Mediaite
CNBC’s Jim Cramer was among those criticizing President Joe Biden‘s accusatory letter to oil companies regarding gas prices on Wednesday, saying that this hearkens back to former President Jimmy Carter and the 1970s. Biden’s letter, here in full from Mediaite, attacked the oil industry over what he called an “unprecedented disconnect between the price of oil and the price of gas.” In addition to blaming the oil industry for record-high gas prices, Biden pointed the finger at “refinery profit margins.” “Your companies need to work with my Administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions,” Biden demanded. On CNBC, Cramer found the letter “worrisome.” “What’s worrisome to me is the president, our president — our president’s reaction is to send a letter to the oil companies saying you’re making too much money,” said Cramer. “And that is — that harks back to an era of Jimmy Carter, and the Jimmy Carter of, you know, the windfall tax.” “The president uniquely rebuffed the oil companies who wanted to produce more and instead is going to Saudi Arabia, which you call a pariah and a murder state,” Cramer said. Under Carter, America experienced an extraordinary period of long gas lines, fuel rationing, and high prices for energy The eventual windfall profits tax was repealed just eight years later, having served to raise gas prices rather than decrease them.
