The Atlantic

Three Theories for Why Gas Prices Are So High

The White House can’t fix one of its biggest political liabilities until it figures out the problem.
Source: David McNew / Getty

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In the past few months, Democrats have rediscovered one of the oldest ideas in politics: Nobody likes when prices go up.

In January, inflation rose faster than it has in almost 40 years. But not all prices are rising evenly. Oil is playing an outsize role in the surge. Gasoline and jet-fuel prices have reached their highest levels since 2014. Rising oil prices alone can account for nearly 30 percent of the “excess” inflation that the United States has seen since the pandemic began, according to the financial journalist Matthew C. Klein.

Unsurprisingly, these statistics are bad news for the White House. The ups and downs of President Joe Biden’s disapproval rating . Gasoline is, after all, the ur-commodity,the only product whose prices are advertised on big signs by the side of the highway. But these numbers undercount the extent of

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