Ok Boomer: Trump Is Yelling About About Gas Prices On The Internet

Anybody who has ever spent thirty minutes trying to diagnose a lazy sensor knows that things don’t just fix themselves the second you clear the code.

The same basic logic applies to the macroeconomics of the corner gas station, though nobody seems to have explained that to the White House.

President Trump took to Truth Social this week to scream into the void about gas prices sitting at a national average of $3.86 a gallon, demanding that retailers magically drop that figure down to $2.50 immediately. His logic is simple enough on the surface, if a bit detached from how a supply chain actually breathes.

“Gasoline Retailers must get their Prices down, IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote. “They’re too high considering that Oil is now at $68 a Barrel, and heading south. The Retailers must quickly react to this statement, and do what they know is right — DROP YOUR PRICE FOR OUR GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE!”

West Texas Intermediate crude spiked toward $120 a barrel when the shooting started with Iran earlier this year, but it has since tumbled back down to the high sixties. In the president’s mind, if the raw stuff is cheaper, the liquid in your tank should instantly mirror the drop, and because it hasn't, he's threatening "big problems" and accusing local stations of illegal "gauging." He even threw a jab at California, claiming their state taxes will soon cost more than the fuel itself.

The trouble is, the guys running the local Shell or Exxon franchise aren't the ones pulling the levers on global commodity markets. When oil plummeted, those station owners were still stuck holding inventory they bought when prices were high, and nobody sells product at a loss just to be a nice guy.

Margins on actual fuel at the retail level are notoriously thin anyway; most of these guys make their real money on stale coffee, energy drinks, and bags of ice. Last week, Trump claimed he told the Department of Justice to investigate the big oil firms for price gouging, but threatening local gas stations to drop prices by over a buck a gallon by decree ignores the lag time built into refining, transport, and inventory cycles.

Gas has actually dropped from its four-week-ago peak of nearly $4.40, so the downward trend is happening, just not at the breakneck speed required for a political win ahead of the midterms.

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