Biden’s Energy Crisis Will Get Even Worse

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Posted: Aug 19, 2022 12:01 AM

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Over the past year, Americans have been hit with surging gasoline prices, which have fallen from their high but are up 20% from a year ago, and rising utility bills. Because of energy prices and other inflation, real disposable per capita incomes are down 7.3% from a year ago. Essentially, you are working a year for just 11 months of purchasing power.As bad as it is here and now, we face the potential for a prolonged energy crisis, and the Biden Administration and his European counterparts apparently lack the resolve to take action. In the end, it will be the American people, who pay the price.  After invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has reduced the gas he sends to Europe to a trickle—just 20% of normal volumes. This has left Europe, namely Germany and Italy, scrambling for energy, unsure if they will have enough gas to heat their homes this winter. This we must note is a crisis of Europe’s own choosing. Germany opted to close nuclear and coal plants—decisions it is now reversing in its effort to source any energy it can—leaving it beholden to Putin.Worse, in 2010, Europe produced twice as much natural gas as it imported from Russia; last year, it imported twice as much from Ru …