Second Day of the Zenith, 19th of Spring, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): The price per gallon of petroleum and gasoline are skyrocketing due to the Stable Genius' war in Iran. The average estimated price in the U.S. is now $3.91/gallon and rising.  "Yeah," the online trolls on antisocial media say, "but it's still cheaper than it was under Obama."

I looked it up. Surprise, surprise, they're not right, but they're also not quite as wrong as I had thought they'd be. 

In 2008, the last year of George Bush's presidency, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was $3.27/gal, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Due to the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, the price dropped by almost a dollar to $2.35/gal in Obama's first year in office (2009). During the subsequent years, the price rose back up to $3.64 in 2012, and I remember Newt Gingrich campaigning for President carrying a five-gallon gas tank around with him everywhere he went to remind voters of the cost of oil. During Obama's second term, the price dropped down to $3.36 in 2014, and then in 2015 and 2016, the oil market crashed due to a global oversupply of petroleum, and the price of gasoline fell all the way down to $2.10 by Obama's last year. I didn't hear Gingrich commenting on that.

So, in summary, during the Obama years of 2009-2016, the average price for a gallon of gasoline was $2.10 to $3.64, with an average cost of $2.93/gal, which is less than the current $3.91, even at its peak. The trolls are wrong. 

During the Stable Genius' first term, the price of gasoline stayed below $2.64/gal, and then fell all the way to $2.17 during the covid pandemic of 2020 due to low demand.  

In 2022, during Biden's presidency, Putin invaded Ukraine, upsetting European supply lines and causing a global panic. The price of gasoline shot up to $3.97/gal that year before settling back down to $3.30 in Biden's last year (2024). So the MAGA trolls could correctly say that the current price of gasoline is still lower than the peak price under Biden, if only by six cents, but even then that was only for one of his four years. And the reason for the current high prices aren't Putin's invasion of Ukraine or anywhere else, but the Stable Genius' invasion of Iran. He brought this down on himself.

If I were a right-wing troll, I would adjust the numbers for inflation. The peak price of gasoline under Obama in 2012 was $4.30/gal in inflation-adjusted dollars, and the peak price under Biden was $4.10 in 2022, adjusting for inflation. Both peaks are obviously above the current price (for now) of $3.91. But aside from cost comparisons, the reasons for the Obama and Biden peaks weren't the reckless actions of those presidents, while the current spike is unquestionably due to the Stable Genius' adventures in Iran along with his black-out drunk, weekend-news host Secretary of Defense.