Earlier in his term, oil was very expensive in part because the pandemic caused oil investors to lose their shirts, in part because of the invasion of Ukraine, and in part because of OPEC fuckery.

Biden responded with SPR releases and caught a lot of shit for it. pic.twitter.com/e7YLeVNbLw

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022

Republicans wanted to make hay out of high gas prices but didn’t actually have a plan to do anything about it.

The SPR releases helped, US oil production continued to be high, and as we’ve seen prices started to moderate — it worked.https://t.co/PFNmFOGiEb

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022

By refilling now, the administration gets a good deal for the taxpayer.

This initial tranche is modest but it’s laying the groundwork for more purchases. That gives US producers price insurance and should continue to guarantee ongoing domestic production.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022

But more important than the specific dollars and cents of this one trade, Biden is laying the groundwork for a new vision of the SPR in a world where America — not Russia or Saudi Arabia — is the world’s top oil producer.

We can stabilize prices.https://t.co/15NSCF32DO pic.twitter.com/whwRRwWoQS

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022

Even as American transitions to cleaner energy, oil is going to be an important commodity for years to come and cycles of price spikes and collapses will continue to be economically harmful — Biden is seizing an opportunity to curb that boom-bust cycle and do tremendous good.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022

This is a brave new world of American energy and there’s no guarantee it will work.

But it’s been working so far and has a good chance of working for the longer term — a BFD as someone once said that may be underappreciated because it doesn’t serve a narrow ideological agenda.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 16, 2022