WH Economic Adviser Boushey on People Driving Less Due to Gas Prices: We Need to See ‘Some Conservation’ — We Have Lowered Prices

On Friday’s broadcast of “Bloomberg Markets: The Close,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Heather Boushey responded to people decreasing the amount they drive due to high gas prices by stating that “one of the things we do need to see is some conservation,” gas prices have declined, and energy problems are global and caused by the war in Ukraine.

After Boushey said [relevant exchange begins around 23:35] that the Biden administration has had some “success” in lowering gas prices, co-host Caroline Hyde asked, “Success, but Heather, it’s come at a cost. … The gasoline prices got so high, the five dollars a gallon, which we’ve all seen, has stopped people [from] getting in their cars so much. And that has a ripple effect into the rest of the economy. We’re not talking about gasoline prices coming back so swiftly because they’re still so elevated, relatively speaking, and it’s because people are stopping to buy.”

Boushey responded, “Well, we are seeing prices come down. Let’s be very, very clear about that. But here’s the thing, right, we are in a global energy crisis. This is caused by Putin’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine, and that has led to a challenge in global oil markets. So, one of the things we do need to see is some conservation, but the president has been very focused on making sure that supplies are available, making sure that that can help keep prices coming down, which is what we’ve seen. So, I think we do need to focus though on the fact that we have seen 30 days — 37 straight days of lower gas prices.”

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