Elizabeth Warren Is Trying To Blame Inflation on ‘Price Gouging.’ Don’t Buy It.

Warren’s claim that oil companies are jacking up prices to turn a bigger profit doesn’t stand up to even the slightest scrutiny.

Looking for someone to blame for high and rising prices at the pump, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) has found a familiar villain: big corporations.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s The ReidOut on Thursday, Warren said price gouging is to blame for the pain that Americans are feeling at the gas pump these days. Amid rising inflation, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline sits at $3.40 nationally, up from about $2.11 at this same time last year and higher than at any time since 2014. This, Warren argued, is great news for oil companies and their shareholders.

“Chevron, Exxon have doubled their profits. This isn’t about inflation, this is about price gouging for these guys,” Warren said as host Joy Reid nodded along. While Republicans are trying to score political points by talking about inflation, Warren says, the “oil companies say ‘I think it’s just another opportunity to make profits’ and we need to call them out on that.”

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