It's a Gas, Gas, Gas

Understanding how crucial it is that Americans have relatively cheap gasoline in plentiful quantities before Labor Day at the latest, President Biden directed the government to release 180 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve - a third of its capacity.

Can it work?  Well, this is the largest release from the reserve ever attempt.  And it could being down gas prices to the point where people stop bitching about it on Twitter while accepting the fact that gas still isn't as cheap as it used to be.  But it could be cheap enough.  And by the way, even in the worst of times, America still least the least expensive gasoline in the world because other industrialized countries don't subsidize gasoline to the extent that we do.  Many countries, in fact, don't subsidize it at all.  Because while the United States encourages people to drive all of the time (hence, suburban sprawl) while governments of other countries encourage people to drive only some of the time (hence, better public transit and also cars with ride and handling that don't feel like oatmeal).   

Yes, I've gone on and on and on and on and on and on - and on - about this subject in this piece of bandwidth, but I feel I must continue to do so when the situation calls for it.  And the truth is, President Biden  has to do what's politically expedient.  He can't tell Americans that they simply can't use as much as  gasoline as they've gotten used to consuming and that we have to live differently.  After all, President Jimmy Carter did just that prior to the 1980 presidential election, and we all know how that turned out!