Jeff Bezos is arguing with the White House about why gas prices are soaring, as the world’s second-richest person voiced opposition to a tweet from President Joe Biden calling on fuel companies to cut prices.
Bezos objected to a July 2 tweet from Biden that said “the companies that run gas stations and set prices at the pump.”[b]Lower the price you charge at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product. And do it now.”
In response to Biden’s letter, Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has targeted companies that blame the president.
“Oops! Inflation is an extremely important problem for the White House to keep making statements like this,” Bezos wrote on Twitter. “It’s either a direct misdirection or a profound misunderstanding of fundamental market dynamics.”
Gas prices settled at an average of $4.80 a gallon on Monday, or 53% higher than a year earlier, according to the AAA. The rise in prices at the pump is due to a A number of economic and political issuesstarting with fuel demand rising as Americans begin to drive again into Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to experts.
The White House issued a response to Bezos’ criticism, with White House Press Secretary Karen Jean-Pierre noting a gap between oil prices and the cost of gasoline at the pump.
“Oil prices are down about $15 over the past month, but prices at the pump have barely gone down. This is not ‘basic market dynamics’,” she wrote in a tweet. “It’s a market that is failing the American consumer.”
“But I think it’s no surprise that you think that oil and gas companies are using market power to drive record profits at the expense of the American people is the way our economy is supposed to function,” she added.
Meanwhile, gas prices have fallen from a high of $5.02 a gallon on June 14, according to the AAA. This is partly due to Americans consuming less gasoline, a decline as their budgets have been hit by higher gas prices.
This is not the first time that Bezos has quarreled with the White House over inflation. In May, Bezos Blame it on the president For the biggest rise in inflation in four decades, he described the price hike as a “regressive tax that hurts the richest”.
