• FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        Shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline and restricting domestic oil leases almost immediately increased the price of gas by 20 or so cents.

          • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            9 months ago

            Making gas more expensive to produce will drive up the price you pay at the pump. It’s not that difficult to understand, is it?

            • Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              9 months ago

              That’s not price gouging though is it you dumb fuck? Have you even read the fucking article? It’s always hilarious when an absolute buffoon tries to be ironic.

              • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                9 months ago

                Alright, while your crude behavior doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence about your receptivity for reason and evidence, let’s take a look how Biden actually defines “price gouging”:

                “Any corporation that has not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as the supply chains have been rebuilt, it’s time to stop the price gouging”

                This is either another one of his classic faux pas, or it’s used as a propaganda term here, because on closer examination, this sentence reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between prices and inflation. Stay with me here, and I’ll explain why, but I’m afraid it’s going to require just a little of high school math.

                Inflation is defined as the rate that prices rise, i.e. higher inflation = prices rise faster, lower inflation = prices rise slower. Read that last part again, because that means specifically that lower inflation does not mean prices go down. It means they go up more slowly. In order for prices to actually go down, inflation would have to be negative, which it currently isn’t. Hence, Biden is either making a mathematical error here, or he is deliberately misleading people about the nature of the relationship between prices and inflation.

                There you go, I hope that was clear enough. Now feel free to continue your verbal abuse, but I think it’s amply clear who’s the buffoon here.

      • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        Sending hundreds of billions of dollars to fight the war in Ukraine, for instance.

        What, you thought we actually HAD hundreds of billions of dollars? They’re all just printed from thin air and added to the national debt, and then inflation goes up as a result of the increased money supply.

        • kase@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          Could you share where you got your number? The most recent source I found on google showed $44.2 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the invasion began. From what I can tell this doesn’t include other humanitarian aid, so I wonder if that makes up the difference?

          Whatever the case, if you have more info I’d appreciate it if you could share

          • FrenLivesMatter@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            9 months ago

            Hm, I was under the impression there recently was a package of $100 billion being discussed, but it appears that at least some of that money was supposed to go to Israel, not to Ukraine, and I’m not entirely sure if it ever made it through the house.

            As far as what’s already been spent, the BBC has reported a total of $46.6 billion as of February 21 this year, and the Council of Foreign Relationships claims a total of $76.8 billion, of which the aforementioned $46.6 billion constitute the direct military aid.

            Of the bill mentioned in the first paragraph, $61 billion would supposedly go to Ukraine, so if passed, this would definitely bring the total to over $100 billion. So I regretfully admit to having slightly exaggerated my figures for dramatic effect, and humbly beg for your forgiveness, but least I only missed the mark by a single order of magnitude, and we’re still somewhere in the right ballpark.