouse gases.
• What Happened: This created another massive bill for the industry. More small, independent factories couldn't afford the multi-million dollar price tag to meet the new laws, so they shut down or sold out to giant corporations.
Joe Biden (2021–2026)
• The Rule: He pushed heavily for electric cars and offered giant tax-money rewards (bribes) to companies that made green energy instead of oil.
• What Happened: Oil bosses realized they could make way more money collecting government checks by switching to green fuels. They actively chose to dismantle major traditional gas factories and rebuild them into green biofuel plants, taking massive amounts of regular gas and diesel off the market right before the global crisis hit.
When Bill Clinton took office, the United States had 179 operational petroleum refineries.
Today, that number has dropped to 130 operational refineries in the USA.
This represents a total net loss of 49 physical refining plants over the last thirty years.
That is why you are paying so much for gas!!
And now you know… the rest of the story.
By Joseph VonDoloski
As a social studies teacher I feel it is my duty to explain to Americans why gas is so expensive today.
Politicians and evening news broadcasts love to tell you that the war in Iran is the sole reason gas prices are sky-high. This is a massive misconception that completely ignores history. ( the only thing we learn from history??….)
The truth is, the United States doesn't even buy oil from Iran. The war only caused a crisis because past government policies had already pushed our fuel system to the absolute edge.
Let me explain and ask you to consider
When a barrel of crude oil costs $103 today, you pay about $4.35 a gallon at the pump [Fortune]. But 15 years ago, when a barrel of oil cost that exact same $105, gas was only $3.51 a gallon.
So WHY is gas so much more expensive now for the exact same barrel of oil?
The United States is actually the largest oil producer in the entire world, pumping out record-breaking amounts of raw crude oil. But raw oil straight out of the ground is useless—you can't dump it into your car's gas tank. It has to go to a refinery to be cooked and cleaned into gasoline and diesel.
The PROBLEM is that past government administrations fundamentally broke the refining industry.
Over the last 30 years, Washington politicians passed massive, expensive environmental rules. They didn't directly order refineries to close, but they made running them so expensive that smaller, independent factories couldn't afford to stay open and went out of business.
On top of that, the government started offering huge tax-credit bribes to big oil companies if they stopped making regular fuel and switched to green biofuels instead.
ARE YOU FOLLOWING?
Because past governments squeezed the industry from both sides, America lost dozens of processing plants. The current remaining refineries are completely redlined, running at 98% capacity with absolutely zero backup plan!!
We have all the raw oil we could ever need, but because past government policies choked off our ability to refine it, those few remaining factories can charge a massive scarcity premium just to turn that cheap oil into gas.
Here’s who to be upset with:
Bill Clinton (1993–2001)• The Rule: He passed strict new anti-smog rules that forced factories to make special, complicated fuel mixes for big cities.
• What Happened: Changing the factories was way too expensive. Giant oil companies could afford it, but dozens of smaller, neighborhood gas factories couldn't afford the upgrades and had to close down forever.
George W. Bush (2001–2009)• The Rule: He made a law forcing oil companies to mix billions of gallons of corn juice (ethanol) into regular gasoline.
• What Happened: Instead of spending money to build bigger, better oil factories, companies had to spend billions of dollars building special blending tanks and shipping networks just for corn ethanol.
Barack Obama (2009–2017)• The Rule: He passed aggressive rules forcing factories to clean out almost all the sulfur from gasoline and track all their greenhouse gases.
• What Happened: This created another massive bill for the industry. More small, independent factories couldn't afford the multi-million dollar price tag to meet the new laws, so they shut down or sold out to giant corporations.
Joe Biden (2021–2026)• The Rule: He pushed heavily for electric cars and offered giant tax-money rewards (bribes) to companies that made green energy instead of oil.
• What Happened: Oil bosses realized they could make way more money collecting government checks by switching to green fuels. They actively chose to dismantle major traditional gas factories and rebuild them into green biofuel plants, taking massive amounts of regular gas and diesel off the market right before the global crisis hit.
When Bill Clinton took office, the United States had 179 operational petroleum refineries.
Today, that number has dropped to 130 operational refineries in the USA.
This represents a total net loss of 49 physical refining plants over the last thirty years.
That is why you are paying so much for gas!!
And now you know… the rest of the story.
