Illustration on America’s energy dependence by Alexander Hunter/The Washington TimesIn just 1,000 days, Green New Dealer in Chief Joe Biden has turned America’s strategic energy dominance into a strategic energy subservience that now gravely threatens our economic and national security. We now run the risk of prolonged stagflation and being drawn into wars in Ukraine, Israel, Iran and the Taiwan Strait.
That leverage, coupled with Mr. Trump’s jawboning of the Saudis, kept oil prices substantially below what they have been throughout the Biden regime. The resultant oil price shocks are increasing our inflation rate at a time when the U.S. already faces significant inflationary pressures. Higher oil prices also act as a tax on consumers and thereby reduce purchasing power, with collateral negative demand and growth effects. Higher oil prices likewise increase the cost of production and transportation for businesses, reducing output and growth through negative supply effects.
These economic risks pale in comparison with the national security risks from America’s increasing oil dependence and strategic energy subservience. With the price of oil now bouncing between $80 and $90, that’s an added $2 billion a month Iran has to both keep its regime afloat and finance attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia through proxies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Al-Mukhtar Brigades.