AOC Celebrates Oil’s Collapse

The socialist congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted, “You absolutely love to see it”, regarding oil’s price plunge into the negative range. The collapse in oil’s price will lead to the failure of hundreds of oil exploration, drilling, and refinement companies, and over a million US jobs.

The tweet was met with immediate ire, prompting Cortez to quickly delete it. She replaced it with a less inflammatory message. In it, she called the price crash the perfect opportunity for a massive investment in clean energy. The tweet revealed not only a lack of regard for real Americans whose livelihood depends on the energy sector, but an ignorance of basic economics.

An Industry on Life Support

https://twitter.com/MfdManny/status/1252664501536768009
The US oil industry has undergone a transformation since the Great Recession. Now the world’s top oil producer, the country has nearly tripled its production over the last 15 years. Our energy independence is the result of over a decade of gradual investment, technological innovation, and government support across three presidential administrations.

Now that industry, the culmination of decades of investment, appears set to collapse. The United States has higher production costs than other countries, due to high wages, safety standards, and extraction methods. Millions of high-paying jobs could be lost as oil companies inevitably fail this year.

In response to this grim situation for both US national security and economic prosperity, Cortez is celebrating.

“You absolutely love to see it,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Monday. “This along with record low-interest rates means it's the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet. *cough*”

Her fellow lawmakers responded with outrage at AOC’s message.

Republican Congresswoman Kelly Armstrong tweeted, “Openly celebrating the economic destruction of families and communities because it fits a political narrative is unacceptable and unbecoming of a member of Congress…”

“Which part of the millions of blue-collar workers losing their jobs & small refineries closing their doors forever is what you ‘love to see’ (per your deleted tweet) @AOC?” asked Senator Ted Cruz on the social media platform.

People are understandably angry, though perhaps not surprised, that AOC would subordinate Americans’ financial wellbeing to a political objective. More surprising is the lack of a logical basis for her celebration in the first place.

Fakenomics

STU: "She tweeted and deleted what she'd posted. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had gleefully opined on the crash in oil, and the sharp losses for stock prices." #AOC #Oil #Gas #Markets #Economy #MyTake #VarneyCo pic.twitter.com/RDNRzUIBbC

— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) April 21, 2020

Recently, AOC treated viewers to a Facebook live lecture on economics. Hopefully no one used it to prepare for a midterm. She mixed up the conservative economist Milton Friedman with the inflationary, left-leaning John Maynard-Keynes, creating a Frankenstein of fiscal theory, Milton Keynes. The fact-deficient video inspired little confidence in her economic chops.

With this tweet, AOC has once again cast doubt on her understanding of basic economic theory. With US producers literally paying consumers to take oil off their hands, it has never been cheaper to burn hydrocarbons. Stating that rock bottom oil prices create the perfect opportunity for renewable energy alternatives makes no sense.

Supply and demand is a fairly simple concept. It forms the basic foundation of modern economics and most Americans are familiar with it.

When people don’t want something, prices fall until people either want to buy it or it goes off the market. When people really want something, such as N95 masks or hand sanitizer during a pandemic, the price goes up until the supply meets demand or the government steps in.

Due to coronavirus, demand for oil (and all energy) has collapsed, so the price has dropped. Cheap oil means that using it to power our cars, homes, and factories have never been less expensive. It also means that renewable energy sources, compared to oil, have never looked more expensive.

Cortez, like millions of Americans in danger of losing their jobs or investments, has no reason to celebrate a crash in the price of oil. Renewable energy is now even more expensive relative to fossil fuels. Also, one of the US’ most powerful industries is in serious danger. Her tweet proves that she’s as removed from real Americans' needs as she is from the laws of economics.

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