OPINION:
Things that don’t kill you make you stronger, it is said. On the other hand, some of those things that don’t kill you can make you deathly ill. President Biden has used his high office to promote economic competition while deliberately pulling the plug on the U.S. economy’s key source of energy. His war on fossil fuels, undertaken in the name of “climate change,” isn’t one of those things that will make America stronger. Forcing the nation to depend on adversaries for its power can only place its economic future in doubt.
With customary White House fanfare, Mr. Biden signed an executive order last week titled “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” The president said: “The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition — that means that if your companies want to win your business, they have to go out and they have to up their game; better prices and services; new ideas and products.” What’s not to like about that?
At the same time, the president’s Democratic Party is crusading for an infrastructure spending bill that would mandate a 100 percent carbon-free electricity nationwide by 2035. With petroleum, natural gas and coal providing 79 percent of the nation’s energy in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Biden and Co. are hoping to expel the entire fossil fuel industry from the energy production sector. Some “open and fair competition.”
Moreover, while Mr. Biden squeezes off the future of domestic energy production — killing the Keystone XL pipeline and canceling new oil and gas drilling permits on federal land – he effectively promotes increased production abroad in hopes of mitigating U.S. gasoline prices that have soared into the stratosphere.
The average cost of a gallon has reached $3.16 — 44 percent higher than 12 months ago and the highest in seven years. Assuredly, a deal reached Wednesday by OPEC nations to boost oil production modestly is greeted with relief in the White House. The EIA forecasts crude oil per barrel to hold around $72 during the remainder of the year, though, so steep pump prices are expected to bedevil drivers for the foreseeable future.
With uncanny timing, Mr. Biden’s State Department has also chosen this moment to lift economic sanctions on Iranian oil revenues held in South Korea and Japan. It represents a step toward allowing the Islamic regime to resume its international oil trade that President Trump targeted in order to force Iran’s denuclearization.
The overarching motto of the Biden administration is “Build back better.” Promoting competition, he says, is the key to “ensuring long-term growth.” He is correct, of course, but it’s fair to ask: Which nation is he intending to build back better? Oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran?
Mr. Biden’s fuel flapdoodle sets the United States back on the path to dependency on hostile nations. It is the very definition of un-American.
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