Putin’s war has caused an energy crunch. The response should be a robust FDR-style program and aggressive steps toward a fossil-free future
Joe Biden has taken a firm stand against Vladimir Putin and announced a ban on Russian oil imports. “This is war,” Senator Joe Manchin said when he supported Biden’s ban, which is likely to push energy prices higher. “For better or worse, Americans need to understand that this is the price we all pay for a safer world,” said former Obama Council of Economic Advisers chairman Jason Furman. The president himself announced: “Defending freedom is going to cost.”
There is even some bipartisan support, at least for now. Across the aisle, Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski signed on to sanctions. So did Mitch McConnell: “Ratchet the sanctions all the way up.”
Meg Jacobs teaches history and public affairs at Princeton University and is author of Panic at the Pump, about the 1970s energy crisis
(SOURCE) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/04/joe-biden-us-russia-energy-oil-crisis