Expert Analysis: As Gas Prices Skyrocket, Biden Unveils New Plan–Blame Putin

Sputnik News spoke with Dr. Jack Rasmus, who says Biden’s new “Putin Price Hike” catchphrase is unlikely to keep Democrats from getting “slaughtered” in the midterms.

On Tuesday, the price of a gallon of gas became the most expensive in US history. There’s little question gas prices will continue to climb, leaving no end in sight to the gauging at the gas pump. So as President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports he returned to a familiar tactic that’s served him well throughout his career: Blame the Russians. When asked Tuesday if he had a message for the American people about gas prices, Biden responded simply: “They’re going to go up.”

“Can’t do much right now,” he added. “Russia is responsible.”

In an effort to shift the blame over the US government’s decision to reduce the supply of gasoline available to working Americans, the White House is deploying a new catchphrase to reinforce the narrative, repeatedly dubbing the increase in cost as a “Putin price hike.”

And as the US continues its efforts to keep Russian fuel out of European homes and cars too, the White House will continue to push angry voters to blame Russia for their ever-ballooning cost of living.

However, according to economist Dr. Jack Rasmus–who spoke with Sputnik News via telephone–Biden simply “doesn't have much else he can say.”

“The Republicans and even some Democrats put him in a box, forced him to cut Russian oil exports, 700,000 barrels a day. And if he didn't, they're going to blame him for all the civilian deaths. So what can he do? Play the blame game.”

It remains to be seen how voters respond to such a strategy in midterm elections, what’s not in doubt is that the financial crunch US politicians appear to have intentionally foisted on their own voters is only expected to worsen.

Corporate media outlets have been predictably quick to leap to the President’s defense. “Record High Gas Prices: Why Joe Biden is Not To Blame,” said an MSNBC headline. “Republicans Wrongly Blame Biden for Rising Gas Prices,” reads another in the New York Times. In an apparent bid to head off voter resentment, Biden announced the release of 90 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the course of the year. Brian Deese, the director of the White House's National Economic Council, told Yahoo Finance Live on Wednesday that the administration is “making sure customers are not taken advantage of.”

But Dr. Rasmus says they’re doing precisely the opposite.

“he could release hundreds of billions of barrels. But is he going to do that? No–because the oil companies all want to keep the price up. They're reaping superprofits. They love this and they expected this.”

And higher gas prices could be just the beginning, Rasmus warns.

“It’s not just oil–Congress is going to continue going after and blocking other Russian imports, particularly nickel, palladium, wheat, and so forth.”

But while the US decision to seek to eliminate the world’s third-largest oil producer from the global supply continues to cause working Americans agony at the gas pump, Rasmus says “the corporations and the capitalists” are living large.

He says he doesn’t “think it’s a coincidence” the Ban Russian Energy Imports Act was co-sponsored by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski–the number one and number three top recipients of energy industry campaign contributions.

“These are people who are in the pockets of the energy industry… They're going to push for opening up more offshore drilling more on federal land drilling. And they may even try to reopen the [Keystone XL] pipeline. They’re going to push for everything while the iron’s hot.”

All in all, the situation for working Americans is looking increasingly bleak in light of the US push to eliminate Russian oil exports.

“These oil prices aren’t going to come down at the pump either,” Rasmus warns. “We're paying like six and a half dollars a gallon in Northern California… that's not ever going to get down below five again. They’ll keep it up there.”

Between shocking fuel cost increases, inflation, and the surge in price for many consumer goods, those coming out on top are–unsurprisingly–not those at the bottom.

“And that's just a massive income redistribution going on from, you know, from the average consumer, worker, to the oil companies. Massive income redistribution.”

But with anti-Russian propaganda hitting a fever pitch in mainstream media, “No one's saying that,” laments Rasmus.

“They don't want to touch that.”