When Donald Trump blurted "Drill, Baby, Drill" at the CNN Town Hall debate, the crowd went wild. Remember?
QUESTION: "If elected President again what is the first thing you would do to help bring down costs to make things more affordable.
TRUMP: "Drill baby, drill"
U.S. energy independence and world energy dominance were key successes in Mr. Trump's first term.
There was virtually no inflation, interest rates were low and along with tax cuts and deregulation, the more abound Obama economy came to life for a few years. That was then, this is now. Joe Biden has waged war on fossil fuels for two and a half years, doing everything he can to shut down the spigots. So, inflation reemerged, rising 15%, energy up 33%, and grocery prices up nearly 20%.
Energy is not the only inflationary source, but Mr. Trump has the overall story basically right. Last night at the Sean Hannity Town Hall, the former President repeated his Biden attack. Take a listen:
US TRANSITION TO GREEN ENERGY WILL TAKE 'DECADES' PREDICTS CHEVRON EXEC: 'A ROLE FOR OIL AND GAS'
TRUMP: "So we were energy independent. Think of it three years ago and what people what people don't know is that we have I call it liquid gold, because it's gold. It's better than gold. We have liquid gold under our feet more than any other nation, more than Saudi Arabia, more than Russia. We're energy independent. Within six months we would have been energy dominant and we were going to sell energy to Europe and lots of other places and we're going to make so much money doing it because it's such a big world, you know, it's such a big business. It's all encompassing and that's what started the inflation. I mean, the energy we stopped drilling and all of a sudden gasoline's going up to five or $6 a gallon in a car."
It’s very hard to argue against any of that. Now here's the good news: Americans are rebelling against Biden's radical left, Green New Deal policies that have inflicted pain on the economy, jacked up inflation and caused real take home pay for middle-class, blue-collar working folks to decline for over 2 years straight.
A recent poll sponsored by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity shows that 79% agree we shouldn't make energy more expensive. Only 19% disagree. The same poll shows that 77% of respondents don't want to be forced into electric vehicles. Only 23% want an EV mandate and finally when asked how much would you personally be willing to pay each year to address global warming, the median response was $20.
Biden, of course, is spending trillions. Pollster Mike McKenna notes that all these responses are moving away from the Biden war against fossil fuels, but there's even some more good news. The scourge of ESG may be coming to an end. ESG is short for environmental, social and corporate governance. It is a left-wing rallying cry embodying radical climate change as well as far-left investment and even cultural issues.
At recent shareholder meetings for big oil, ESG supporters got whooped. At both the meetings for ExxonMobil and Chevron, shareholders defeated a bunch of proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, put out new reports on climate benchmarks, or disclose oil spill risks.
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Last year those proposals were very popular. ExxonMobil was forced to put 3 greenies on their board. Incidentally, similar climate proposals got beaten at the annual meetings in London for BP and Shell. Big investment companies like Vanguard and Blackrock have pulled back. SEC regulatory proposals that would practically dictate that companies run on the basis of climate are in disfavor.
A leading Federal Reserve Governor just made a hard-hitting speech saying the Fed's job is monetary and financial stability, not policing climate change. As the Russian war in Ukraine continues to rage, Europe is now changing its tune on fossil fuels making natural gas a legitimate and acceptable clean burning fuel. Let's hope that the tide is in fact turning because if it does, and common-sense policies are restored, America will be more prosperous with far less inflation.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the June 2, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."
