Who’s to Blame for High Gas Prices? (TCF Investigates)

Arjun Singh (0:00)

Hey, folks, it's senior podcast producer Arjun Singh. Before we start today's episode, I wanted to give you a quick heads up of what you're about to hear. Between now and the midterm election, my colleague Paul McLeod and I are co-hosting a special election series right here on TCF Investigates. Each week, we'll look at a different issue we've reported on and see how that's playing out in the midterms. So you're about to hear our first episode, and I hope that you enjoy it.

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Capitol Forum Investigates election special. I'm here in the studio with Senior Correspondent Paul McLeod. What we're doing here in this special is we're analyzing different issues that we've reported on here at the Capitol Forum and looking at how that's been playing out in the midterms. So in this episode, we're going to sit down with one of our reporters, Max Berengaut, to talk about the refinery capacity shortage that has been playing a big role in gas and oil prices right now. Paul, what have you been seeing about this issue? Gas prices is like a perennial thing in American politics, I feel like, but it seems especially acute right now as Democrats are putting blame on Trump for starting the Iran War. We're going to hear more about this refinery capacity shortage.

How have you seen this issue play out in the midterm so far?

Paul McLeod (1:17)

Well, Arjun, when I was driving to the office today, to get into the right headspace, I decided to fill my car up with gas, and that headspace is annoyed because it is high, and it is annoying every time you fill up your tank with gas. That is something that millions of people are experiencing every day. This has become one of the really signature issues of these midterms. Gas prices, but affordability more general, cost of living is top of mind for something like half of Americans.

Gas prices are just something you see a big sticker price on it, even if you're walking around, driving around, certainly every time you fill up your car. It is one of the biggest flash points of the broader affordability issue, and we can see that with how badly that Trump is trying now to find some way to curtail these prices to sort of rein back in all of this inflation that we've seen happen over the last year.

Arjun Singh (2:16)

You know, at the risk of sounding maybe a little aloof, but hopefully I am speaking for a segment of listeners who are also, you know, I live here in the middle of Washington, DC, urban resident. I don't drive a car, you know, I don't really need to take the car around the city, but I was a political reporter for a long time. Gas prices are something politicians talk a lot about, but they are something that really, really rile up people. I mean, I had a friend over the weekend, came to my apartment, and the first thing he talked about was how expensive the gas prices around my neighborhood were, in comparison to Maryland and to Virginia.

Why does the price of gasoline has such an emotional factor for people, and for drivers maybe?

Paul McLeod (3:00)

100 percent. Look, it's a talker issue, as you said. I mean, me and my wife talk about this every time we fill up the car. Jeez, that's expensive.

There's a long-standing feeling that people are getting ripped off. There's this long-standing feeling that the oil companies are overcharging people. I know my father has been saying this as long as I've been alive. He's convinced that this is something that is happening. So it's just a sore spot for people, especially as we've seen this year, when you're experiencing a substantial price hike. I mean, we're talking about the price of gas going up by a dollar a gallon. I mean, that's really meaningful. And then every time you fill up your car, you're going to notice that. And so these are exactly the type of like, I hate this term because it's pollsters use this, but like a kitchen table issue. I mean, people do sit around the kitchen table and talk about stuff like this.

Arjun Singh (3:51)

Well, in another episode, I sat down with Sasha Sloan to talk about memory chips, which on its surface sounds like an obscure issue, but it isn't when you talk about the microchips in all of the consumer electronics that people want to buy right at Christmas time, that every parent who has a kid screaming for the new Donkey Kong video game is probably rolling their eyes at the price increases there.