Blame for pressure at the pumps doesn’t belong with the president

As of late, gas prices have been on the rise. Before people who like to blame President Biden for the increase of cost per gallon continue reading, just know this will not go over well for you.

No, Joe Biden is not at fault for the rise of gas prices. Putting aside how you feel about President Biden’s tenure as commander in chief, just know he is not to blame for these prices as much as people say he is.

Yes, gas prices are at an all time high since 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. They definitely aren’t low, which is fine.

The price per gallon started to fall in 2015, and hadn’t spiked above $3.00 until July of last year. Gas reached a low of $1.841 in April of 2020, the lowest since Feb. 2016. Now, think real hard about what was happening in April of 2020. The pandemic is a hard thing to forget, especially since it’s still hanging around.

At the beginning of COVID-19’s first venture in the U.S., an abundance of caution was taken, resulting in many many people working from home/losing their jobs. Most people were staying off the roads and in their houses, so of course it’s easy to see why gas was so low. The economy was hurting, and there was more supply than there was demand.

Now that the vaccine is out and herd immunity is stronger, there is more of a demand for gas, hence there being a spike.

There are a lot of factors that go into gas prices, but the main factor for the past two years isn’t Biden, it’s that pesky pandemic.

• By the Collegian editorial board

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