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Economic Survey

Are oil companies price gouging us?

Ed Yardeni Ed Yardeni · · 1 min read
Are oil companies price gouging us?

Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks so. Earlier this month, she tweeted that she gets "supply and demand." She also acknowledged that "Putin's war is causing gas prices to rise." But she still accused oil companies of gouging as evidenced by their rising profit margins.

So she wants to impose a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. President Jimmy Carter did that with the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980. A 2009 Congressional Service report concluded that the result was less domestic production, more dependence on foreign oil, higher prices at the pump, and negligible tax revenue.

Ed Yardeni
Ed Yardeni

Dr Ed Yardeni is the President of Yardeni Research, Inc., a provider of global investment strategies and asset-allocation analyses and recommendations.