It's no secret that Americans are paying record prices at the gas pumps.  Rapidly ascending prices also affect the cost of all the goods and services that are an integral part of the American economy.  Farmers, manufacturers, delivery companies, repair people...you name it: they're paying more to do their jobs, and they're passing those costs to consumers.  So why now, of all times, is the Biden administration selling off America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to Asia?

As the name suggests, the SPR is America's emergency backup supply of oil.  The reason we have it is because of the energy crisis in the early 1970s.  According to Wikipedia, which is probably accurate about this, "[t]he United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973–1974 oil embargo, to mitigate future supply disruptions."

Fast-forward to 2021.  Upon entering the Oval Office, one of the first things Biden did was to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline.  Henceforth, rather than flowing safely through a pipeline, Canadian oil will come the expensive way, over land, whether in trucks (which are in short supply) or on trains.

At the same time, Biden halted new oil, gas, and coal leases on federal lands, something that's being fought in the courts.  As long as the suit continues, no sane business would start to drill.

Biden's also on the verge of ending all new oil and gas leases around major Native American cultural sites, which will shut down massive amounts of exploration and drilling in New Mexico.  And following initial denials, the administration admitted that it plans to close a major Michigan pipeline.

No wonder gas pumps across America are blooming with Biden stickers like this one:

Image: Internet meme.  Source unknown.

Practically overnight, America went from oil independence and being a net oil exporter to suffering shortages and, as noted, rising prices.  When asked about the problem, Biden risibly blamed OPEC and Russia. Meanwhile, Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary, simply cackled maniacally and claimed that the administration was helpless.

Biden is now under pressure to tap the SPR to relieve some of the pressure on fuel prices.  (Again, remember that Biden birthed this problem by squashing American fuel production, thereby creating the shortage.  There's also the little matter of his administration working with Congress to print money like rolls of toilet paper — except that toilet paper is more useful than inflationary dollars.)  Even Chuckie Schumer wants to lower prices by chipping away at our SPR emergency supply, despite our having vast, untapped resources beneath American land.

It turns out that Biden is already tapping into the SPR; he's just not doing it to help Americans.  A report in investment circles is finally trickling down into the mainstream news: Biden is selling massive amounts of SPR oil...to Asia!

According to Bloomberg/Quint:

About 1.6 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve — a monthly record — was shipped out in October, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler.

All three supertankers went to Asia.

"Given the ongoing pace of the current SPR release — 12 million barrels in the last two months and the biggest weekly release so far last week at 3.1 million barrels — it's fair to assume more SPR barrels are going to leave U.S. shores in the weeks ahead," said Matt Smith, an oil analyst at Kpler.

As far as I can tell, the administration has not explained why, with Americans struggling to keep up with rising fuel prices, it's shipping our SPR to Asia.  During the virtual meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping, the two men allegedly discussed releasing oil from both countries' petroleum reserves but made no mention of the sales to Asia that already took place.

It's becoming clearer daily that there is a clown in the White House, but it's not a cute, loving clown like Bozo (although I always found him kind of creepy).  Instead, we're being led by the political equivalent of the Joker from the D.C. Comics, a mad man who wants to burn it all down.

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