$5 gas is largely Putin’s fault

This is largely Vladimir Putin’s fault. Gas prices are up nearly $2 in the past year, and 75 percent of that increase came since Putin’s Russian troops invaded Ukraine. The United States and many other countries rightly responded to this unjustified war by imposing heavy sanctions and halting purchases of Russian oil and grain. But that means supplies are down, and energy and food prices have soared to record highs around the world. Putin wants — and expects — the world to cave and lift the sanctions and cede parts of Ukraine to Russia in the face of these high prices. As hard as it is, we cannot let Putin win…

The big wild card is domestic producers. They say they are doing all they can. Oil production in the United States has increased since December, but it’s still well below early-2020 levels when oil prices briefly went negative as much of the world shut down for the pandemic and oil companies suffered huge losses. It would be a huge help to have more domestic oil production. Mr. Biden and his team need to engage more with domestic oil producers about what’s needed to spur more production — and remind companies that their soaring profits may please Wall Street, but they harm American families as well as the broader effort to end the war in Ukraine.