print the government would borrow more monies and the fed would print more to finance it, and that works counter to your efforts. this is a gimmick. the president can suggest it, congress says, no. he says i m willing to do something. look at all the republicans who won t. arthel: so meanwhile, crude oil supply is down, so is refining capacity. is there any other way to bring down gas prices? well, we have to change the facts on the ground. the president has taken a number of policies which reduces refining capacity and which reduces the potential oil that we could drill. we need to increase domestic production and open up refineries which means the biden administration s energy policies have to to become more accommodating, and permanently so, a because these are big investments. companies aren t going to do it for a year or to. or two who with. and it s like food prices. those cannot be resolved, neither problem can be addressed without changing the facts on
know, companies aren t being rewarded for their political connections, and, you know, we get the things we need. and he sped some things up and rewarded some companies with some spotty records. at the same time didn t take an opportunity to cut a we ll do the u.s. mask manufacturer who said, you know, i can make n95s, we can get you millions of these masks. so it was really just clumsy, messy, and people came in and had an opportunity, and took advantage. did you were you surprised at the end of this, did you ever stop being surprised? and now that we re on the back side of some of this, how can we make sure this doesn t happen again, that taxpayers don t get ripped off in the middle of a once in a generation pandemic? yeah, i mean, i was surprised and i wasn t. i mean, the basic notion that, you know, billions of dollars were being spent and they were emergency contracting guidelines going on. i knew people were going to take advantage.
some areas it may be harder to see, the truth is that inflation it is america s secret tax that dashes the supposed raises americans get. the surprisingly rising wages have merely matched inflation in the cost of living. few workers have the same purchasing power as 40 years ago, despite their supposed raises. so to see the full reality you have to keep that fact in mind, as some companies have begun lately coughing up some raises and touting labor policies. these wage hikes are evaporating in real time by inflation. these companies aren t acting out of generosity, they tell shareholders they re only paying workers the minimum they have to in order to get these workers. companies like target and cvs brought minimum pay up to $15 an hour. there s been a 12% increase in
continue. it doesn t actually work. i mean, companies aren t going to thrive if they can t think long term and think clearly. but what do i know? seems that way. will cain, i appreciate your analysis, thank you. thanks, tucker. tucker: scientists at johns hopkins ad down and take a very close look at the lockdowns. if they work, that save lives? answer is no, they didn t save lives. we know that now. we will tell you the numbers.
strategic reserve because the price is so high. and because of the invasion in russia. but i view this as basically a band-aid, not a solution to this energy crisis. you know, we re looking at a situation right now when trump left office we were about $60 a barrel for the world price. now it is $105 a barrel. only some of that is atrit uteable to the russian invasion of ukraine. the other thing i find more puzzling. a couple other declarations that joe biden made yesterday one he said we ll with respect to the leases on the federal lands for oil development, he said well, if these companies aren t using them we ll take the leases away. wait a minute, bill. the same president who said when he was running for president and his state of the union we won t allow people to drill on federal lands anymore. which is it? allow or not to drill? the other thing that is i think so puzzling to people and