According to American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in California stands around $4.719 per gallon on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record on Nov. 27. That’s higher than the national average, which stands around $3.52, an increase of more than 40% since the same time last year when it was $2.505 a gallon.
High pump prices are driven by a number of factors, from geopolitical risk premium over Russia-NATO tensions, to Biden admin energy policies, and globally tight supplies amid an emerging demand as COVID’s effects fade.
A terrified Biden administration has already orchestrated a crude dump from strategic reserves, an initiative joined by allies worldwide, but such a ploy has failed. Rising pump prices have become a liability for Biden as polling data slump to a new low ahead of midterms. Democrats are in panic mode as they pitch a “federal gas tax holiday” to alleviate pump prices.