(NewsNation) – Why?
That is the most important question. Ask why. Analyze why. Demanding to know the reason.
That’s how you get to what the real motivation is, the right context, the game. Who, what, when, where and how are all important, but they are limited. They have one answer.
Why is it complicated, but that’s where we need to focus in examining two important stories. It’s a problem that demands attention and relies on the “why” and manipulation of that answer.
The OPEC+ alliance of oil producing countries has decided to cut production by 2 million barrels a day, just a month before Election Day. All that matters here is why.
All you hear is Democrats panicking and Republicans saying there should be more domestic drilling. They say this is Biden’s handshake diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the economy will weaken.
But what matters is why this happened.
The alliance, which includes Russia and the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, is not cut off because of what we are doing here. We drill so much here that we really don’t depend on foreign oil.
US crude oil production has been increasing almost every year and is currently near record levels. In fact, 2021 is the second year, along with 2020, that since at least 1949 the total annual exports of petroleum have been greater than the total imports of petroleum.
The US will produce an average of 11.8 million barrels of oil per day by 2022, which is 500,000 barrels shorter than the record set in 2019, according to the EIA. But oil prices are set in global markets where OPEC+ cuts cannot be offset by a comparable near-term increase in US oil production.
So why is OPEC doing this now? The last cut of this magnitude was in May 2020, when the alliance rightly thought that demand would fall due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
So, is it to help former President Donald Trump? Was it part of the deal to lend money to his family?
This is proof that we must once and for all treat the Saudis as enemies, or worse. Russia also has a motivation: hurting the United States and Europe, and raising money for its war in Ukraine and to offset sanctions.
So, what to do?
President Joe Biden must address this quickly. He had to cope with domestic supplies, the Saudi threat and the obvious Russian aggression.
Domestically, Biden made waves on Thursday when he pardoned thousands of convicts of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law.
This is a policy that makes sense or doesn’t make sense, depending on where you are on the political spectrum. But the majority of Americans support easing marijuana restrictions. It has been legalized in dozens of states, for both medical and recreational use.
This is a taboo from the 1960s. While THC is not what it used to be and although there may be some forms that can make a person more likely to abuse drugs, it is certainly not as dangerous as alcohol or cigarettes.
The government has clearly turned to medical use. There’s no way a store could sell marijuana, but using it is a federal crime.
Why take you straight to the heart of the game. This is a decision based on stupid politics.
The law has to make sense, and that’s why you do something. If you examine things through that lens, things become very clear, very quickly.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors, and not those of NewsNation.