Economist and Echelon Wealth Partners co-founder Peter Schiff thinks President Donald Trump‘s move to probe oil companies and high gas prices is a socialist move, something which the latter criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris for.
Trump Advocating Socialism?
In a post on X on Thursday, Schiff said that Trump wanted the Department of Justice to “investigate oil companies for price-gouging consumers with high gas prices.”
However, the economist said that the President, during the run-up to the 2024 Presidential Election, had accused Harris of “advocating socialism” when she had accused grocery stores and supermarkets of price gouging food items. “He was right,” Schiff said.
Harris, in her campaign, had promised to ban price gouging on food items, as part of her economic plan to tackle inflation and lower costs for Americans.
“The bill will set rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers during times of crisis,” her campaign said.
Trump Directs DOJ To Probe High Costs
Trump directed the DOJ to launch an investigation into oil producers for failing to reduce gasoline prices in line with declining crude oil costs. "Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!" Trump wrote in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.
Economist Paul Krugman, following Trump’s comments, said that gas prices were falling like “feathers” following the agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Notably, Chevron Corp‘s (NYSE:CVX) Chief Financial Officer Eimear Bonner reassured people that gas prices would fall as the situation in the Middle East improves, but did not provide a timeline. Bonner said that the company expects prices to “come down as things continue to normalize.”
Gas Prices
The national average for a gallon of gas was at $3.9180 on Thursday, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA). However, prices remained above $5/gallon in states towards the Pacific, like California and Washington, with California gas costing $5.5080/gallon.
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