The third-richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, rekindled his spat with the White House over the weekend when he slammed President Joe Biden for urging corporations who own gas stations to cut their pricing.
In a tweet on Saturday, Biden requested that the firms drop gasoline prices, which have risen to around $5 per gallon in many areas of the country, claiming that “this is a time of war and global peril,”
Soon after, Bezos tweeted: “Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics.”
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, refuted Bezos’ allegation on Sunday, claiming that while gas prices had scarcely changed over the previous month, oil prices had decreased by around $15 per barrel.
This year, gas prices in the US hit record highs. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of normal petrol reached $4.81 on Sunday, up from $3.12 the previous year.
If the upcoming storm season significantly disrupts US oil refineries, prices may increase much more, a sector expert said last month.
In addition to blaming oil firms for artificially limiting supplies by refusing to drill on leasing locations authorized by the federal government, the Biden administration has attempted to attribute a large portion of the responsibility to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conflict.
As Biden continues to attempt to place the blame for record-high gas prices somewhere in advance of the November elections, Bezos has emerged as an unusual opponent of the Biden administration.
Over the last year, Biden has placed the blame for the highest-ever gas prices in US history on former President Donald Trump, MAGA Republicans, the coronavirus epidemic, oil producing corporations, and even gas stations. Russia and its ongoing conflict with Ukraine have also received criticism.
Bezos and the White House previously fought over growing inflation, which the White House attempted to attribute to big businesses like Bezos’ Amazon.
