By John Custodio
Gas prices were higher than normal recently, and I saw an increase in stickers with President Joe Biden pointing with the caption “I did that!” placed on a few stations around the 518 and 315. While I am no Biden supporter, being a Bernie guy or a Green party supporter, it is idiotic to blame the United States president for something he did not do. Throughout human history, it has not been a white versus black, conservative versus liberal or Republican versus Democrat conflict. It is, always has and always will be, a rich versus poor conflict.
It is ironic to blame the United States president on an issue impacting the entire world, especially other first world countries experiencing even higher gas prices than the U.S. According to CNN’s international money section comparing gas prices, the Netherlands has the highest average cost per gallon in USD, with over $6. The United Kingdom is close, alongside Norway, Italy and Denmark averaging around $5.90. Is Biden the president there? Is Biden the ruler of the oil corporations and conglomerates? Again, I am not defending Biden but place the burden where it belongs, on the greedy corporations hell-bent on stripping the earth so they can get another mega-yacht.
For a car-dependent country, the U.S. sends much of its oil overseas. The Keystone XL pipeline, touted as the solution to the gas price change and the fault of Biden for its abandonment, would send its oil to refineries in the U.S., but the oil would be mostly sent overseas. Corporate greed does not care about the average American, because there is no incentive to. A forest has no monetary value until it is cut down, so modern oil barons have no reason to care what happens to the environment unless it makes them a profit. Similarly, these are not the people that would be hurt if the pipeline leaked into drinking water of the already-damaged poor and Indigenous communities it would flow through.
To stop helping the rich get richer, the United States. must invest more in public transportation like cross-country rail lines and more accessible local transportation. Do not be fooled by the rich into thinking Biden is the enemy of the average person when in reality, modern oil barons that aim to take as much as they can from this world are.
