Bezos Slams Biden Over Call for Lowering of Gas Prices

Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos criticized a tweet from US President Joe Biden calling for oil executives to reduce gasoline prices.

Bezos was responding to Biden’s criticism of companies running gas stations and setting prices for consumers. “This is a time of war and global peril,” the president tweeted on Saturday. “Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

Bezos tweeted on Saturday night: “Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics.”

The national average for gas was at $4.812 on Sunday, according to AAA, near the record-high of $5.016 set last month.

Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics. https://t.co/XgKfEICZpk

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 3, 2022

The White House took again to Twitter on Sunday to push back against Bezos. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the elevated prices are ‘not basic market dynamics.’ It’s a market that is failing the American consumer.”

Oil prices have dropped by about $15 over the past month, but prices at the pump have barely come down.

That’s not “basic market dynamics.” It’s a market that is failing the American consumer.

Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics. https://t.co/XgKfEICZpk

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 3, 2022

John Kirby, a senior National Security Council spokesman at the White House, said Biden has proposed measures, including at the Group of Seven summit, that could lower US gasoline prices and has freed oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“If everybody cooperates on this we can bring the price down by at least about a dollar a gallon,” Kirby said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Bezos has accused Biden of “misdirection” before. In May, the e-commerce executive hit back a tweet from the president saying inflation could be tamed by making wealthy corporations “pay their fair share.”

Biden has been criticizing oil and gas firms for making windfall profits. Gas and energy are a leading driver of inflation, posing a major political issue for Democrats with midterm elections only months away.

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