Oil Companies Want Free Market Capitalism

Until they run into trouble, corporations love to tout, and practice, free market capitalism, preferably completely unregulated.

I come from oil country, so does House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy. My hometown—Bakersfield, in Kern County CA—Kern County was once the top producer and has been a top three oil-producing county in the US as recently as 2014.

Both of us know he is lying when he blames: “These are President Biden’s prices.”

Petro Online, an oil industry news source, reports that on average it takes a month for oil to get pumped from the ground to complete the refining process (if it does not become part of reserves). I remember working on oil production equipment on September 11^th when my boss said, “you better fill up before the prices go up.” They did.

A rusty oil pump with a seascape in the background

On the House floor McCarthy says, “Democrats want to blame surging prices on Russia. But the truth is, their out-of-touch policies are why we are here in the first place.”

In reality, it’s simply laissez-faire piratical opportunism.