Drill, baby, drill

President Joe Biden announced that he is stopping all purchases of Russian energy imports, leading to some hardcore price gouging at gas stations nation-wide. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline is hovering at $4.252. Is this price shock enough to drive change? To push for electric vehicles and higher fuel economy ICE vehicles?

According to a great article on Vice around the high-gas-prices cycle, absolutley not:

The simple fact is that the best time to come up with long-term solutions for our overreliance on gas is when gas prices are low, not when we're in the middle of a crisis. And history has shown us that the scramble to solve problems only lasts as long as gas prices are high. When they inevitably drop again, we go back to buying SUVs and pickup trucks.

Weaning ourselves from the teat of fossil fuels is a matter of national security, and Russia's war in Ukraine has laid this bare. Consider that the U.S. only buys 3% of it's energy mix from Russia, and Presiden Biden's announcement to cut that off completely sent prices at the pump soaring, inflicing short- and medium-term pain on consumers. And it's not just Russia that needs a good weanin', it's the entire Middle East:

The media's role

U.S. media's carnage coverage of the price shock has been, predictably, bad.

Eric Boehlert of Press Run calls the media's breathless coverage with surging gas prices what it is: pure theatre that lets Oil Companies off the hook for price gouging consumers:

Worse, today’s reporting consistently lacks crucial context that lets giant oil companies off the hook. Instead of shining a spotlight on their behavior and the central role they play in increased prices by refusing to drill for more crude, the press whitewashes Big Oil from the story, and keeps its focus on the White House. In doing so, they miss a big story.

Absolutley bang-on correct.