U.S. gas prices are soaring again, posing another challenge to an inflation problem the Federal Reserve has battled over the past year and President Joe Biden claimed is all under control thanks to the much-touted “Bideonomics.”
The national average gallon of gas traded at $3.89 last week, its highest level since October 2022, according to the latest figures supplied by the AAA.
The pump price shows a variation across the country with some of the steepest jumps in Midwestern states, while in Washington state and California, prices have reached an average of $5 and $5.07 a gallon, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Michigan’s average gasoline price set a new high for 2023 on Monday, hitting $3.76 a gallon for regular unleaded, an increase of nine cents from last week, the AAA figures show.
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The least expensive gas is in Mississippi, where the average price is $3.33 a gallon.
Gas demand decreased slightly from 8.94 million to 8.84 million barrels a day, according to new data from the Energy Information Administration as cited by the outlet.
The surge in gas costs to a nine-month high follows a 20 percent jump in global crude prices this summer, after Saudi Arabia and Russia slashed supply, the Financial Times reports.
The move has revived predictions of $100 a barrel oil this year — and new worries about the political fallout for the Biden White House.
“The White House is in full-blown panic mode,” Bob McNally, head of Washington-based consultancy Rapidan Energy Group and a former adviser to president George W Bush, told the FT.
“Any sitting president is threatened when pump prices go up because of the impact on consumer confidence and the president’s approval rating.”
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The latest U.S. pump price increases include diesel, a crucial input cost for industrial and agriculture sectors, and come as hopes rise that the Federal Reserve can engineer a soft landing for the economy after months of interest rate rises to quell inflation.
Biden has spent recent weeks touting his “Bidenomics” citing a cooling of inflation and record job creation as he readies his 2024 reelection campaign, and the latest gas prices will do nothing to enhance his self-proclaimed narrative of economic competence.
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