Gasoline Price up 244% Since Obama Sworn In

"I told you to buy a Chevy Volt. You just didn't listen!"

The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas in California, a state which publishes their weekly gas prices on their official state government website, have soared to a new high of $4.57 per gallon.

The current price represents a 244% increase over the price in January 2009, when President Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, was sworn in. During the 2008 election campaign, the President had vowed to reduce gas prices for Americans. It would be accurate to say he hasn't met that campaign pledge, and has in fact gone in the opposite direction more than doubling the cost for Americans.

Of course, the President really has no direct control over gasoline prices but he can initiate policies that will drive the price up or down. President Obama's policy of banning new drilling off the east and west coast, banning drilling in the Alaskan ANWR region, and banning the Keystone Pipeline have created a domestic shortage of oil which increases our need to import more.

Prices in Santa Monica yesterday, October 4, 2012

Also, his inflationary policy of devaluing our currency ("quantitative easing") encourages foreign oil suppliers to demand more dollars for their oil. After all, if you keep making your dollars cheaper they have no choice but to raise their prices.

Those prices on the chart above are average prices for unleaded regular gas in California. In some places the prices are much higher, and naturally the higher grades cost a lot more too.